Service Life of a High-Density Polyethylene Geomembrane under Simulated Landfill Conditions at 85°C
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 11
Abstract
The time to rupture of a 1.5-mm-thick high-density polyethylene geomembrane aged in a typical landfill composite liner configuration is investigated under a pressure of 250 kPa at 85°C. The geomembrane was underlain with a geosynthetic clay liner and had a needle-pinched nonwoven geotextile protection layer separating it from 50 mm of drainage gravel containing leachate. Seventeen (0.6-m-diameter) tests were conducted. In addition to 9 months required to deplete antioxidants (Stage I), the tests indicated a lag period (Stage II) of 5.5 months and a time from the start of degradation to rupture (Stage III) of 20 months, giving a total inferred time to rupture of 34.5 months (2.9 years). There were up to 61 brittle ruptures per sample (i.e., ). The ruptures were predominately oriented in the machine direction and located (1) directly beneath a gravel contact, (2) at the side of a gravel indentation, or (3) between gravel indentations. The ruptures between gravel indentations were the least frequent but largest. The calculated strains perpendicular to the rupture direction were . Rupture occurred, although the average stress-crack resistance for all ruptured geomembrane samples still was approximately , with a minimum of 360 h. These results indicate the importance of minimizing tensile strains in the geomembrane in the design of a liner system.
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Acknowledgments
The research presented in this paper was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and used equipment provided by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. The support of the Killam Trust in the form of a Killam Fellowship to Dr. Rowe is gratefully acknowledged. The authors appreciate the value of the discussion with and the contribution to the general testing program of Dr. M. Z. Islam and also are thankful to C. Mitchell and B. Muller for their help in constructing and maintaining the GLLS tests. Special thanks go to the authors’ industrial partners, Solmax International (which donated the GMBs used in this study), Terrafix Geosynthetics, Inc., Terrafix Environmental Technologies, Inc., TAG Environmental, Inc., Ontario Ministry of Environment, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, AECOM, AMEC Earth and Environmental, Golder Associates, Ltd., Knight-Piesold, and CTT Group, for their participation in and contributions to the overarching project; however, the opinions expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 11 • November 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 29, 2014
Accepted: Jun 27, 2014
Published online: Jul 28, 2014
Published in print: Nov 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Dec 28, 2014
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