Seismic response of municipal waste landfills with bottom liner interface under different site conditions

Abstract:

A new calculated model was developed to analyze the seismic responses of MSW landfills. In this model, a geosynthetic liner is replaced by an equivalent soil layer that has characteristics that duplicate the liner interface response under dynamic loads. Then, the effects of liner interface, landfill height and site condition on seismic responses of landfills were studied. The calculated results showed that the shear displacement was very large at the liner interface under medium or strong seismic motion, which limited the propagation of seismic waves. If the effect of the liner interface on the seismic response of the landfill is not taken into account, some errors might occur. It can be seen that the landfill with 15m height showed maximum value of maximum horizontal acceleration (MHA) at the top of the landfill. With the increase of the landfill height, the fundamental period of vibration of the landfill is gradually increasing, and deviating from the resonance range. Thus, the MHA values at the top of the landfills are lower for higher landfills. Additionally, comparing with the calculated results under four different site conditions, it can thus be concluded that different site types have strong effects on seismic responses of landfills.