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Characterization of locally available soil as a liner material for solid waste landfills in Sri Lanka

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Abstract

This study aimed to develop a low-cost and effective clay liner material for solid waste landfills in Sri Lanka. A locally available clayey soil and its admixtures with 5 and 10% bentonite were examined for this purpose. Laboratory experiments to determine soil plasticity and swell index were carried out on the tested samples. Hydraulic conductivity (k) tests were carried out in the laboratory using water and an aqueous solution of CaCl2 on unconsolidated samples prepared by either dry or slurry packing and pre-consolidated samples with five different consolidation pressures (p) from 10 to 200 kPa. Measured liquid limits for tested admixtures increased with increasing bentonite contents and correlated well with measured values of the swell index. The difference in permeant solutions had little effect on measured k values for both unconsolidated and pre-consolidated samples. The hydraulic conductivities were highly affected by changing p, i.e., the k values decreased on two orders of magnitude as p increased from 10 to 200 kPa. The Kozeny–Carman equation, a theoretical permeability model that expresses the k-porosity relationship, was applied to measured data including reported values. Results showed the Kozeny–Carman equation captured well the porosity-dependent k values for tested soils and their admixtures with bentonite under a wide range of void ratios, suggesting that the Kozeny–Carman equation is a useful tool to estimate the magnitude of k values for differently compacted soil and its bentonite admixtures.

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Abbreviations

BET:

Brunauer–Emmett–Teller

GCL:

Geosynthetic clay liner

MSW:

Municipal solid waste

M soil:

Moragahakanda soil

USEPA:

United States Environmental Protection Agency

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by SATREPS (Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development) project of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-Okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan

    Hafiz Muhammad Awais Rashid, Takeshi Saito & Ken Kawamoto

  2. Geological Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, 54890, Pakistan

    Hafiz Muhammad Awais Rashid

  3. Interdisciplinary Graduate School, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    J. A. D. K. Wanigarathna

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

    L. C. Kurukulasuriya

  5. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka

    N. H. Priyankara & A. M. N. Alagiyawanna

  6. International Institute for Resilient Society, Saitama University, Saitama, Japan

    Ken Kawamoto

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  1. Hafiz Muhammad Awais Rashid
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  2. J. A. D. K. Wanigarathna
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  6. Takeshi Saito
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Correspondence to Hafiz Muhammad Awais Rashid.

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Rashid, H.M.A., Wanigarathna, J.A.D.K., Kurukulasuriya, L.C. et al. Characterization of locally available soil as a liner material for solid waste landfills in Sri Lanka. Environ Earth Sci 76, 396 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6717-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6717-3

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