Stability Analysis of Slopes Reinforced with Sheet Pile Wall

In order to analyze the stability of a slope reinforced with sheet pile wall, based on the multi-wedge translation mechanism the upper bound method was applied to derive the expressions to calculate needed lateral force acting on piles to guarantee the stability of a slope. A new method was presented to analyze the stability of slopes reinforced with sheet pile wall. In addition, an example was given to illustrate the presented method, and the results were compared with those obtained using the rotation failure mechanism. The research results show that needed lateral force acting on piles increases as slope angle increases, and decrease as soil strength increases. The potential sliding surface becomes increasingly shallow as soil strength increases, and the potential sliding surface obtained using the presented method is more critical than that obtained using the rotation failure mechanism.