Eiffel Trading 101: Combi-Walls

What happens when sheet pile isn’t strong enough to carry the required loads and you don’t have enough room to put in a sheet pile cell? Answer: Combined Walls aka Combi-Walls. A combi-wall is comprised of a king pile (either beam or pipe) and a pair of intermediary sheet pile. The king pile will have sheet pile interlocks on either side to allow the sheet pile to connect. In a combi-wall the king pile carriers the majority of the load. The sheet pile in a combi-wall can be shorter, typically 60%-80% of the length of the king pile. When you are designing a combi-wall you should ask yourself if your king pile is going to be a beam or pipe?

Beam King Pile – Advantages

• Most beams can be manufactured with the interlocks built into the flange – eliminating any need for welding interlock connectors
• Shallower depth than the pipe system, reducing intrusion into waterways

Pipe King Pile – Advantages

• A pipe combi-wall system has a much greater range of strengths due to the large pipes that can be manufactured for the system.
• Can have a greater strength to weight and stiffness to weight ratios than a beam system

Either way you choose, a combi-wall will prove to be a reliable system for your deep excavations, breakwaters, deep cofferdams or other large retaining structures. Before you design your temporary combi-wall, check out our inventory of sheet pile and combi-wall. If you are in the market to buy or sell your used sheet pile or combi-wall, you can reach us at sales@eiffeltrading.com or 1-800-541-7998.

Cheers,

Andrew

Andrew Norman is one of the co-founders of Eiffel Trading. His background is in Heavy-Civil and Marine Construction in Project Management and Procurement. Through his work in Project Management, he worked on several projects involving cofferdams and retaining structures.