ASDIP RETAIN is a structural engineering software for design of retaining walls. It includes the design of either Cantilever or Anchored sheet piling based on the CALTRANS Trenching and Shoring Manual. The following is an overview of the graphical user interface and the required steps for sheet piling design, with selected screenshots of the software.
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Sheet piling design steps
In the Geometry tab enter the sizes, dimensions, and all geometric information. At the top of the page select the sheet pile type: either Cantilever or Anchored. The program will automatically update the graphical interface to reflect the selection.
The required information is the excavation depth, measured from the top of the wall to the dredge line, the water table depth, and the soil slope angle. For anchored sheet pile walls the anchor depth is also required.
In the right pane, the At-a-Glance tab show a summary of the results, with the most relevant information, organized by topic. This is useful for a quick identification of any problem in the design.
In the Materials tab select the Soil Layers tab to specify material properties of up to four layers of soil. The required properties are the layer thickness, density, friction angle, and cohesion. This information is usually provided in the soils report of the project.
In the Wall tab enter the material properties of the sheet piling, such as the yield strength Fy and the elasticity modulus E.
The Condensed tab shows a more detailed set of results, organized by topic. This is useful when more information is required. The program shows the lateral coefficients, the maximum pressures, and the controlling shear, moment, and deflection.
In the Loads tab select the Soil tab specify the soil lateral pressure theory, either Coulomb Active, Rankine Active, or At-rest. The passive pressure is calculated by default per the Coulomb theory.
Select the Surcharge tab to enter any dead and live uniform surcharge loads. Note that the software lets you specify a minimum construction surcharge as part of the Design Criteria. Typically this minimum load is about 200 psf.
The Detailed tab shows full detailed results, step-by-step calculations with exposed formulas and Code references. It includes the detailed calculation of the design pressures and coefficients. This is useful for a granular check of the sheet piling design and for submittals to approval agencies.
In the Graph tab select the Pressures tab to see the pressure diagrams generated by ASDIP RETAIN. At the top of the page are the independent diagrams of the active and passive pressures, the surcharge pressure, as well as the water table effect at both sides of the wall.
At the bottom of the page is the loading diagram, showing the combined pressures of all the diagrams discussed above. The software calculates the required embedment depth, and It also shows the magnitude of the anchor tension force for anchored sheet pile walls.
In the Graph tab, the Diagrams tab shows the shear and moment diagrams generated by ASDIP RETAIN. This information is very important in order to calculate the required structural strength of the sheet piling section.
In addition, the software shows the deflected shape of the wall. This is useful to select the stiffness properties of the sheet piling and control the maximum deflection.
Takeaway
ASDIP RETAIN includes the design of Cantilever and Anchored Sheet Piling, with multiple options to optimize the design easily. The design of sheet pile retaining walls may be cumbersome and error-prone, particularly for multiple soil layers. With the friendly user interface the design can be completed and optimized with ASDIP RETAIN in minutes.
For our collection of blog posts about retaining wall design, please visit Retaining Wall Design.
Detailed information is available about this structural engineering software by visiting ASDIP RETAIN. You are invited to download a Free 15-Day Software Trial or go ahead and Place Your Order.
Best regards,
Javier Encinas, PE
ASDIP Structural Software
1. Do you offer a software module that handles the cantilever of the likes of a small portal leg, where lateral restraint is offered at the concrete floor level and the pile or leg of the portal in timber or steel or concrete bore encased pile of a greater diameter below ground to the actual upper pile/portal leg is used. We only deal in metrics I presume all your softwares works in metrics input and output please respond thank you. [email protected]
This sounds too complicated to be answered with a simple yes or no. Please send me a sketch to [email protected] and I will take a look and will tell you my opinion on how to use our software in your case. By the way, our software works in metric units as well. Thank you.
Do you anticipate expanding the program to handle multiple levels of anchors?
Yes, this will be implemented in the near future. Regards.