Design Method for Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Liner System Subjected to Sinkhole Cavity under Landfill Site
Publication: Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 9, Issue 4
Abstract
Current design of municipal solid waste landfill liner systems utilizes granular and normally consolidated soil with geosynthetics materials to provide the required environmental and public health protection. Liner systems are required to isolate the waste from the natural subsoil and groundwater. The effect of land subsidence caused by sinkholes is an important design factor for municipal solid waste landfill liner systems. A high potential for sinkhole effects is evident in the central Florida area due to the geological conditions. Sinkhole occurrence under the landfill can cause ultimate failure of the liner system, thus allowing contamination of the natural subsoil and groundwater. The liner system becomes the sole base to bridge the cavity and withstand the overburden pressure. Failure of the liner system becomes a function of the geosynthetic yield strength and its maximum allowable deformation. In this study, the design of landfill liner system for implementation above sinkholes is based on soil arching the tension member theories. It is assumed that the natural subsurface soil deforms across a developing void thereby forming an arch. The design procedure accounts for the cumulative effects of soil types as single or multiple layers with geosynthetic materials. A series of charts are developed for various sizes of sinkhole cavity versus strength parameters of typical soils used in landfill liner systems design. Design examples of single layer and multiple layer liner systems are presented. Recommendations for future landfill design projects by government, industry, and geosynthetic manufactures are also made.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Beck, B. F., and Sinclair, W. C. (1986). Sinkholes in Florida, an introduction, Florida Sinkhole Research Institute, Orlando, Fla.
Berg, R. R., and Collin, J. G. (1993). “Design of landfill liners over yielding foundations.” Proc., Geosynthetics 1993 Conference Vancouver, Canada, 1439–1454.
Giroud, J. P. (1981). “Designing with geotextiles.” Mater. Constr. (Paris), 14(82), 257–272.
Giroud, J. P. (1995). “Determination of geoysnthetic strain due to deflection.” Geosynthet. Int., 2(3), 635–641.
Giroud, J. P., Bonaparte, R., Beech, J. F., and Gross, B. A. (1990). “Design of soil layer-goesynthetic systems overlaying voids.” Geotextiles and Geomembranes 9(1), 11–50.
Handy, R. L. (1985). “The arch in soil arching.” J. Geotech. Eng., 111(3), 302–318.
Henry, J. G., and Heinke, G. W. (1989). Environmental science and engineering, Prentice–Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Jaky, J. (1944). “The coefficient of earth pressure at rest.” Journal of the Society of Hungarian Architects and Engineers, 7, 355–358.
Koerner, R. M. (1994). Designing with geosynthetics, 3rd Ed., Prentice–Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Koerner, R. M., and Hwu, B.-L. (1991). “Stability and tension considerations regarding cover soils on geomembrane lined slopes.” Geotextiles and Geomembranes 10(4), 335–356.
Koerner, R. M., Koerner, G. R., and Hwu, B. L. (1990). “Three dimensional, axi-symmetric geomembrane tension test.” ASTM Special Technical Publication 1081, R. M. Koerner, ed., Philadelphia, 170–184.
Merry, S. M., Bray, J. D., and Bourdeau, P. L. (1993). “Axisymmetric tension testing of geomembranes.” Geotech. Test. J., 16(3), 384–392.
Merry, S. M., Bray, J. D., and Bourdeau, P. L. (1995). “Stress-strain compatibility of geomembranes subjected to subsidence.” Proc., Geosynthetics 1995 Conf., Tenn., 799–812.
National Center for Resource Recovery, Inc. (1974). Sanitary landfill, a state of the art study, Lexington Books, Boston.
Oweis, I. S., and Khera, R. P. (1990). Geotechnology of waste management, Butterworths, London.
Tchobanoglous, G., Theisen, H., and Eliassen, R. (1997). Solid wastes engineering principles and management issues, McGraw–Hill, New York.
Wang, M. C., Feng, Y. X., and Jao, M. (1996). “Stability of geosynthetic-reinforced soil above a cavity.” Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 14, 95–109.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 9 • Issue 4 • October 2005
Pages: 281 - 291
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 15, 2005
Accepted: May 13, 2005
Published online: Oct 1, 2005
Published in print: Oct 2005
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.