Seismic stability analyses of tapered landfill cover system

Landfill cover system is one of the essential components of modern landfills and its stability and integrity is prime importance for design, construction, and maintenance of any landfill. Tapered cover system is a practical method for improvement the stability of landfill cover while the effect of seismic forces in tapered cover system has not been considered in the previous studies.This paper presents a method based on limit equilibrium to evaluate the stability of tapered cover system under seismic loading condition. This method provides an easily used solution that considers the effect of seismic force. A hypothetical numeric example is also presented to illustrate the effect of seismic load on stability of landfill cover. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to demonstrate sensitivity of Factor of Safety (FS) to different design parameters. The obtained results indicated that the FS of tapered landfill cover system is significantly more than uniform thickness landfill cover system in both cases of absence andpresent of seismic force. Also, FS of tapered landfill cover system under seismic loading condition is less than FS value under static loading condition. Generally tapered veneer cover soil system is more stable in comparison uniform thickness veneer cover soil system.

Keywords:

Seismic stability , landfill cover system , tapered