Secondary Compression of Municipal Solid Wastes and a Compression Model for Predicting Settlement of Municipal Solid Waste Landfills
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 5
Abstract
The estimation of the capacity and settlement of landfills is critical to successful site operation and future development of a landfill. This paper reports the results of a study on biodegradation behavior and the compression of municipal solid wastes. An experimental apparatus was developed which had a temperature-control system, a leachate recycling system, a loading system, and a gas and liquid collection system. Experiments were performed both with and without optimal biodegradation for comparative purposes. Test results indicated that settlement resulting from creep was relatively insignificant when the biodegradation process was inhibited. Compression due to decomposition under optimal biodegradation conditions was found to be much larger than compression associated with creep. The biodegradation process was significantly influenced by the operational temperature. A one-dimensional model is proposed for calculating settlement and estimating the capacity of the landfill under relatively optimal biodegradation conditions. The model was developed to accommodate the calculation of settlement in landfills when a multistep filling procedure was used. The calculation method is relatively simple and convenient for design purposes. Simulations of the physical processes showed that enhancing solid waste biodegradation during the filling stage can considerably increase the capacity of the landfill and reduce postclosure settlements.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers would like to acknowledge financial support from research grants (Grant Nos. UNSPECIFIED50538080 and UNSPECIFIED50978229) provided UNSPECIFIEDNational Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and in-kind support provided by the Hangzhou and Suzhou Environmental Protection Bureaus, China.
References
Al-Khafaji, A. W. N., and Andersland, O. B. (1981). “Compressibility and strength of decomposing fibre-clay soils.” Geotechnique, 31(4), 497–508.
Appels, L., Baeyens, J., Degrève, J., and Dewil, R. (2008). “Principles and potential of the anaerobic digestion of waste-activated sludge.” Prog. Energy Combust. Sci., 34(6), 755–781.
Barlaz, M. A., Schaefer, D. M., and Ham, R. K. (1989). “Bacterial population development and chemical characteristics of refuse decomposition in a simulated sanitary landfill.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 55(1), 55–65.
Benson, C. H., Barlaz, M. A., Lane, D. T., and Rawe, J. M. (2007). “Practice review of five bioreactor/recirculation landfills.” Waste Manage., 27(1), 13–29.
Bjarngard, A., and Edgers, L. (1990). “Settlement of municipal solid waste landfills.” Proc., 13th Annual Madison Waste Conf., Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., 192–205.
Chen, Y. M., Zhan, L. T., Wei, H. Y., and Ke, H. (2009). “Aging and compressibility of municipal solid wastes.” Waste Manage., 29(1), 86–95.
Coduto, D. P., and Huitric, R. (1990). “Monitoring landfill movements using precise instruments.” Geotechnics of waste fill—Theory and practice, ASTM STP1070, ASTM, West Conshohocken, Pa., 358–370.
Coumoulos, D. G., and Koryalos, T. P. (1997). “Prediction of attenuation of landfill settlement rates with time.” Proc., 4th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 3, International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Hamburg, Germany, 1807–1811.
Earth Technology Corporation. (1988). “In-place stability of landfill slope, Puente Hills landfill, Los Angeles County, California.” Rep. No. 88-614-1 Prepared for Los Angeles County Sanitation District, Earth Technology Corporation, Los Angeles.
Edgers, L., Nobel, J. J., and Williams, E. (1992). “A biologic model for long term settlement in landfills.” Proc., Mediterranean Conf. on Environmental Geotechnology, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 177–184.
Edil, T. B., Ranguette, V. J., and Wuellner, W. W. (1990). “Settlement of municipal refuse.” Geotechnics of waste fill-theory and practice, ASTM STP1070, ASTM, West Conshohocken, Pa., 225–239.
Elagroudy, S. A., Abdel-Razik, M. H., Warith, M. A., and Ghobrial, F. H. (2008). “Waste settlement in bioreactor landfill models.” Waste Manage. 28(11), 2366–2374.
Fassett, J. B., Leonards, G. A., and Repetto, P. C. (1994). “Geotechnical properties of municipal solid waste and their use in landfill design.” Rep. Prepared for Waste Tech’94, Charleston, S.C., Solid Waste Association of North America, Silver Springs, Md.
Gabr, M. A., Hossain, M. S., and Barlaz, M. A. (2000). “Solid waste settlement with leachate recirculation.” Geotech. News, 18(2), 50–55.
Gandolla, M., Dugnani, L., Bressi, G., and Acaia, C. (1992). “The determination of subsidence effects at municipal solid waste disposal sites.” Proc., 6th Int. Solid Wastes Congress—ISWA 92, Madrid, Spain, 1–17.
Halvadakis, C. P., Robertson, A. P., and Leckie, J. O. (1983). “Landfill methanogenesis: Literature review, and critique.” Technical Rep. No. 271, Environmental Engineering and Science, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Stanford Univ., Stanford, Calif.
Hossain, M. S., Gabr, M. A., and Barlaz, M. A. (2003). “Relationship of compressibility parameters to municipal solid waste decomposition.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 129(12), 1151–1157.
Hunte, C., Hettiaratchi, P., Meegoda, J. N., and Hettiarachchi, C. H. (2007). “Settlement of bioreactor landfills during filling operation.” Geo-Denver 2007: New peaks in geotechnics, Denver, ASCE, Reston, Va., 1–10.
Jain, P., Powell, J., Townsend, T., and Reinhart, D. (2005). “Air permeability of waste in a municipal solid waste landfill.” J. Environ. Eng., 131(11), 1565–1573.
Kavazanjian, E., Jr., Matasovic, N., Bonaparte, R., and Schmertmann, G. R. (1995). “Evaluation of MSW properties for seismic analysis.” Geoenvironment 2000, ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication No. 46, Vol. 2, ASCE, Reston, Va., 126–141.
Landva, A. O., Valsangkar, A. J., and Pelkey, S. G. (2000). “Lateral earth pressure at-rest and compressibility of municipal solid waste.” Can. Geotech. J., 37, 1157–1165.
Leonard, M. L., Floom, K. J., and Brown, S. (2000). “Estimating method and use of landfill settlement.” Proc., Geo-Denver 2000 on Environmental Geotechnics, ASCE, Reston, Va., 1–15.
Ling, H. I., Leshchinsky, D., Mohri, Y., and Kawabata, T. (1998). “Estimation of municipal solid waste landfill settlement.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 124(1), 21–28.
Marques, A. C. M., Filz, G. M., and Vilar, O. M. (2003). “Composite compressibility model for municipal solid waste.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 129(4), 372–379.
Park, H. I., and Lee, S. R. (1997). “Long-term settlement behavior of landfills with refuse decomposition.” J. Solid Waste Technol. Manage., 24(4), 159–165.
Park, I. I. H., Lee, S. R., and Do, N. Y. (2002). “Evaluation of decomposition effect on long-term settlement prediction for fresh municipal solid waste.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 128(2), 107–118.
Rao, S. K. (1974). “Prediction of settlement in landfills for foundation design purposes.” Ph.D. dissertation, Graduate School of West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, W.Va.
Rao, S. K., Moulton, L. K., and Seals, R. K. (1977). “Settlement of refuse landfills.” Geotechnical practice for disposal of solid waste materials, Ann Arbor, Mich., 574–599.
Sharma, H. D., and De, A. (2007). “Municipal solid waste landfill settlement: Postclosure perspectives.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 133(6), 619–629.
Sowers, G. F. (1973). “Settlement of waste disposal fills.” Proc., 8th Int. Conf. on Soil Mech. and Found. Engineering, Moscow, Vol. 2, 207–210.
Van Meerten, J. J., Sellmejer, J. B., and Pereboom, D. (1995). “Prediction of landfill settlements.” Proc., 5th Int. Fill Symp.—Sardinia 95, CISA, S. Margherita di Pula, Cagliari, Italy, 823–831.
Wall, D. K., and Zeiss, C. (1995). “Municipal landfill biodegradation and settlement.” J. Environ. Eng., 121(5), 457–487.
Yen, B. C., and Scalton, B. (1975). “Sanitary landfill settlement rates.” J. Geotech. Eng., 101(5), 475–487.
Zekkos, D., Bray, J. D., Kavazanjian, E., Jr., Matasovic, N., Rathje, E. M., Riemer, M. F., and Stokoe, K. H. II. (2006). “Unit weight of municipal solid waste.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(10), 1250–1261.
Zhan, L. T., Chen, Y. M., and Ling, W. A. (2008). “Shear strength characterization of municipal solid waste at the Suzhou landfill, China.” Eng. Geol., 97, 97–111.
Zimmerman, R. E., Chen, W. W. H., and Franklin, A. G. (1977). “Mathematical model for solid waste settlement.” Proc., Conf. on Geotechnical Practice for Disposal of Solid Waste Materials, Ann Arbor, Mich., 210–226.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 5 • May 2010
Pages: 706 - 717
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 2, 2008
Accepted: Oct 22, 2009
Published online: Apr 15, 2010
Published in print: May 2010
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.