Net pressure analysis of cantilever sheet pile walls

There are many methods for the analysis and design of embedded cantilever retaining walls. They involve various different simpli®cations of the net pressure distribution to allow calculation of the critical retained height. In the UK, it is commonly assumed that net pressure consists of the sum of the active and passive limiting pressure values. In the USA, the net pressure is commonly simpli®ed by a three-line rectilinear pressure distribution. Recently, centrifuge tests have led to a proposed semi-empirical rectilinear method in which an empirical constant de®nes the point of zero net pressure. Finite element analyses presented in this paper examine the net pressure distribution at limiting equilibrium. The study shows that the point of zero net pressure for a best-®t rectilinear approximation is dependent on the ratio between the passive and active earth pressure distributions at limiting conditions. A simple empirical equation is proposed which de®nes the point of zero pressure. The predictions for the critical retained height and bending moment distribution using this empirical equation are in excellent agreement with the ®nite element results and centrifuge data. They are in better agreement than the predictions of the commonly used analysis methods.