Sheet Pile Walls

Question

How water control for sheet pile walls can be carried out?

Answer 1

Ground water flow into the excavations created by the sheet pile walls must be decreased to save the cost of provision of pumping systems or well points to lower the water table in excavation. In case, layer of impermeable material like clay is located a little below the excavation, it can be desirable to run the sheet piles further into this layer and the cost of additional driving can be less than the provision cost of non-stop pumping into the excavation. Alternatively, if no impermeable layer is beneath the excavation, engineers can consider running the sheet piles further in order to rise the flow path of groundwater in the excavation and this helps to decrease the quantity of water flow in the excavation. Likewise, cost benefit study need to be carried out in order to compare the additional cost of driving further the sheet piles with reduced cost of pumping.