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Assessing Geotechnical Risks in the Frame of Landfill Engineering in Eastern Europe



Author(s)

Petra Schneider, Klaus-Dieter Oswald, Birgitt Weiß and Rolf Littmann

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DOI:10.17265/2328-2193/2017.01.001

The planning of waste management facilities requires a study of design alternatives including economic and environmental aspects to determine the optimal solution. Both landfill design and engineering are based on a geotechnical risk assessment namely in terms of the stability of the subsoil, the potential of mechanical deformation of the landfill body, and the stability of the interim and final cover considering also seismic events. This contribution introduces sites located in Romania and Estonia with a special focus on the geotechnical risk assessment in the design and construction of new landfills and the closure of old landfills. During the closure of a landfill an appropriate development of the interim cover is of high relevance for the remediation of old landfills, since the settlement processes in the landfill body must be decayed before the final cover can be applied. Depending on the proportion of biodegradable waste in the landfill body, the degree of compaction of the waste as well as the alteration and degree of mineralisation, the degree of the settlements can account for 5 to 15% of the landfill body height. The major settlements can generally last up to three years, depending on the organic inventory of the landfill. The examples from landfill engineering in Estonia and Romania illustrate the relevance of geotechnical assessments during the design phase of a landfill or a landfill closure as well as during the construction period.

Landfill engineering, geotechnical landfill stability, landfill closure.