Summary
Landfills are provided with cover systems in order to separate the waste from the environment and in order to prevent percolation of precipitation and recharge of leachate. The layers of a landfill cover system (restoration profile, drainage layer, compacted clay liner – CCL) have to be specifically designed for long-lasting effectiveness. Special care has to be taken to prevent the CCL from desiccation-cracking due to high matric suction. On a landfill in Northern Bavaria, test fields of some 260 m2 each were installed with different profiles: The test fields were built according to the recent German landfill ordinance, but with a thicker restoration profile (2.0 m and 1.5 m thick restoration layer, respectively). Water content and matric suction of the soil profiles was measured by FDR-probes and tensiometers. In test field 1 reduction of soil water content during summer was detected down to 1.8 m depth. In test field 2 (1.5 m thick restoration layer) decreasing water content was measured in the CCL, whereas in test field 1 (2.0 m thick restoration layer) the CCL was not affected by loss of water. In conclusion, at the given landfill site only the 2.0 m thick restoration profile is able to effectively shield the CCL from desiccation effects.
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© 2007 Springer-Verlag
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Henken-Mellies, W.U. (2007). Water Balance and Effectiveness of Mineral Landfill Covers – Results of Large Lysimeter Test-Fields. In: Schanz, T. (eds) Experimental Unsaturated Soil Mechanics. Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 112. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-69873-6_37
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-69873-6_37
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-69872-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69873-9
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