| Criteria | LEM | SSI-SRM | SSI-FEM |
| Dimension | 2D | 2D | 2D & 3D |
| Modeling of soil, ISS, and soil-wall inter-face | Absence of soil modeling, direct utilization of earth pressure and limit constraints Absence of Interaction Soil Structures (ISS) Incorporation of interface roughness | No soil modeling Simplified modeling of Interaction with Soil Structures (ISS) with the possibility of different reaction laws Consideration of the Retaining Wall’s roughness (interface) | Rigorous soil modeling with the possibility of different behavior laws Consideration of Interaction with Soil Structures (ISS) Interface modeling |
| Modeling of the sheet pile structure | Modeled as a beam Suited for rigid Retaining Wall | Beam Rigid and Flexible Retaining Wall | Beam or solid element Rigid and Flexible Retaining Wall |
| Modeling of tie rods/buttresses | Simple supports Only one layer of tie or strut allowed | Elastic Spring Multiple layers of tie or strut allowed | Bar element with boundary conditions at the anchor block Multiple bearing layers allowed |
| Incorporation of phasing | Not appropriate for this analysis | Possibility of integration | Possibility of integration |
| Computation | Strength of Materials approach for Elastic analysis | Nonlinear Analysis Analytical approach using differential equation solving Numerical approach using Finite Element (FE) or Discrete Element (DE) solving | Beam or solid element Rigid and Flexible Retaining Wall |
| Results | Bending Moment Shear Force Support Reaction | Bending Moment Shear Force Support Reaction Displacement of retaining wall | Bending Moment Shear Force Support Reaction Displacement of retaining wall Upstream Settlement |