Partially saturation effect on fine sands and earth pressure in a sheetpile wall

Generally, the effects of suction in fine sands can be evidenced by a stiffening of the material, as the capillary front advances in the granular skeleton. In geotechnical retention structures this effect can be translated in an increasing of earth pressure, which is not normally considered in geotechnical designs. This study analyzes the capillary effects by implementing a physical modelling in centrifuge and a numerical simulation, using different constitutive models that involve suction within the analysis. The modelling is based on a structure of retention in sheetpiles built on a real scale. Some factors that affect both physical and numerical modelling were taken into account and should be considered in the analysis of the results obtained and, in the comparisons, carried out by both methodologies. As a point of interest, numerical modelling showed less dispersion in the results obtained than physical modelling, these and other aspects are analyzed in the document.