Do anyone have insight investigation or experience on the application of anisotropic input for sheet pile wall, the manual have suggested that the flexural rigidity against bending over the vertical direction I1 is much larger than the stiffness against the bending over the horizonal direction I2 and their relationship approximately to be I1=20I2, I would like to understand how this relationship is developed and does it considered the influence of free rotation (i.e. say 3-5 deg ) at the interlocking joints which are commonly allowed in the sheet pile product.
Dear James,
A factor of 20 between the I1 and I2 is recommended to ensure a well-conditioned stiffness matrix for the calculation. As suggested in the manual this is only a recommendation rather than a value based on engineering data. In reality, this factor can be higher in value, however, this is something to be evaluated by the user.
Note that you can also use a detailed design of each component of the sheet pile wall and include custom connections to properly simulate the free rotations at the joints, however, special care is needed for meshing and ensuring the proper parts are correctly connected sharing interfaces.