Analytical Solution for Diffusion of VOCs through Composite Landfill Liners
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 9
Abstract
Analytical solutions are presented for analyzing volatile organic compound (VOC) diffusion through intact composite landfill liners for two scenarios with boundary conditions at the base of either a VOC concentration of zero or a VOC mass flux of zero. A time-dependent concentration top boundary condition is included in the presented analytical solutions to model typical variations of VOC concentration in the leachate over time. The presented solutions are verified against alternative numerical solutions and applied to analyze dichloromethane diffusion through a composite liner. The analytical solutions are found to provide useful predictions of VOC concentration and mass flux for the design of composite liners. VOC concentrations and fluxes at the base of the composite liner at 30 years predicted by consideration of representative transient variation in leachate concentration, for an example problem, are nearly half of those when a constant leachate concentration assumed.
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Acknowledgments
The financial support received from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under Grant No. EPSRC-GBEP/C532651/2 and from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant Nos. NSFC51009121 and NSFC51010008 is gratefully acknowledged.
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© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 15, 2010
Accepted: Jan 7, 2011
Published online: Jan 10, 2011
Published in print: Sep 1, 2011
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