Practical Design of Sheet Pile Bulkheads

***COURTESY OF TWOBEARS BOOKS*** The non-homogeneity of soils and the uncertainty of the factors governing the equilibrium of forces in a mass of earth, present problems of earth pressure and resistance that cannot be solved with mathematical precision. It must never be overlooked that, in practice, one cannot expect to obtain from computations in soil mechanics, results of more than approximate accuracy in relation to reality. For that reason, it is necessary to proceed very frequently by trial and error and to adopt several cases of possible stresses in order to value the effect of variation in results in terms of entertained assumptions. To deal with a bulkhead problem it is therefore necessary to have straightforward methods of design that are rapid and accurate enough to reveal the possible solutions of the problem in view within a relatively short time. These methods should avoid lengthy computations and should render results that can be easily verified. This handbook endeavours to summarize some of the rational graphical methods, based on simple hypotheses generally accepted today.