Austin's geology is deceptive. One block you have competent limestone, the next you are in soft Taylor Marl or alluvial clay along the creeks. We have seen projects stall because the sheet pile wall design assumed uniform ground conditions. That is a costly mistake. Our approach starts with a site-specific soil profile using SPT and Atterberg data. Before evaluating the wall embedment depth we often run a georradar-gpr survey to map buried rock pinnacles. This prevents driving piles into unexpected refusal or, worse, voids. We also cross-check groundwater levels against seasonal creek stages. The design must account for the perched water zones common in the Austin Chalk formation. Every wall we design is anchored on real soil parameters, not textbook assumptions.
We design sheet pile walls based on measured soil strength, not default values. One borehole can save you a failed excavation wall.