Analysis of a Steel Sheet Pile Cofferdam

by Converse Construction Method

Hongbin Zhang
School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410075, China
Corresponding Author,e-mail:binbin131421@qq.com

Guanfeng An
Guangzhou Municipal Engineering Group, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510060, China
e-mail:anguanfeng@126.com

Tianjun Liu
Guangzhou Municipal Engineering Group, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510060, China
e-mail:liutianjun79@126.com

Guoxiang Zhang
School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410075, China
e-mail: gxzh@mail.csu.edu.cn

ABSTRACT
As a kind of temporary water defending structure in bridge construction, steel sheet pile cofferdam is
typically constructed by the sequential construction method, which is to conduct the inner brace installation
after punching steel sheet pile and pouring out the water, but difficult to achieve in deep river. In Guangzhou
Jiaomen Bridge Construction, a new construction method, termed converse construction method, was used
due to the complicated geological condition and deep water depth. Employing the new method, the inner
brace installation was accomplished before punching steel sheet pile and pouring out the water. The main
focus of this paper is to investigate the mechanical and displacemental properties of the new cofferdam
structure in construction process. Using numerical analysis, the behaviors of the different connections
between inner brace and piles before and after drawing out water were simulated with point springs and rigid
joints. The results show, in the construction process of the new cofferdam in Jiaomen Bridge Construction in
Guangzhou, the horizontal displacement peaked at 82mm, which was 132 mm smaller than normal
cofferdam. The maximum axial force of inner brace during construction process is 742.9kN for the opposite
brace and 2319.8kN for the angle brace, which is much smaller than the maximum allowable value, 4593kN
for opposite brace and 3892kN for angle brace. In comparison with the sequential construction method, the
converse construction method is more effective on controlling the horizontal displacement.

KEYWORDS: steel sheet pile cofferdam, displacement, comparative analysis, converse construction
method, sequential construction method

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INTRODUCTION
Steel cofferdam is a kind of temporary water defending structure designed for pile cap
foundation construction in water, which can be constructed by single-wall steel sheet pile
cofferdam and double-wall steel case cofferdam [1-3]. Generally, single-wall steel sheet pile
cofferdam is used unless the water depth is less than 10m, and double-wall steel case cofferdam
applied to the river with the depth larger than 10m. There are many construction cases of singlewall steel cofferdam [4-6]. The scholars had investigated the stability of steel sheet pile cofferdam
and its analytical methods [7-9]. However, most of them focused on steel sheet pile cofferdam by
the traditional sequential constrution method, which required the steel sheet piles were inserted into
river bed before building inner bracing , thus resulting in large displacement, low integral stability
and high risk for traditional steel sheet pile cofferdam.
In initial design of Jiaomen Bridge, the main pier cap cofferdam was planned to use doublewall steel case, which could undertake the large water load, but this technology would result in a
high cost and long construction duration. After analysis of the geological condition, steel sheet pile
was adopted in this case because it could be punched and fixed easily . As the water depth varies
near 13.6m, the primary work needs to find a solution to improve bearing capacity of normal sheet
steel pile cofferdam. In this paper, a new construction method of sheet steel pile cofferdam, termed
converse construction method, was considered.
The main focus of this paper is to investigate the mechanical and displacement properties of the
new cofferdam structure in construction process. Using numerical analysis, the behaviors of the
different connections between inner brace and piles before and after drawing out water were
simulated with point springs and rigid joints. The different construction progress of the new and
traditional sheet steel pile cofferdam were both analysed, the displacemental and mechanical
property of the two construction method were compared, and the simulation results were compared
with real construction monitoring data.

PROJECT PROFILES
Jiaomen Bridge locates at the western section of Guangzhou Huanglan Highway, with a total
length of 1403m. All four primary piers separately contain six piles with a diameter of 2.5m. Upon
the piles covers a large concrete rectangular cap with a volume of 17m10.5m4m. The cap
bottom is about 4.4m below the river bed, the water depth of Jiaomen River is about9.2m, so the
water depth of the cap bottom equals 13.6m. Table 1 displays the Geological Parameters.

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Construction method
According to the initial design scheme, the main pier cap cofferdams can be achieved by using
double-wall steel case, and it would cost RMB 13.5 million yuan for all the four steel cases.
Although steel case cofferdam can undertake large water load, the budget and construction
schedule would raise. After analyzing the geological condition, punching steel sheet pile through
impermeable layer (i.e., Silty clay layer, whose thickness is about 2.4m) would reach the top
surface of Intense weathering siltite layer. Thus, steel sheet pile is adopted. Normally, steel sheet
pile cofferdam is built in shallow water when water level difference is less than 10m, but in this
site, the water level difference is about 13.6m. If steel sheet pile cofferdam with sequential
construction method is considered, the displacemental and mechanical value of cofferdam would
not meet the safety requirement. Based on these above reasons, the converse construction method
was adopted.

Table 1: Geological Parameters

Number

Soil layer

Thickness
(m)

Bottom level of
soil layer
(m)

Density Internal friction angle

3

Cohesion

Elastic modulus

(KN/m )

KPa

MPa

Silty medium sand

2.5

-5.2

18.5

13

12.0

Sludge

7.8

-13.0

15.5

6.0

Silty clay

2.4

-16.7

18.5

12

17

28.6

4.2

-20.9

21.0

25

60

160.0

Intense weathering
siltite

Model Establishment
Each cofferdam is a rectangle with 20.05m12.76m in plane, using Lassen Steel Sheet Pile (24m
in length, FSPIV in type). The top elevation of steel sheet pile is +7.3m and the bottom is -16.7m.
The elevation of river level is +6.5m, the riverbed equals -2.7m, and the bottom of pile cap
concrete equals -7.1m. So the largest water level difference of cofferdam during construction
equals 13.6m. Each cofferdam contains two cross braces and four angle braces in plane, and five
horizontal bracing layers in vertical section. Fig.1 depicts the plan of cofferdam, and Fig. 2 shows
3D perspective model.

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Figure 1: Plan of cofferdam

Figure 2: 3D perspective model

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Construction process
The construction processes of steel sheet pile cofferdam by converse construction method
include these following steps:
1. Dig out sludge from riverbed to the level of the lowest inner brace layer in site.
2. Incise holes on pile steel casing and then set brackets through these holes.
3. Equip the lowest inner bracing on the bracket layer.
4. Install hanging and immersion equipments of inner brace.
5. Install and immerse the inner brace into water layer by layer until the inner brace reaches
the design elevation.
6. Punch steel sheet piles around the inner brace.
7. Draw out sludge in the cofferdam to reach the elevation of the bottom of seal concrete.
8. Pour seal concrete.
9. Draw out water inside the cofferdam and jam the cracks between sheet piles.
10. Weld the joint between inner bracing and steel sheet piles and draw out the water inside
step by step.
11. Concrete the pile cap and pier and dismantle inner bracing layer by layer.
The significant difference between converse construction method and cofferdam using
normal method is, that the inner brace is installed and fixed before punching steel piles in the
converse construction method. The inner brace fixed previously has huge effort to cut down the
displacement of steel sheet piles when punching, so that the displacement will be smaller and the
stability will be better, thus increasing the leakproofness of cofferdam. Besides, the steel inner
brace can be equipped on the bearing platform supporting by pile steel casing, so it may be more
convenience, and save more duration time and working place than normal cofferdam.

Analysis of steel sheet pile cofferdam by converse

construction method
In this paper, a 3D FEM analysis software, MIDAS/GTS, was used to calculate this new
cofferdam, and 3D finite element model was built to analyze mechanical and displacement
properties of the new cofferdam structure in all construction process.
In order to calculate conveniently, one steel sheet pile was converted into one steel plate in
same wide but different thickness (11.67cm), which had the same bending rigidity. The joint
between steel sheet piles was simulated by releasing the rotation degrees of freedom.
In the numerical model, the steel cofferdam and bottoming concrete was respectively assumed
to be elastic material and soil layer under water as Mohr-Coulomb elastic-plastic material. The
inner brace, steel sheet piles and soil layer were separately simulated with beam, plate and solid
elements. The normal displacements of the bottom and four sides of the whole model were

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constrained. The gravity is considered, and the water pressure of cofferdam structure in different
construction process is applied by different horizontal surface load. The whole calculation model
have 55211 elements and 53996 nodes in total. The whole calculation model and cofferdam
structure grid are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. In addition, the material parameters of the cofferdam
are shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Material parameters of the cofferdam

Name
Bottoming concrete
Pile cap and pier
Inner bracing structure

(kN/m3)

Material type

0.2

25

Elastic

0.2

25

Elastic

0.2

79

Elastic

EMPa
2.5210
3.0010

21.0010

Figure 3: Total numerical model

Figure 4: Cofferdam structure model

Before pumping, the inner brace is just used as horizontal support while steel sheet piles are
punching. Under the horizontal water pressure, steel sheet piles and inner brace are mostly fit, but
has not fixed. Therefore, in this case, it should use point springs which can not bear tension and
rotation to simulate the connection between inner brace and lateral steel sheet piles. After pumping,
due to the inner brace and lateral steel sheet piles are welding fixed, the joints between them are
connected with rigid coupling .

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DISPLACEMENT AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

In all the construction processes of the steel sheet pile cofferdam using converse construction,
from the process of digging out the sludge from riverbed to the process of fixing the lowest layer of
inner brace and pumping water to -7.1 m, the largest horizontal displacement value of the
cofferdam is less than 30mm. In these construction processes, the maximum horizontal
displacement occurs on the steel sheet pile in the middle of cofferdams long edge, and the
elevation in which the maximum displacement locates is +11.3m (1.7m below the bottoming
concrete). In these subsequent progresses of dismantling inner brace and pouring water, the
maximum displacement of the cofferdam increases gradually, at the same time the elevation in
which the maximum displacement locates transfer up gradually, then finally achieves to the top of
steel sheet pile in the middle of cofferdams long edge. The largest horizontal displacement equals
82 mm, which still occurs on the steel sheet pile in the middle of cofferdams long edge, and the
elevation equals +1.3m(6.4m below top of the cofferdam), in the process of dismantling the second
inner brace and pouring water in to the elevation of +1.75m(see Figure 5 and 6). In general, this
cofferdam using converse construction can meet the requirement of the structure safety.

Figure 5: Construction process with maximum displacement: dismantling the second inner
brace and pouring water in to +1.75m

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Figure 6: Horizontal displacement curve of the steel sheet pile in the middle of
cofferdams long edge
Fig. 6 shows the horizontal displacement curve of the steel sheet pile in the middle of
cofferdams long edge. The figure indicates that, from the construction process of digging out
sludge to the process of dismantling the fourth inner brace layer, the maximum horizontal
displacement of cofferdam always occurred on the steel in the esheet piles from the elevation
range of -10m ~ -12m (i.e. within 2m in depth under the bottom of bottoming concrete). This is
because when digging out sludge from riverbed surface to the root of bottoming concrete(from -5m
to -9.6m in elevation), steel sheet piles in this section bears horizontal pressure inward, then
horizonal displacement inward appears in this part of steel sheet pile. During these construction
processes, although the waterhead inside and outside cofferdam keeps increasing and the cofferdam
bears a increasing lateral water pressure, but due to the effect of resistance of inner brace,
horizontal displacement at upper part of cofferdam still keeps small. During these construction
processes of dismantling the third, second and first inner bracing layer, although outside water is

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poured in and the cofferdam bears a decreasing external lateral water pressure, the ability of
cofferdam to resist external water pressure also fall sharply because of the dismantling of inner
brace structure. Therefore, large horizontal displacement also appears at the upper part of
cofferdam during these construction processes.
The maximum of axial force and corresponding locations of internal brace in different
construction processes are shown in Table 2. According to Code for Design of Steel Structures in
China(GB50017-2003), The maximum allowable value of inner brace is 4593kN for opposite brace
and 3892kN for angle brace. Table 2 shows the maximum axial force of inner brace during all
construction processes is 742.9 kN for opposite brace and 2319.8kN for angle brace (see Figure 7) ,
which is not exceed the maximum allowable value. So it meets the requirement of structure safety.

Table 2: Maximum of axial force and corresponding locations of internal brace in different
construction processes
Process
number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Construction process
Dig out underwater sludge in cofferdam to 9.6m
Pour seal concrete and draw out water to
+5.5m
Weld the first inner bracing layer and pour out
water to +2.5m
Weld the second inner bracing layer and pour
out water to -0.5m
Weld the third inner bracing layer and pour
out water to -2.5m
Weld the fourth inner bracing layer and pour
out water to -5.5m
Weld the fifth inner bracing layer and pour
out water to -7.1m
Dismantle the fifth inner bracing layer,
concrete lower cap and pour in water to -4.5m
Dismantle the fourth inner bracing layer,
concrete upper cap and pour in water to -3.1m
Dismantle the third inner bracing layer and
pour in water to -0.75m
Dismantle the second inner bracing layer and
pour in water to +1.75m

Maximum of axial
force kN
619.0
742.9
1198.0
1682.8
2001.4
2319.8
2240.6
2236.3
2069.7
1695.9
574.8

position
Opposite brace in the fifth
inner bracing layer
Opposite brace in the fifth
inner bracing layer
Angle brace in the fifth
inner bracing layer
Angle brace in the fifth
inner bracing layer
Angle brace in the fifth
inner bracing layer
Angle brace in the fifth
inner bracing layer
Angle brace in the fifth
inner bracing layer
Angle brace in the fourth
inner bracing layer
Angle brace in the third
inner bracing layer
Angle brace in the second
inner bracing layer
Angle brace in the first
inner bracing layer

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Figure 7: The construction process which the maximum axial force appears-Weld the
fourth inner bracing layer and pour out water to -5.5m.

COMPARISON BETWEEN CONVERSE AND NORMAL

CONSTRUCTION METHODS
In order to compare these two construction methods of steel sheet pile cofferdam, another FEM
calculation model which contains steel sheet pile cofferdam using normal sequential construction
method was built, under invariable design and process parameters as before. Calculation results
about horizontal displacement distribution of steel sheet pile in the middle of cofferdams long
edge are shown in Figure 8. It shows that in all construction processes of cofferdam using normal
sequential construction method, the maximum horizontal displacement is 215mm(which appears
when dismantling the second inner brace layer and pouring in water to +1.75m), which is 132 mm
larger than cofferdam using converse construction method. In addition, the horizontal displacement
value equals about 210mm in other several construction processes. So it can be seen that, in the
same conditions, steel sheet pile cofferdam using normal sequential construction method cannot
meet the requirement of construction safety.

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Figure 8: Horizontal displacement curve of steel sheet pile in the middle of cofferdams
long edge (using sequential construction method)

COFFERDAM CONSTRUCTION MONITORING IN THIS

PROJECT
When monitoring the construction processes of cofferdam in this project, the displacement of
steel sheet piles was monitored by inclinometer. Specifically, the bottom of inclinometer tube was
measured as the displacement reference to measure horizontal displacement of inclinometer at
different elevation. Then use the measured data to calculate displacement and curvature values of
steel sheet piles. The axial force of the inner bracing was measured by vibrating wire strain gauges
setting on steel surface[10].
Figure 9 shows the horizontal displacement distribution curve of the 4th measuring point
setting in the middle of the 12# cofferdams long edge. Comparing with the horizontal

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displacement curve in Figure 6, it can be found that the distribution trend and value of horizontal
displacement in these two figures were approximately similar.
-60

60

120
2011-4-1

7.0

2011-4-2
2011-4-2
2011-4-3

5.0

2011-4-4
2011-4-5

3.0

2011-4-6
2011-4-7
1.0

2011-4-10

Verticalm
elevation/m

2011-4-13

-1.0

2011-4-16
2011-4-19
2011-4-24

-3.0

2011-4-26
2011-4-30

-5.0

2011-5-5
2011-5-7

-7.0

2011-5-11
2011-5-18
2011-5-26

-9.0

2011-6-1
2011-6-11
-11.0

Horizontal
displacement/mm
mm

Figure 9: Horizontal displacement curve of steel sheet pile (Measuring point 12#-4)
Figure 10 shows the axial force curve measured by the monitoring points setting on 11# R
cofferdam. Among these four monitoring points, 11#R-2 and 1#R-4 were respectively setting on
opposite brace and angle brace in the fifth inner brace layer. The figure shows that before February
25.2012(the day when pouring seal concrete and drawing out water to +5.5m), the largest axial
force appeared at the opposite brace of the fifth brace layer, then from February 25.2012 to April
21.2012(the day when dismantling the fifth inner brace layer, concreting lower cap and pouring in
water to -4.5m), the largest axial force appeared at the angle brace of the fifth bracing layer. The
maximum value was close to 2500kN, which is coincide with the analysis results shown in Figure
7.

2500

11#R-4

2000

Axical force/kN
(kN)

1500

11#R-4
1000

500

11#R-1

11#R-3

-500
-1000
1-30

2-9

2-19

3-1

3-11

3-21

3-31

4-10

4-20

4-30

5-10

5-20

5-30

6-9

Figure 10: Axial force of inner brace in all construction processes

(Measuring point 11#R)

CONCLUSION
Steel sheet pile cofferdam with converse construction method has been successfully applied
in Jiaomen Bridge in Guangzhou, China. The numerical calculation results are well coincide
with monitoring results. The main conclusions, drawn based on the above analyses, are as
follows:
(1) In comparison with normal cofferdam, the new cofferdams inner brace installed before
punching piles has more obvious effect to limit the horizontal displacement of steel sheet piles.
During all construction processes of the new cofferdam, the maximum horizontal displacement
equals 82mm, which was 132 mm smaller than normal cofferdam. So this new cofferdam can
well meet the requirement about displacemental stability.
(2)The maximum axial force of inner brace during all construction processes is 742.9kN for the
opposite brace and 2319.8kN for the angle brace, which is much smaller than the maximum
allowable value, 4593kN for opposite brace and 3892kN for angle brace. So this new cofferdam
can also meet the requirement about mechanical safety.
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