The double-row steel sheet pile cofferdams are widely used in river engineering in Shanghai.To study the deformation characteristics of this type of cofferdam,we establish the Plaxis finite element model to analyze the effects of the cofferdam width to height ratio,the steel sheet pile insertion ratio,the type of the steel sheet pile and the tie rod arrangement.The results show that increasing the width-height ratio of cofferdam can effectively reduce the horizontal displacement of the steel sheet piles,and the suggested values of the width-height ratio are given for different water retaining heights.It is recommended to set the insertion ratio of steel sheet pile as 1.1~1.5 when the water retaining height is about 4 m.The cofferdam can be arranged with only one tie rod and there exists an optimal position to ensure the overall deformation coordination of the steel sheet piles.This research may serve as reference for the design of double-row steel sheet pile cofferdam.