Contribution 13
Submitted by: Rudolph Bonaparte, Geosyntec consultants and Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
A slide showing the different modes of slope stability failure at a landfill along with a narrative cautioning design engineers of the importance of evaluating these potential failure modes.
Sample Description
(1) Course Name/Type: Not applicable. The slide was prepared for a lecture, not for a course.
(2) Course Emphasis: Not applicable. The slide was prepared for a lecture, not for a course, but it can be used in any course on landfills, either to motivate the study of slope stability or to alert students of geotechnical stability aspects of landfill design.
(3) Descriptive Title of Sample: A slide showing the different modes of slope stability failure at a landfill along with a narrative cautioning design engineers of the importance of evaluating these potential failure modes. The narrative also cautions that stability needs to be checked at every stage of landfill development, not just the final stage and that in seismic impact zones, seismic stability also needs to be checked.
(4) Brief Teaching Note:
Similar to slope stability for natural slopes and constructed dams and embankments, we have to consider all potential types of instability of a landfill. The slide depicts the following modes of failure: a) the entire failure surface goes through the waste mass, b) a composite failure surface, with a portion of the surface along an interface between components of the liner system and the remaining portion through the waste mass, c) a composite failure surface going through the waste mass and into the foundation soil beneath the landfill – with this failure mode, the slip surface cuts through the liner system, d) veneer instabilities along an interface of the liner system (short term, until landfill cell is filled), e) veneer instabilities along an interface of the cover system (long term, through the post-closure period) and f) failure through the perimeter berm constructed to confine the lateral limits of the landfill (involving only the berm itself or both the berm and liner system).
5) References: 2022 Geoenvironmental Engineering Webinar: Geotechnical Stability of Waste Fills: Lessons Learned and Continuing Challenges, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e75XOl_1pNU (the slide is discussed at about 5’ min into the lecture).
6) URL: 2018 Karl Terzaghi Lecture: Geotechnical Stability of Waste Fills: Lessons Learned and Continuing Challenges, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgMzYzOziKg
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