Technical solutions by

Hat-type Steel Sheet Piles

for enhancing safety and productivity in construction

Nobuyuki MATSUI, Manager

(B. Eng.(Civil), MSc(Civil), Welding Engineer(JWES1)
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal
Southeast Asia Pte. Ltd. ,Singapore
 Today’s Topics

1. Outline of Hat-type steel sheet piles

2. Design Consideration for sheet pile in Eurocode

3. 4 point bending test for Hat type sheet pile

4. Combined Sheet Pile using HAT type sheet Pile

 Types of steel sheet Piles
・Type
U type Ⅲ

400

Hat type
・NS-SP-10H

900
■ Characteristic of Hat-type sheet piles

・Effective width is 900mm

(Maximum in the world as rolled piles)
・Direction of piling are same
・Slender and effective section
 Benefit of applying Hat-type sheet Piles

1．Rapid construction
- Installed combined pile which has 900mm width sheet pile
2．Reduction of steel weight of walls
- Slender section and 100% full sectional performance
3．Utility for any requirements
- Assorted section type and high applicability

HAT type sheet piles can make

construction affordable
 U-Type Sheet Pile -Conventional type-
U-type steel sheet pile Robust
 Hat-type steel sheet pile
■ Hat-Type Steel Sheet Pile Slender/Compact/Affordable

HAT-Type
10H 25H

13.2
10.8

300
230

900 900
U-Type
45H 50H

17
15

370
368

900 900
45% number of piles reduction

1) Effective width is 900mm,

the widest rolled sheet pile in the world.
2) Reduce the number of sheet piles,
construction period and cost.
 Application of Hat-type steel sheet piles
Temporary wall Quay wall

River Revetment Retaining wall

 Interlock integrity of sheet pile
600mm

U-wide Type(U600）[Ⅱw]

400mm

U Type(U400）[Ⅱ]
Neutral axis of each piles and that of interlocked wall are equivalent

900mm
Hat Type(Hat900）[10H]
Slip at Joint
y1
e
600mm y y0
M
Neutral
実際の中立軸 axis
Neutral
U-wide
鋼矢板1枚でのaxis
Type(U600）[Ⅱw]
of practical wall
of中立軸
pile

PRACTICAL STATE STATE B STATE A

400mm
 U-type wall transmits longitudinal shear force to adjacent piles at interlocks. If the shear
U Type(U400）[Ⅱ]
force is not transmitted properly due to slippage at interlocks, moment capacity of the wall
should be reduced and the wall deflection will increase.
 Hat-type wall is not necessary to be considered this effects because the interlocks are
located on the outermost part of the wall where the shear force is negligible
 Types of steel sheet piles in Eurocode
■ Eurocode 3 - Design of Steel Structures- Part 5: Piling
 Reduction factor for U-type sheet piles

 Design moment resistance in the Eurocode

Class 1 or 2 Class 3

M c,Rd  BWpl f y  M0 M c,Rd  BWel f y  M0

where :
Wel is the elastic section modulus determined for a continuous wall;
Wpl is the plastic section modulus determined for a continuous wall;
γM0 Partial safety factor (=1.0)
βB is a reduction factor that account for a possible lack of shear force
transmission in the interlocks.
βB = 1.0 for Z-piles and triple U-piles
βB ≤ 1.0 for single and double U-piles 10
 Reduction factor for U-type sheet piles

 Design effective flexural stiffness in the Eurocode

 EI eff   D  EI 
where:
I is the second moment of area of the continuous wall
E is Young’s modulus
βD is to account for the possible reduction due to insufficient shear force
transmission in the interlock.
βD = 1.0 for Z-piles and triple U-piles
βD ≤ 1.0 for single and double U-piles

The numerical value for βB and βD are given in the National Annex.

11
 Reduction factor for U-type sheet piles
 Reduction factor for U-type sheet piles in the National Annex

Reduction factor βB and βD

Number of Highly
Type of U-pile Unfavorable Favorable
structural unfavorable
unit conditions conditions
support levels conditions
βB βD βB βD βB βD
0 0.40 0.30 0.50 0.35 0.60 0.40
Singles or
uncrimped 1 0.55 0.35 0.60 0.40 0.70 0.45
doubles
>1 0.65 0.45 0.70 0.50 0.80 0.55
0 0.70 0.60 0.75 0.65 0.80 0.70
Crimped or
welded 1 0.80 0.70 0.85 0.75 0.95 0.80
doubles
>1 0.90 0.80 0.95 0.85 1.00 0.90

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 Reduction factor for U-type sheet piles
 Countermeasures for enhancing the reduction factor

 Interlocks not treated with sealants or lubricants

• βB may be increased by 0.05 (to a maximum value of 1.0)
• βD may be increased by 0.05 (to a maximum value of 1.0)

 Welding near the wall top

• βB may be increased by 0.1, 0.15 or 0.2 respectively for highly
unfavorable, unfavorable and favorable conditions ( to a maximum
value of 1.0)
• βD may be increased by 0.15, 0.2 or 0.25 respectively for highly
unfavorable, unfavorable and favorable conditions ( to a maximum
value of 1.0)

13
 Influence of interlock integrity
70000
Moment of Inersia per 1m wall width(m3/m)

60000
50H
50000
45H ▽23％
40000 Joint efficiency
=0.6
30000 25H ⅤL
▽34％

20000
10H ▽36％ Ⅳ
10000
Ⅲ
0 Ⅱ
80 120 160 200 240
Unit weight per 1m wall width (kg/m2)

Hat type sheet pile can be reduce the steel weight

 Recommendation to Hat-type sheet piles

Similar with Z-type piles, for a wall using Hat-type steel piles, the
reduction factors are NOT required (βB = 1.0 , βD = 1.0 ) because
interlocks are located at the most outer edge of the wall, which
means that the shear force does not occur in the interlocks.
 Structural Test Plan （NTU in Singapore)
• Place : Nanyang Technological University
(Supervised by Dr. Chiew Sing-Ping)
• Machinery : 100t Compression machine
• Specimen : Hat-type sheet pile (10H×2 piles)
(Manufactured in Japan)
• Measurement: Load, Displacement, Strain
P/2 P/2

2300 1000 1000 2300

• Dimension
Type NS-SP-10H
Grade SYW295
Pile Length(m) 8
Moment of Inertia
18,860
(cm4/2piles)
Section Modulus
1,624
(cm3/2piles)
Material Yield Strength
295
(MPa)
 Behavior of Hat-type (NTU in Singapore)

■ After the loading on the sheet piles

Interlocking position after

the loading

• The flexural behavior exceeding yield strength could be verified.

• There is no evidence of any slippage at the interlock between
the 2 piles.
 Bending Test Results (NTU in Singapore)

■ Load-Deflection behavior
800

Pmax=694kN
700

600
Calculated Plastic Load
500
Load(kN)

Calculated Yield Load

400

300

200

100 Theoritical Elastic line

Tested curve
0 NTU FEM(ABAQUS)
0 50 100 150 200 250
Vertical displacement at center(mm)
• Flexural rigidity in elastic range was equivalent to the theoretical one
• The section kept elastic by its calculated plastic load
 Bending Test Results (NTU in Singapore)

■ Strain distribution along cross section at center

250 201kN
402kN
601kN
200

150
Neutral Line

100
Arrangement of strain gages

50

0
-4000 -3000 -2000 -1000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000
strain at Center(μ)
Strain was distributed from above to bottom and the value
become 0 at neutral line so the Navier hypothesis is applicable
 Additional concerns of sheet piles

• In case of Hat-type sheet pile

(for SYW295)

Hat type sheet pile can be evaluated as Class2 section in Eurocode

 Sectional performance of Hat-type

1. It was verified that strength exceeded its design value

• Flexural rigidity in elastic range was equivalent to the theoretical one
• After the yielding, plastic behavior can be obtained without the decline of
strength by buckling

2. Hat type sheet pile can be expected 100% of its sectional

performance.
• There is no evidence of any slippage at the interlock between the 2 piles.
3. Based on above results, Hat-type sheet pile should be
considered its full sectional performance and evaluated as Class
2 in Eurocode
 Other Hat-type sheet piles
■ Solutions for narrow working space
NS-SP-J

• NS-SP-J can minimize working space.

It can be unnecessary to relocate existing
structure such as residences.
• Interlock integrity can be treated as 100%
because the interlocks locates on outermost

Improvement Drainage in Singapore(Roselane)

New Application of Steel Pipe Pile(HAT+H)
- High stiffness sheet pile-

H-beam

Fillet
welding
(partial)

Steel sheet piles

(Hat-type)
 High Stiffness & Effective Section
■ Moment of Inertia 1) Composite Section
1200
Flexural Test Result
1000

Bending Moment (kNm)

800

600
Theoretical Yield Moment

Hat + H 400

200
Experimental Value
Calculated Value
0
U-type 0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015
Curvature (1/m)
2) 100% Joint Efficiency Neutral
Axis of wall
Flexural Test
Neutral
Axis of pile
Neutral
Axis
 Numerous sectional properties
■ Optimization of design 【2 Sheet pile & 1 H beam combined type】
【1 Sheet pile & 1 H beam combined type】
 Easy Fabrication in Construction Site
In Singapore (2014)

In Indonesia (2013)

 Fabrication manual

In Indonesia (2013)

• 40-60% of Pile length expected to

be welded by Fillet Welding
• The Procedure can be referred to
Fabrication Manual by NSSMC
 Comparison with conventional walls
Type U-Type + Soldier Pile Hat+H

Outline

H beam section:UB610×229×243 HAT + H

Spec.
U type steel sheet pile FSP-Ⅳ 10H + HY700×250×12×19

256kg/m(0.7 : Z equivalent)
Unit weight 342kg/m(1.0)
173kg/m(0.5 : I equivalent)
2 Piles InstalIation 1 Pile InstalIation
Installation Installed U-type and soldier pile Installed HAT and H
separately at the same time
 Development for HAT+H in Singapore
-Piling test- -Publish technical papers-
Thank you very much
for your kind attention