ABSTRACT
As the interlock of U type ArcelorMittal steel sheet pile wall is located on the neutral axis, where the shear stress is maximum, it is very important that the connection is solid and strong enough to transfer the shear stress from one pile to the other. A solution is to crimp the interlock to guarantee the shear force transmission. Nowadays the shear resistance of the crimped sheet piles is limited by the power of the crimping press and the occurrence of cracks in the crimped areas. Furthermore, the value can only be obtained by mechanical testing, which should be performed for each sheet pile profile. ArcelorMittal R&D developed a numerical model that simulates the crimping mechanism, as well as the shear (compression) test used to determine the shear resistance and stiffness. This Abaqus® model was calibrated and validated using a wide range of experimental data of crimping tests and compression tests performed at the mills in Belval (LU) and Dabrowa (PL). Based on numerous numerical results, correlations were developed and verified between the different influencing parameters and the effectiveness of the tool (crimping force, tool displacement, final depth of the crimped point, shear force, tool massiveness…). These formulas present a simplified method to calculate the shear resistance of each performed crimping point along the sheet pile length.
