Purpose of calculation:

The soil conditions adjacent to the sheet pile wall are given below, find the active pressure
behind the wall and passive pressure in front of the wall.
Calculation Reference
Craig Soil Mechanics. R.F. Craig

Calculation Validation
Check against a worked example in the reference above.

Calculation Units SI 2

Soil 1

h₁

h₃
W.T

Soil 2
h₂
h₂

Height above the water table

h1 = 6m
Height from water table to the base of the wall
h2 = 3m
Height of soil in front of the wall above the water table
h3 = 1.5 m
Unit weight of Water
γw = 9800 N/m³
Surface Load
Q= 50,000 N/m²
Characteristics of Soil 1
Drained (effective stress) shear strength parameter
c'= 0 N/m²
Unit weight of Soil 1
γ= 18,000 N/m³
Drained (effective stress) shear strength parameter
ϕ' = 38 °
Characteristics of Soil 2
Drained (effective stress) shear strength parameter
c' = 10,000 N/m²
Saturated Unit Weight of Soil 2
γsat = 20,000 N/m³
 Drained (effective stress) shear strength parameter
ϕ' = 28 °
Buoyant Unit Weight
γ'= 10,200 N/m³

Active earth pressure coefficient for soil 1

Ka = #ADDIN? #ADDIN?

Passive earth pressure coefficient for soil 1

Kp = #ADDIN? #ADDIN?

Active earth pressure coefficient for soil 2

Ka = #ADDIN? #ADDIN?

Passive earth pressure coefficient for soil 2

Kp = #ADDIN? #ADDIN?

Active Pressure
Soil Depth (m) Pressure
1 0 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
1 6 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
2 6 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
2 9 #ADDIN? N/m² ###

Passive Pressure
Soil Depth (m) Pressure
1 4.5 0 N/m²
1 6 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
2 6 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
2 9 #ADDIN? N/m² ###

10
0 #ADDIN? 4.5 0
9 6 #ADDIN? 6.0 #ADDIN?
6 #ADDIN? 6.0 #ADDIN?
8
9 #ADDIN? 9.0 #ADDIN?
Depth (m)

5
Passive
Pressure
4 Active pressure

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Pressure (N/m²)
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Pressure (N/m²)
Table of compatible units
Length Area
Fundamental m m²
SI m m²
SI (mm) mm mm²
US Unit (ft) ft ft²
US Unit (in) in in²
Passive
Pressure
Active pressure
Volume Time Angle Mass Velocity Acceleration Force Unit Weight LDForce Work
m³ s ° kg m/s m/s² kg.m/s² N/m³ kg/s² kg.m/s².m
m³ s ° kg m/s m/s² N N/m³ N/m J
mm³ s ° g mm/s mm/s² N N/mm³ N/mm mJ
ft³ s ° slug ft/s ft/s² lbf lbf/ft³ lbf.ft ft.lb
in³ s ° lbf.s²/in in/s in/s² lbf lbf/in³ lbf.in in.lbf
Energy Power Density Stress
kg.m/s².m kg.m²/s³ kg/m³ kg/m.s²
J W kg/m³ N/m²
mJ mW g/mm³ MPa
ft.lb ft.lb/s slug/ft³ lbf/ft²
in.lbf in.lbf/s lbf.s²/in⁴ psi
x along length

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