DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS &

COMPONENTS OF COFFERDAM
Presented by
1304081- Swagata Dasgupta
1304085 - Samiha Rabbani
1304090 - Obaidul Islam
1304104 - Shams Razzak Rothe
Cofferdam
 Temporary Structure
 Excludes earth and water

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 Material Stresses

1. Overall Stability

Risk occurs in –
 Sloping ground
 Riverfront cofferdam
 Where the differential height is greater
 Where cohesive soils extend to considerable depths on sloping sites
 Material Stresses

2. Bottom Failure by Piping and Basal Heave

Checking necessary for-

 Risk of hydraulic failure by piping: for narrow cofferdams
 Risk of basal failure: in cofferdams in soft clay
 Material Stresses

3. Aggressive Site Conditions

a) Effect of Wave Forces on the Face of the Structure

 Waves in deep water

 Where waves are reflected
 Where waves break on the structure
 Waves caused by ship movements
 Material Stresses

b) Risk of Over-topping of the Cofferdam Sheeting

To prevent-
 The cofferdam should be tied
 Adequate sluices with safe locations for operating locations
 Material Stresses

c) Scour Protection

 Providing cutwaters: upstream and downstream ends of a cofferdam

maybe shaped to reduce scour
 Rock or concrete beds: to avoid erosion of the river or sea bed
 Grout mattresses weighted by rockfill: for river cofferdams
 Material Stresses

d) Protection from Vessel Impact

 Fendering or strongpoints built into the cofferdam sheeting

 General Layout of the Cofferdam

Circular Cofferdams
 General Layout of the Cofferdam

What can be accommodated in circular

cofferdams cost-effectively?
Circular Cofferdams
Square shaped plan structures

Circular plan shape storage wells

 General Layout of the Cofferdam

 The most economical arrangement uses

Rectilinear Cofferdams Maximum straight runs of piling

Minimum of return angles

 Load Transfer
Soil

Sheeting

Waling

Struts

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Principle Reasons for Failure

Poor Inadequate
workmanship strut section

Inadequate Allowance of
embedment surcharge

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 Ground Anchors

Economical use of anchors

 Depends on the strength of the subsoil
 Dense sands and gravels would be preferred

Opportunity to use anchors

 Ownership of land
 Permission to found anchors
 Ground Anchors

Acting earth pressures on anchor installation

 Soil strengths
 Wall and soil stiffness
 Anchor spacing
 Anchor yield
 Prestress locked into the anchors
 Ground Anchors

Five anchor types

 Type A
 Type B
 Type C
 Type D
 Type E
 Ground Anchors

Four items for design of anchors

 Overall stability
 Depth of embedment
 Fixed anchor dimensions
 Group effects
 Components of Braced Cofferdam
 Sheet pile
 Bracing
1. Waling
2. Passive Anchorage
3. Struts

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Figure 4
Sheet Piling

Used for outer walls of marine or land cofferdam

Selection of section:
• Criteria- i) Flexural strength
ii) Resistance to driving stress

• Sufficiency of pile sections

Two types of pile driver:
1. Drives piles in panels of six to eight piles
2. Drives one pile at a time

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 Bracing
Waling

Necessity
Load Transfer:

Sheeting Waling Struts/ Anchors

Continuity
• Diaphragm Walls
• Secant Piles

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Waling (cont.)
Connections Waling

Special Considerations
• For inclined struts
• For anchors
• For diagonal struts

Irregular Alignment Problem

Load Factor: 1.4

Figure 5
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Size of Walling

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 Size of Walling (cont.)

Varies with diameter of cofferdams

‘d’ should not be less than ‘D/35’
Waling load = 1.5EI / 10^5 R^3
Permissible compressive stress < 5.2 N/mm^2
Check tension on walling beam

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 Passive Anchors

 Design Principal
Net available passive pressure= passive pressure-active pressure

 Special Considerations
i) Surcharge ii) Friction

 Materials
i) Mild steel - 111N/mm2
ii) High yield steel -140 N/mm2
 Passive Anchors (cont.)

Factor of Safety: 1.5-2

Protection:
 To avoid effect of fill settlement
 To avoid corrosion
 Struts
 A strut is a component designed to resist
longitudinal compression.

Importance
 The most likely collapse
mechanism of a braced
cofferdam is the buckling of
it’s strutting.
 Struts cont.

Collapse of waling or sheeting is unlikely

Reasons of Failure:
 Passive failure below formation level
 Extreme loading
 Poor workmanship
 Positioning the strut
Struts should be supported by
welding steel location angles to
end plate prior to bolting.
Struts are square to the wallings
in plan to avoid eccentric loading.
As precaution check 10% of strut
width or depth in each direction.
 Spacing
 The vertical spacing of the struts depend on both the strut capacity and the
flexural strength of the walling.
 Spacing (cont.)
The minimum frame spacing must be sufficient to allow mechanical
excavation plant to pass under the frame prior to placing the next lowest
frame.
 Final stages of construction

The placing of the lowest frame in a multi-frame cofferdam is the period

of greatest risk to the bracing.
The next highest frame will be highly loaded and the factor of safety
against passive failure will be at it’s lowest.
The bending stress and deformation of the walling will be at their highest
values.
All bracing components should be prefabricated to avoid cofferdam
being unpropped at the lowest level for lengthy period.
 Walling details

 lifting and bracing steel

 joining sections of cages
 lateral spacing between reinforcement cages of adjacent panels
 details of starter steel for floor slabs
 detailing for ground anchors
 inclusion of reinforcement for waling
 min spacing and cover
 water bar in vertical panel joints
Sheet Pile Walls Across Dock Entrance
 Sheet Pile Walls Across Dock Entrance

Several means-
Cellular cofferdam for new construction
Raking struts to the dock floor to exclude water from
the existing dock
Driving sheet piles to a circular arc in plan for the
existing entrance
 Cost of temporary cofferdams

 Design curves

• Section modulus of pilling

• No of bracing
• Bending moments included in cantilever
• Maximum penetration depth
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 DOUBLE WALL COFFERDAM

 Gravity structure
 Consists of twin parallel
lines of sheeters
 Driven below dredge line
 Tied together by steel tie
 Filled with material
 Usual height to width
ratio 0.8
 Berm inside for drainage
and stability

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 Factors Affecting Stability

Strength of filler material

Strength of sheeters and ties
Soil at foundation level

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Modes of Failure Considered in Design of Double
Wall Cofferdam

Tie rod design and water pressure:

 Sheet piles should be designed using at rest pressure of
filling
 Hydraulic filling is used to place sand back fills between the
sheeters
 Walls should be designed for most severe assumption of
water pressure-water level within the filling may rise at top
level of sheeters.

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Sliding:
Resistance to sliding provided by
 Passive resistance of soil
 Shear strength of sheeters
 Frictional resistance of filler
material

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 Overall stability

a stability analysis using force polygon

establishing the efficiency of fill material against failure by
horizontal movement at the top
Ensuring a factor of safety of 1.5

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 Alternative method:
A minimum factor of safety( ratio of overturning and
resisting moment) 1.5

Otherwise trial required with

 increased width
 improved filling material
 deeper driving of sheeters

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 Measures to protect scouring on outside
face
Placing rock or precast concrete blocks against outer
face
Laying grouter mattresses on the river bed
Lateral deformation at the head of cofferdam is
eliminated by using strongpoints

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THE END