Eemdijk full-scale field test programme: sheet pile pullover tests (TProgramme d’essai terrain à taille réelle Eemdijk: essais de déformation et de rupture de murs palplanches)

Dikes in the Netherlands have traditionally been constructed with soil. Climate change and sub-sidence requires heightening and or reinforcing of these existing ground dikes. Traditional reinforcements de-mand additional space, which in some cases conflicts with existing buildings. Applying sheet pile walls in dikes allows for strengthening while minimizing the increase in footprint. However, a validated design approach that complies with relevant regulations lacks. To enable the validation of a proposed design approach, a full-scale field test programme (Eemdijkproef) was performed near the town of Eemdijk, The Netherlands. It consisted of a step wise approach: 1) sheet pile pullover tests, 2) ground dike stability test, 3) sheet pile dike stability test. All tests were loaded until failure occurred. The full-scale pullover tests (POT) consisted of 4 sheet pile configura-tions. The length of the sheet piles varies between 13 and 16m and the width of the panel varies between 1.8 and 4.2m. Both Z- and U-profiles have been tested. This paper presents the test setup, monitoring, measurements and first findings. The test program provides better insight in the soil-structure interaction of an embedded sheet pile in soft soil. Ultimately this will lead to a validated design approach for sheet pile walls in dikes.