Effects of Leachate Recirculation System Variables on Long-Term Bioreactor Landfill Performance Using Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Bio-mechanical Model
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21, Issue 5
Abstract
This study will apply a newly developed coupled thermo-hydro-bio-mechanical (CTHBM) numerical model to a typical full-scale landfill cell geometry with horizontal trenches (HTs) as the leachate recirculation system (LRS) and will evaluate the effect of the leachate injection pressure (IP), the horizontal spacing of the leachate injection locations (IS), and the mode of leachate injection (IM), on some of the major long-term hydraulic (e.g., wetted area), mechanical (e.g., differential waste settlement), biochemical [e.g., methane (CH4) gas production], and thermal (e.g., elevated temperatures) characteristics of bioreactor landfills. Based on the results from a series of numerical simulations with different IP, IS, and IM, it was determined that the variable IP had the most significant impact on the landfill performance compared with IS or IM. Higher IPs lead to a linear increase in the wetted area and a corresponding increase in the degraded waste area, thereby reducing the time taken for waste stabilization. However, an increase in IP leads to larger elevated temperature zones within the landfill and larger differential settlements on the landfill surface. Larger IS caused significantly higher differential waste settlements due to the formation of unwetted zones within the landfill cell. Increasing the duration of gaps between the intermittent injection periods significantly reduced the extent of elevated temperature zones formed within the landfill. The relative shear displacements in the geosynthetic interface in the bottom liner and final cover system were mainly influenced by the IP.
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Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) (CMMI #1537514), Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF), and the Itasca Education Program by Itasca Consulting Group Inc. (ICGI). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the EREF, ICGI, or NSF. Special thanks to Dr. Christine Detournay for her valuable guidance in using the FLAC code in this study.
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International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21 • Issue 5 • May 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Aug 19, 2020
Accepted: Nov 28, 2020
Published online: Mar 10, 2021
Published in print: May 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Aug 10, 2021
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