SANITARY LANDDILLS

Rusal Salman
 SANITARY LANDDILLS
• Sanitary landfills: are becoming the major sites for solid waste
disposal. The geotechnical engineer's role waste disposal includes:
• 1-Evaluation of physical and chemical materials properties.
• 2-Design and supervision during construction of disposal facilities.
• 3- Monitoring of facilities during operation to ensure satisfactory
performance, and
• 4- Evaluation of potential and uses after completion of disposal
operation.
• The landfill Materials: interact with moisture received from rainfall
and snow to from a liquid called (Leachate). The chemical
composition of leachates varies widely, depending on the waste
material involved.
• Construction of foundations over sanitary landfills is generally
problematic because of poisonous gases, excessive settlement and
low inherent bearing capacity.
• Sanitary landfills provide away to dispose of
refuse on land without endangering public
health. Sanitary landfills are used in almost all
countries, to varying degree of success. The
refuse disposed of in sanitary landfills may
contain organic, wood, paper and fiber wastes,
or demolition wastes such as bricks and stones.
The refuse is dumped and compacted at frequent
intervals and is then covered with a layer of soil,
as shown in Figure below.
• Das, 2002 enormous amount of solid waste are
generated every year in United States and other
industrialized countries. These waste material can
in general ,be classified into four major categories:
• 1- Municipal waste
• 2- Industrial waste
• 3- Hazardous waste
• 4- Low-level radioactive waste
• Leachates: are a main source of groundwater
pollution, therefore they must be contained
properly in all landfills, surface impoundments,
and waste piles within some type of liner system.
• In compacted state, the range unit weight of refuse
may vary between (5- 10) kN/m^3
 Landfills liner system
• Compaction of clay soil for clay linear construction
• Single clay linear and single geomembrane linear system
• Double liners and systems for leachate collection and removal.
• Compaction of clay soil for clay linear construction

• To prevent groundwater pollution from leachates generated from

solid waste disposal Sites, requires that clay liners have a hydraulic
conductivity of cm/sec or less. To achieve this value, the contractor
must ensure that the soil meets the following criteria
• The soil should have at least 20% fines (fine silt and clay-sized
particles)
• The plasticity index (PI) should be greater than 10. Soils that have
a PI greater than about 30 are difficult to work with in the field
• The soil should not include more than 10% gravel-sized particles.
• The soil should not contain any particles or chunks of
rock that are larger than 25 to 50 mm (1 to 2 in.).
• the soil found at the construction site may be somewhat
non-plastic. Such soil may be blended with imported
clay minerals (like sodium bentonite) to achieve the
desired range of hydraulic conductivity.
• during field compaction, a heavy sheep's foot roller can
introduce larger shear strains during compaction that
create a more dispersed structure in the soil. This type
of compacted soil will have an even lower hydraulic
conductivity. Small lifts should be used during
compaction so that the feet of the compactor can
penetrate the full depth of the lift.
 Geosynthetics
• • Geotextiles
• • Geomembranes
• • Geogrids
• • Geonets
• • Geocomposites
• Each type of geosynthetic performs one or more of the
following five major functions:
• 1. Separation
• 2. Reinforcement
• 3. Filtration
• 4. Drainage
• 5. Moisture barrier
Geosynthetics
 Single clay liner system for a landfill.
• It consists primarily of a compacted clay liner
over the native foundation soil. The thickness of
the compacted clay liner varies between 0.9 and
1.8 m (3 and 6 ft).
• The maximum required hydraulic conductivity, k,
is cm/sec. Over the clay liner is a layer of gravel
with perforated pipes for leachate collection and
removal. Over the gravel layer is a layer of filter
soil.
• The filter is used to protect the holes in the
perforated pipes against the movement of fine soil
particles. In most cases, the filter is medium
coarse to
• fine sandy soil. It is important to note that this
system does not have any leak-detection
capability.
• Single layers of geomembranes also were used as
a liner material for landfill sites. The
geomembrane is laid over native foundation soil.
Over the geomembrane is a layer of gravel with
perforated pipes for leachate collection and
removal. A layer of filter soil is placed between
the solid waste material and the gravel. As in the
single clay liner system, no provision is made for
leak detection.
 Construction over sanitary landfills
• Any foundation investigation for a structure being
built over a sanitary landfill should include the
evaluation of the following potential problems:
• 1-Differential settlement of floor slabs, walls and
utilities.
• 2- Irregular subsidence due to highly variable
composition.
• 3-Corrosion of concrete foundations and pipe
utilities.
• 4-slope stability.
• 5-Generation of methane gas
• 6-Effect of construction on leachate control.
Methods of treatment for foundation
support
• 1- Control and compaction during placement.
Compaction and shredding of refuse as it is being
placed in the landfill will greatly increase its
sustainability for late use.
• 2-Proofing of fills and replacement of soft pockets with
compacted soil will reduce irregular settlements.
• 3- Use of surcharge fills where refuse is thick.
• 4-Deep foundations founded below the refuse fill. If
piles are used provisions must be made for the
corrosive environment and possible damage during
driving, as well as re- sealing any holes created in
leachate cutoffs.
• 5- Grouting of refuse fills to stabilize voids.
• 6- Use of flexible connections for utilities.
 Settlement of sanitary landfills

• 1- Subsidence of refuse fills under self weight.

• 1.1 The following mechanisms can lead to surface
subsidence:
• A. Movement of partials into large voids.
• B. Biological decomposition of organics
• C. Chemical reaction, including oxidation and
combustion
• D. Dissolving of soluble substances by percolating
groundwater or leachate.
• E. Change in deformation properties with time.
• F. Plastic flow or creep.
• 1.2
• The time- settlement relationship of
subsidence under self- weight is analogous to
the secondary compression of soils after a
short period of pseudo- primary (mechanical)
settlement typically (1-4) months long.
• Measurements indicate a coefficient of
secondary compression ranging from (0.1 to
0.4).Thus, settlement of the fill under its own
weight after completion can be estimated by:
 Bearing capacity of foundation on
sanitary landfills
• Shallow foundation constructed on sanitary landfills with a compacted soil
cover may fail in two ways:
• By punching shear: occurs when the width of a foundation, B, is a
relatively small compared to the thickness of soil cover, Dc.
• Rotational shear: occurs when the thickness of the soil cover is relatively
small compared to the foundation width and where the strength of the soil
cover is low.
• The allowable bearing capacity of shallow foundation for light residual or
office building over sanitary landfills should not be greater than (20-40)
KN/m^2
• Sometimes the allowable bearing capacity of shallow foundation can be
increased by increasing the thickness of compacted soil cover such that
Dc1.5-2B. However that this excess weight of the fill and the compaction
process may eventually increase the ultimate settlement of the structure.
• The continuous foundation may help to reduce the differential settlement
problem.
• If estimated settlement of structure is not tolerable, or heavier structure are
built, pile or drilled shaft foundation are alternative. In this case, it will be
necessary to use non corroding materials, because sanitary fills with
moisture may corrode metal piles and may also damage concrete.