Seismic Response of a Composite Landfill Cover
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 4
Abstract
The Olympic View Sanitary Landfill (OVSL) near Port Orchard, Washington, is a modern solid waste sanitary landfill covered, in part, by a composite cover system. The site was subjected to a free-field peak horizontal ground acceleration on the order of 0.16 g during the 28 February 2001 Moment Magnitude 6.8 Nisqually earthquake. To the knowledge of the writers, this is the first documented case history of a composite landfill cover shaken by strong ground motions. Postearthquake reconnaissance did not find any signs of earthquake-induced permanent displacement of the composite cover system. Accelerograms recorded within 1 km of the facility, the results of site-specific shear wave velocity measurements and laboratory interface shear testing, and these postearthquake observations provide a unique opportunity for a posteriori numerical analysis of this important case history. The seismic performance of the OVSL composite cover system was evaluated using four commonly used methods for seismic design of landfill cover systems. These methods include two simple screening procedures, a more rigorous screening procedure, and a decoupled equivalent-linear site response/Newmark-type permanent deformation analysis using the accelerograms recorded at the nearby strong motion station. The yield accelerations of the composite cover system, required for all four methods, were calculated using the results of construction quality assurance interface shear strength conformance testing. All four methods produce results consistent with the observed performance. However, the two simple screening procedures were significantly more conservative than the other two more rigorous methods.
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Acknowledgments
The help of Guy R. Petraborg of Waste Management, Inc., in collecting and interpreting the landfill history and construction data is gratefully acknowledged. Kenneth H. Stokoe, III and Ellen Rathje of the University of Texas at Austin and their co-workers measured shear wave velocities at the site as a part of collaborative GeoSyntec/University of Texas, Austin/University of California, Berkeley research project on the Static and Dynamic Properties of Municipal Solid Waste funded by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. CMS 0220159). The writers would also like to acknowledge the constructive comments and diligence of Tarik Hadj-Hamou and Ismail Karatas of GeoSyntec Consultants in reviewing and editing the manuscript, and Dennis P. Baker of Waste Management, Inc. who assisted with postearthquake reconnaissance.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 4 • April 2006
Pages: 448 - 455
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 22, 2004
Accepted: Apr 25, 2005
Published online: Apr 1, 2006
Published in print: Apr 2006
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