Modeling of landfill settlement: theory

E. Durmusoglu
Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Kocaeli, Izmit, Turkey

M.Y. Corapcioglu
Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

K. Tuncay
Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

ABSTRACT: Theory of a one-dimensional multiphase mathematical model developed to simulate the set-
tlement involving liquid and gas flows in a compressible landfill is presented. Landfill domain is assumed
comprised of a deformable solid matrix, a liquid phase, and a gas phase with transient gas generation. After
a two-phase model, i.e., liquid and gas phase, was developed, a solid phase was incorporated into the model.
A gas generation term was employed as source and sink for solid and gas phases. After governing equations are
developed, the Galerkin finite element technique is employed to discretize the partial differential equations.

1 INTRODUCTION liner system integrity, and damages of gas and liq-

Closed landfills are considered viable sites of land
for numerous purposes such as golf courses, sport
fields, wildlife and conservation areas, parking lots,
industrial parks, recreational facilities, etc. (Mabry
1977; Gordon et al. 1986; Powell et al. 1992; Magnu-
son 1999; Conrad 2000). Since landfills are not open
dumps, but an engineered method of waste disposal,
their design, construction, operation, and maintenance
must be performed properly and adequately. In other
words, landfills must be constructed so that future
use will not be restricted. In the literature, many inci-
dents are reported as case studies related to improperly
designed and constructed landfills (e.g., Kelly 1976;
Husain et al. 1989; Guler & Avci 1995; Campbell
1996; Roche 1996; Eid et al. 2000). It is also reported
that the most common problem related with landfills
is an assessment of the stability of the waste fill.
Landfills are very complex systems in which a
lot of interactive processes proceed simultaneously.
Gas generation, as a result of waste decomposition,
changes gas and liquid pressures that both may change
the porosity, total stress, and degree of gas and liq-
uid saturations in landfills. Finally, these transient
changes in liquid and gas pressures may cause defor-
mations, i.e., settlements. These deformations may
have negative effects on the integrity of any post-
closure structure on the landfill. The non-predicted
settlements also eventually result in several problems,
such as cracks of the cover, loss of the cover and
uid collection and drainage systems, surface ponds,
fires, etc. Hence, a more accurate prediction of land-
fill settlement becomes a key issue in the design and
construction of landfills. Moreover, accurate predic-
tion of the settlement is essential for better estimates
of the remaining life of the existing landfills and for
ultimate use of the landfill surface.
In addressing the above-mentioned issues, it is
important to know the extent of the processes through
the landfill at some time in the future. However, it
is not always practical to perform field or labora-
tory experiments to estimate the landfill settlements.
Therefore, mathematical modeling becomes a use-
ful tool in understanding and predicting the long-
term landfill settlements. The mathematical models
are based on analytical and numerical solutions of
the governing equations. Since analytical models are
usually used for predictions in simple systems, numer-
ical solutions are essential in the case of complex
systems like landfills when more sophisticated predic-
tions are considered. Although numerous models have
been developed to simulate the settlement behavior
in landfills, majority of them are focused primarily
on estimating the rate and magnitude of the settle-
ment using conventional soil mechanics approaches.
Uncertainty associated with landfill properties makes
these traditional approaches less attractive for solid
waste compared to soils. Therefore, an ideal landfill
settlement model should include the mass loss and gas
generation.

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
 In this study, theoretical background for a one- phase density;Vs =solid phase velocity; l =volumetric
dimensional multiphase mathematical model devel- liquid content expressed as l = nSl ; g = volumetric
oped to simulate the settlement involving liquid and gas content, which is expressed as g = nSg ;
gas flows in a compressible landfill is given.The reader n = porosity; Sl = liquid saturation; Sg = gas satu-
is referred to Durmusoglu et al. (2005) for detailed pre- ration; ql = specific volume discharge of the liq-
sentation of the model development and the numerical uid phase, which is expressed as ql = qrl + l Vs ;
solution. qg = specific volume discharge of the gas phase, which
is expressed as qg = qrg + g Vs ; = total gas gen-
eration rate; qrl = specific liquid discharge relative
2 MODEL EQUATIONS to moving solid; qrg = specific gas discharge relative
to moving solid; Y = yield coefficient; t = time and
Most models developed for deforming porous media z = vertical coordinate.
are encountered in groundwater hydrology for com- Equation (1) can be rewritten as follows
pressible aquifers where the whole aquifer behaves
as an elastic body (e.g., Brutsaert & Corapcioglu
1976; Corapcioglu & Bear 1983). The other deforma-
tion models encountered are usually in soil mechanics
employed for consolidation of soil strata under struc-
tures and subsidence. In this study, it is assumed that Bear (1972) introduced the definition of a material
the waste decomposition generates a mixture of gas, derivative as follows
which in turn causes a change in gas and liquid pres-
sures in the landfill. These processes also affect the
porosity, total stress, and the degree of liquid and gas
saturations. Therefore, the transient changes in liquid
and gas pressure lead to deformation of the landfill.
If equation (5) is substituted, equation (4) becomes
This deformation implies that the solid particles, as
well as the liquid and gas present, are in motion. Due
to the deformation, it is necessary to define Darcys
law in terms of relative velocities of liquid and gas
to solids. It is also necessary to consider the conser-
vation of mass for the solid phase, as well as for the Then, equation (2) can be rewritten
liquid and gas phases in the elemental control volume
(Bear 1972; Freeze & Cherry 1979). Landfill domain
is assumed comprised of a deformable solid matrix, a
liquid phase, and a gas phase with transient gas gener-
ation. Both liquid and gas phases are also assumed as
compressible. While the top of the landfill is assumed If equation (5) is substituted, equation (7) becomes
to be pervious, the bottom of the landfill is assumed
impervious.
Conservation of mass equation for the solid, liq-
uid and gas phases can be expressed respectively as
(Durmusoglu et al. 2005).

Using the same procedure above, equation (3) can be

rewritten as
and

and Substitution of equation (5) into equation (9) yields

where b = solid phase bulk density expressed as

b = (1 n)s ; l = liquid phase density; g = gas

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
If the total derivatives are replaced with the par- where kl = effective permeability for the liquid
tial derivatives assuming Vs n z
<< n
t
, Vl
z
l
<< tl , phase; kg = effective permeability for the gas phase;
g g Sl Sl Sg Sg
Vg z << t , Vs z << t and Vs z << t , equa- Pl = liquid phase pressure; Pg = gas phase pressure;
tions (4), (7), and (9) can be expressed respectively as l = viscosity for the liquid phase; g I = viscosity
for the gas phase and g = gravitational acceleration.
If equation (17) is substituted in equation (15)

and

In addition, if equation (18) is substituted in equation

and (16)

If equation (11) is combined with equation (12)

The use of the compressibility of the liquid phase,

and , under isothermal conditions and the equation of
state for the gas phase in equations (19) and (20),
respectively, gives

similarly, the combination of equation (11) with equa-

tion (13) gives

and

The specific liquid and gas discharges relative to

moving solids can be expressed respectively as

and

where M = molecular weight of gas phase; R = uni-

versal gas constant and  = absolute temperature. The

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
combination of equations (21) and (22) gives a final
equation. That is
If the gas generation is deceased, i.e., = 0, and the
landfill is assumed completely liquid saturated, i.e.,
Sl = 1, equation (23) becomes
where k = permeability. In general, strain, , is related
to the solid phase displacement as follows
If equation (25) is substituted in equation (24) and the
gravity effects are neglected
If the solid waste is assumed as an elastic solid matrix,
the rate of strain is expressed as
where mv = coefficient of volume change and
= effective stress. Substitution of equation (27) in
equation (26) yields
In addition, the relationship between total stress
and effective stress for partially saturated media is
expressed as
Substitution of equation (29) under saturated condition
in equation (28) gives
Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
Moreover, if the liquid phase is incompressible, i.e.,
= 0 and T /t = 0, equation (30) becomes
or
where Cv = consolidation coefficient. Equation (32) is
the well-known one-dimensional consolidation equa-
tion proposed by Terzaghi (1943). The consolidation
coefficient is defined by
On the other hand, if the landfill is assumed completely
dry, i.e., Sl = 0 and the gas generation is deceased, i.e.,
= 0, equation (23) becomes
If equation (25) is employed and the gravity effects are
neglected
Employing equation (27) yields
Inserting equation (29) under dry conditions into
equation (36) and rewriting give
Moreover, assuming T /t = 0, equation (37) results
in a consolidation equation similar in form to the one-
dimensional consolidation equation given in equation
(32). That is
348
 This equation describes the gas pressure changes
during one-dimensional consolidation of a dry and Read initial
compressible porous medium. If the solid matrix is parameters
considered incompressible, i.e., mv = 0, equation (38)
reverts to the equation proposed by Blight (1971).
That is Saturated Unsaturated
Solve two-
Check Calculate gas
phase
saturation generation
equations

Solve three-
phase
3 METHOD OF NUMERICAL SOLUTION equations
Solve total
In the model, the solid waste is represented by a stress
chemical composition, and a global stoichiometric
reaction is used for estimation of maximum yield of
gas generation. The solid waste is represented by three Solve
categories based on their biodegradability, i.e., read- porosity
ily, moderately, and slowly decomposable, each with
a corresponding gas production rate constant. The gas
generation model is developed based on a first-order Solve rate
kinetic single-bioreactor approach. Although simple, of strain
it is the most widely used approach available in the
literature, and provides a reasonable description of the Calculate new
gas productions in landfills (Emcon Associates 1980). coordinates
Landfill gas production rates for the assumed refuse
categories are determined. Following the gas gener-
ation model, a two-phase model, i.e., liquid and gas Calculate
phases, is developed. Then, the solid phase is incor- settlement
porated into the model. The gas generation rate is
employed as a source and sink for solid and gas phases.
After governing equations are developed, the Galerkin Figure 1. Systematic flow chart for the model.
finite element technique is employed to discretize the
partial differential equations. Figure 1 outlines a sim- z=Lt N
plified systematic flow chart that shows the steps for
the calculation of the settlement. After the system of N z=Lt+t
equations is solved, the total stress is calculated. Then,
the new values for the porosity and for the rate of strain
are obtained to determine the new nodal coordinates, j+1
which in turn give the amount of settlement as shown
j+1
in Figure 2. j
zt j
j-1 zt+t
4 CONCLUSIONS j-1

Modeling fluid flows under deformable landfill condi-

tions gives different results than under nondeformable
landfill conditions. The landfill height also affects
the landfill characteristics. In addition, the gas gen-
eration term has significant impacts on the model
results. Therefore, it is concluded that landfill models
should include the transient deformation and the gas
generation due to the waste decomposition for better
representative results.
The developed model can be used to predict
the transient and ultimate settlements with waste
z=0 0 0 z=0
t t+t
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of moving nodes.
decomposition and gas generation in solid waste land-
fills. The waste porosity, gas pressure, liquid pressure,
gas saturation, liquid saturation, and stress distribution
can also be predicted in settling landfills.

349
Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
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