Levees in the Netherlands have traditionally been constructed from soil. Climate change and land subsidence require heightening and/or reinforcing these existing levees. Traditional reinforcements demand additional space, which in some cases conflicts with existing buildings. Applying sheet pile walls in levees allows for strengthening while minimizing needed footprint. However, a validated design approach that complies with relevant regulations lacked. To enable validation, a full-scale field test programme has been performed near the town of Eemdijk (The Netherlands). This has resulted in better insight in the soil-structure interaction of the structurally reinforced levee, on soft soil, loaded by high water and uplift conditions. This paper describes the rationale behind the test setup and operation of the test programme in relation to the current design codes and guidelines. First the set of knowledge questions to be resolved is considered. These questions gave direction to the type of failure tests, the required instrumentation and the impact of conclusions.@en

Dikes in the Netherlands have traditionally been constructed with soil. Climate change and subsidence requires heightening and or reinforcing these existing dikes. Traditional reinforcements demand 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 two similar test dikes were constructed at full scale (5m high, 25m wide, 60m long). In one dike an 18m long sheet pile wall was installed. This paper presents the test setup, monitoring, measurements and first findings. The test program provides better insight in the soil-structure interaction of the reinforced dike, on soft soil, under high water and uplift conditions. Ultimately this will lead to a validated design approach for sheet pile walls in dikes.@en

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.@en

In Nederland werken Rijk en waterschappen in-tensief samen om via o.a. dijkversterkingen het land te beschermen tegen overstromingen. Binnen het huidige dijkversterkingsprogramma betreft het aantal kilometers te versterken dijk vanwege onvoldoende dijkstabiliteit 287 km, waarvan aan 69.5 km een hoge urgentie is toegekend en opgenomen in de programmering 2015-2020. @en