Base sliding and dynamic response of landfills

A very important issue in the seismic design of waste landfills is the role of the base liner, which is placed at the foundation of a landfill prior to waste disposal in order to isolate waste material and leachate from the environment. Consequently, a low shear strength interface is introduced in the system, providing thus the potential for the development of relative displacements due to ground shaking. The current study aims to provide an insight into the dynamic response of a typical above-ground landfill with a predefined slip surface along the geosynthetic layer of its base. For this purpose, two-dimensional dynamic finite-element analyses are conducted in order to investigate the impact of the most significant parameters involved, such as the characteristics of the excitation, the material properties, and the shear strength of the interface. Furthermore, the capability of simplified procedures to simulate the complicated nature of the dynamic interaction of slip displacement development and the dynamic response is also examined.