Analysis of geomembrane whale due to liquid flow through composite liner

When defects occur in geomembrane liner (GL), leaking water could infiltrate dry soil below, replace the pore air and may generate geomembrane whale (GW). An analytical solution is proposed in this paper to analyse the geometry and tensile force of axisymmetric GW. Parametric studies are also conducted to identify the influences from key factors and provide predicting charts for practical usage. It is concluded from the parametric studies that the maximum height and tensile force of GW can be achieved when the GW is just about to be submerged by external water. For a given level of external water, the height, width and tensile force of GW versus volume of leaking water curves are bilinear in a log–log graph, with a higher slope before a turning point but a smaller slope after that, whereas gas pressure in GW has reverse trends. It is also observed in this paper that GL with higher tension stiffness has a strong capacity to confine the gas pressure and thus generate lower and wider GW with higher tensile force and internal gas pressure.