Embedded Beam Row Permeability & Skin Friction

Question

Hello, 
 I have a couple of questions regarding the embedded beam row:

How can I make an embedded beam row impermeable (i.e. so water has to flow around the base of the wall)?

When specifying the skin friction in the input program I am assuming that the kN/m value the total skin friction in kN divided by the pile length. Is that correct?

If I am using layer dependent method for skin friction, why does the maximum skin friction in the output program exceed my specified maximum skin friction in the input program?

Thank you.

Dennis Waterman · Answer

Dear Charlie, 
 1) You can't. An embedded beam row is not a wall, it is a row of individual line elements like a row of piles or a row of anchors. Hence, water will always be able to flow in between through the soil that is inbetween the piles. If you want to model a wall, you should use a plate element. 
 2) That is correct. 
 3) Note that in Output it shows the skin friction per meter length per meter out of plane whereas in input you specify the max skin friction for a single element. Hence, the results in output should be multiplied with the spacing to compare them with the input values. 
 With kind regards, 
 Dennis Waterman