New procedure for the design of steel sheet piling

• Published in: Die Bautechnik 1998-05, Vol.75 (5), p.269-278
• Main Authors: Hartmann-Linden, R, Schmitt, A, Sedlacek, G
• Format: Article
• Language: ger
• ISSN: 0932-8351

In the frame of the harmonisation of design rules for buildings and engineering works for the Eurocodes a new part 5 of Eurocode 3 for the design of steel sheet piling has been developed. According to these new rules the safety verification is based on the limit state concept, by which ultimate limit states leading to a collapse of the structure and serviceability limit states mostly associated with limits of deflections are introduced. This new concept permits to calibrate the new rules for the ultimate limit state verifications with the results of member tests which are statistically evaluated to make the design rules compatible with the Eurocode-safety requirements. For the stability and strength verifications of steel sheet piling that refer to the failure of soil or to soil-structure interaction the safety requirements for geotechnical works as specified in Eurocode 7 apply, For failures induced by the steel piles the principles and methods for the design of steel structures in Eurocode 3 are applicable however with specific modifications resulting from the specific use of these piles. This paper gives a general report on the development of the new rules for the ultimate limit state design of steel sheet piling based on the behaviour in tests and in particular demonstrates in what way cross sectional criteria for the choice of the elastic or plastic analysis method and of the level of cross sectional resistance have been specified. The new design models allow to exploit the plastic strength reserves of steel sheet piles and hence offer a greater economy on the design.