Brasília municipal solid waste landfill: a case study on flow and slope stability

For geotechnical and environmental reasons, landfills are positioned above the regional water table and thus are formed in unsaturated conditions. This condition can be different if the drainage system and the rain regime of the site are such that they create a level of internal liquid in the landfill. During January and February 2019, excessive movements occurred in the slopes of the Brasília sanitary landfill. A geotechnical investigation indicated that the raised leachate level caused by the clogging of the drainage system contributed to the landfilled waste movements. The limit equilibrium analysis was used to predict the relationship between leachate level and slope stability. In order to understand the process that led to the rupture, flow and stability analysis by limit equilibrium were performed. The parameters associated with flow, water retention capacity, and shear strength were obtained based on literature evaluations. In addition, data from tests were used, which allowed to define more accurately the distribution of pore pressures of liquid that led to the failure. This study allowed to define the cause of failure and also to establish the role of the drainage system in maintaining the stability of the landfill. The studies indicated that although the gain of shear strength of landfill due to the unsaturated condition is negligible, the process of flow in unsaturated medium, associated with climatic aspects, are fundamental for a medium- and long-term analysis.

Vertical Expansion Stability of an Existing Landfill: A Case Study of a Landfill in Xi’an, China

The vertical expansion of existing landfills can hold significant amounts of domestic waste and solve practical difficulties such as local government site selection. This research topic has become increasingly popular in the field of environmental geotechnical engineering. This study examined vertical expansion stability of landfills considering high leachate water level. The results showed the following. (1) Four slope instability modes for landfill vertical expansion are categorized according to the following slip surface positions: shallow slippage of the existing landfill, shallow slippage of the expanding landfill, interface slip between the existing landfill and expanding landfill, and deep slippage passes through the foundation soil. (2) The factor of safety decreases as the height of leachate level increases. When the height of leachate level rises from 2 m to 20 m, the factor of safety of the landfill is reduced by 13.2–15.4%. (3) As the vertical expansion height increases, the factor of safety of the existing landfill decreases, and when the expansion height increases to 30 m, the stability factor of safety of the old waste landfill is reduced by 4.83%. A landfill in Xi’an is considered as an example for the analysis, which shows that a leachate drainage layer can discharge leachate from the landfill body efficiently, reduce the leachate level height of the landfill body, and improve the stability of vertical expansion of the landfill. This study and its findings can be used as a reference for similar expansion projects.

Stability of Extended Earth Berm for High Landfill

This study presents a stability analysis of an extended berm reinforced by geotextiles, with a steep slope of 1V:1.1H (vertical: horizontal). Finite element (FE) analyses were carried out to explore the failure mechanism and factor of safety (FOS) of the berm, on which the effect of the strength of geotextiles, leachate level, and anti-slide pile arrangement located at the toe of the berm were considered. It was found that: (1) failure surfaces developed along the interface between the new and the existing berms; (2) the FOS decreased as the leachate increased, and an FOS value of 1.42 could be obtained if the leachate level was controlled at a height of 20 m; (3) the tensile force of geotextiles was far lower than the available strength, which suggested that the geotextile had enough of a safety reserve; and (4) one row of longer piles at the toe of the berm performed better than two rows of shorter piles if the total length of piles was the same. The design and analysis of this project can be used as a reference for landfill expansion. Especially for a site condition with limited space, a geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) berm is a safe, reliable and promising alternative.

A modified stability analysis method of landfills dependent on gas pressure

Excessive gas pressure (GP) in landfills is a potential triggering mechanism for slope failure, which is rarely considered in analytical models. This paper presents a modified analytical model for landfill stability dependent on GP. A two-layered GP model is established to describe the GP above and below the leachate level. The distribution of GP is then used to calculate the factor of safety (FS) using a modified wedge stability analysis method. It is found that the lack of consideration of the GP in landfill stability analysis leads to serious overestimation of the FS. In addition, the GP gas pressure within the landfill accelerates the critical interface of a multilayer liner system shifting from one to another. A new estimation criterion for FS is proposed. The proposed criterion can directly estimate the stability of the landfill by the field-tested pore pressure. Finally, the proposed method is applied to estimate the slope failure of Xiaping landfill in Shenzhen, and the results verify the proposed method.

Temperature monitoring during a water-injection test using a vertical well in a newly filled MSW layer of a landfill

High temperature may adversely affect municipal solid waste (MSW) biodegradation and lead to an increase in the deformation of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes used for the collection of leachate and landfill gas in landfills. The test in this study was to change the waste temperature around the vertical injection well by water injection using a vertical well. The test was conducted intermittently with two different flowrates in a newly filled MSW layer of a landfill. The temperature, gas pressure and leachate level in the test area were simultaneously monitored during this study. The results showed that the waste temperature around the vertical injection well was effectively changed by water injection, which did not result in a significant rise in the leachate level. During water injection, the waste temperature influence distance in the horizontal direction increased with depth from the leachate level to the bottom of the injection well. The bottom temperature of the injection well decreased to near the water-injection temperature. The range of influence of the waste temperature caused by intermittent water injections slightly increased in this test. After water injection was stopped, the waste temperature near the vertical injection well increased quickly initially, and then the increments became more gradual with time. When the leachate level recovered stably, there was still a temperature gradient around the injection well within the range of influence. The temperature and gas pressure in the waste above the leachate level and far away from the injection well were slightly influenced by water injection.