Abstract
It has long been recognized that the 'classical' methods of design for 'free earth support' result in relatively large bending moments in the steel sheet piling. Which are often arbitrarily reduced by many designers on the basis of 'soil arching' in granular soils. Designing for 'fixed earth support' by the 'classical' deflection line method is tedious. These methods and nine others, two of which are new are applied to four walls in order to compare the basic criteria of maximum bending moment in the steel sheet piling, anchorage load per unit length of wall and depth of sheet pile penetration, resulting from each. Design complexity and design time required are other factors which are explored, bearing in mind that unless construction cost incentives exist there is little merit in any new method which is longer or more complex than established methods. The versions of the four walls resulting from each design method are costed to establish whether financial incentives exist to abandon the classical methods of design in favour of one or more of the newer methods.