In-Situ Temperature Monitoring of Geomembranes

An important aspect of understanding a polymer material's long term performance is knowing the environmental conditions that it will experience during its service life. A key environmental condition for a geomembrane (as well as other geosynthetics) is its insitu temperature. Using thermocouples attached to geomembrane liners and covers at two landfills containing municipal solid waste, long-term temperature data has been obtained. Furthermore, the monitoring has been conducted at both dry (conventional) and wet (bioreactor) landfills. Data indicates that liner temperatures beneath the solid waste at dry landfills are lower than at wet landfills. Cover temperatures, however, are controlled by ambient temperatures at the site and show a pronounced annual cyclic behavior. Temperature monitoring under all four conditions is ongoing.