Tension in geomembranes on landfill slopes under static and earthquake loading—Centrifuge study

Geomembranes are some of the most commonly used geosynthetics in landfill liner systems. Geomembranes may experience harsh environmental conditions such as extreme temperatures or earthquake loading. Earthquake loading can be an extreme loading case for landfills located in seismic regions. This study, based on dynamic centrifuge testing, investigates the effects of simulated earthquake loading on the tension experienced by the geomembrane on a landfill slope. The landfill modelled in the dynamic centrifuge tests was a 7 m high municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill with a single geomembrane-clay liner system (45° side slope and 10 m slope length). Results show that moderate earthquake loading (base acceleration between 0.1 and 0.3 g) can result in a permanent increase in geomembrane tension of 5–25%.