Eighth International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Evaluation of Field Scale Unsaturated Soil Behavior of Landfill Cover through Geophysical Testing and Instrumentation
Publication: Geo-Congress 2019: Geoenvironmental Engineering and Sustainability (GSP 312)
ABSTRACT
Evapotranspiration (ET) landfill covers are an emerging final cover system in contrast to the widely implemented conventional practice for landfill closure. Performance of an ET cover primarily depends on the site-specific factors such as on-site climatological conditions, soil hydraulic properties, and native vegetation. The variation of soil moisture and matric suction (SWCC) due to the fluctuation in the environmental parameters, mainly precipitation and temperature, may affect the ET cover performance. The objective of the current study was to investigate the change in soil moisture and matric suction using resistivity imaging (RI) technique. The study was conducted on a test section final cover (lysimeter) in the city of Denton landfill. Installed sensors in the lysimeter at different depths measured moisture content and matric suction of the cover soil. Electrical resistivity testing was performed in the field at regular interval across the positions of the sensors. Based on the field instrumentation and geophysical measurement, the change in electrical resistivity with moisture content and matric suction was investigated. The results indicated a significant relationship between soil resistivity and unsaturated soil behavior (SWCC), especially at lower resistivity values. The relationships were also described using the Van Genuchten model. However, a significant difference was observed at higher resistivity values. The field investigation results showed the electrical resistivity imaging technique to be a potential geophysical method to quantify and evaluate the field unsaturated behavior of evapotranspiration cover.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geo-Congress 2019: Geoenvironmental Engineering and Sustainability (GSP 312)
Pages: 1 - 11
Editors: Christopher L. Meehan, Ph.D., University of Delaware, Sanjeev Kumar, Ph.D., Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Miguel A. Pando, Ph.D., University of North Carolina Charlotte, and Joseph T. Coe, Ph.D., Temple University
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8214-8
Copyright
© 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Mar 21, 2019
Published in print: Mar 21, 2019
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