Steel Sheet Piles: Flood defence and bank protection

Utilizing Steel Sheet Piles for Flood Control and Riverbank Safeguarding

Sheet pile walls - effective solutions for building and enhancing flood defences and canal banks

Sheet pile walls can be used in a variety of ways for flood defence systems or for bank protection. For new embankments they can ensure watertightness, support, and stabilization. They are also used to strengthen existing embankments. When space is an issue, e.g. in ports or urban areas, sheet pile walls can form freestanding floodwalls.

Sheet pile walls can protect buildings from subsidence. In this case the sheet pile wall is driven outside the embankment. Nearby buildings are thus isolated from the embankment, thereby eliminating the most unfavourable interactions between it and them.

As a flood wall, a sheet pile wall can simply replace a flood embankment, without any reduction in performance. This option is of particular interest in ports or other locations where space is limited.

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flood defences
The sheet pile wall technique
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Flood Defences on River Thames
Palm Beach, Florida | USA
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Sheet pile walls – a highly advantageous constructive solution

For flood defence and canal-bank protection, sheet pile walls have a number of advantages.

Benefits of Sheet Pile Walls for Flood Defence and Bank Protection:

1. Cost-Effective and Efficient Construction: Sheet piles offer rapid installation and are manufactured under controlled conditions, saving both time and money. Construction can commence swiftly without major preparatory works.
2. Minimal Disturbance during Installation: Advanced vibratory pile drivers minimize disturbance, allowing for quiet installation, even in sensitive areas. Sheet pile walls can be driven from both land and water.
3. Regulation of Seepage: Sheet pile walls can control seepage by sealing interlocks for watertightness or incorporating weep holes to allow natural water flow, reducing hydraulic pressure on embankments.
4. Space-Saving Solution: Sheet pile walls are ideal for cramped construction sites, integrating seamlessly into landscapes while meeting aesthetic requirements.
5. Prevention of Hazards: Sheet pile walls eliminate risks from burrowing animals and root damage, preventing leakage paths and enabling embankment greening.

The sheet pile wall technique - the ideal choice

When choosing sheet pile sections, account must be taken of criteria with respect to both strength and the installation procedure. If the sheet piles are intended to form simply a watertight barrier, i.e. without any earth-retaining function, the choice of profiles will be based exclusively on installation and watertightness criteria. 

If, on the other hand, the sheet pile wall fulfils an earth-retaining function, the choice of profile will be based primarily on its geometrical characteristics. Obviously the designer will take account of other criteria (type of soil, installation procedure, etc.) which will determine the maximum sheet pile lengths that will not give rise to driving problems.

Sheet pile walls and landscaping – for creative natural settings

With steel sheet pile walls, the appearance of canal banks can be very natural, meeting not only aesthetic criteria but also economic and ecological requirements. Whether sheet pile walls serve as flood defences or as bank support, they have to fit as seamlessly as possible into the urban or rural landscape. They can be painted, clad with timber, brick, or stone, or masked by plants; suitable planting encourages the reestablishment of ecosystems which can be prejudiced by human intervention in the workings of nature.

Flood Defences on River Thames

Deptford Creek | UK

Ensuring Safety for 33,000 Households
Deptford Creek, nestled within the Thames Barrier, posed a significant flood risk to over 33,000 households. To address this, the Environment Agency targeted five critical Wharves along the creek for immediate replacement due to aging timber pile structures.

Manalapan Seawall

Storm Protection/Erosion Control | Palm Beach, Florida | USA

In the two decades following World War II, the luxurious resort area of West Palm Beach nearly doubled in population as veterans stationed at the local air base returned to the city to live at the end of the war. Located on the east coast of Florida along the Atlantic Ocean, large estates were built seaside in the town of Manalapan, creating breathtaking views of the barrier islands while facing up against the most active hurricane path in the world.