138

Clay liners

natural liner. Natural liners normally contain significant amounts of clay minerals and have hydraulic conductivities less than or equal to I x 10-6 to 1 x 10-7cm/s. Natural liners more typically serve as a back-up to engineered liners, but occasionally (for old landfills or, where regulations allow, for new landfills), a natural liner may represent the only liner at a waste disposal facility, I he continuity and hydraulic conductivity of natural liner materials arc critical issues. To function effectively, the natural liner must be continuous and be free from major hydraulic imperfections such as fractures, joints, and holes. An evaluation of a liner's continuity begins with a geologic evaluation and includes a careful study of local and regional hydrogeology (see Chapter 4). Exploratory borings are an essential investigatory tool; surface and borehold geophysics often provide a wealth of valuable information, Analysis of radioisotopic concentrations of certain con^ Milucnts in ground water can lead to the determination of the age of ground water; knowledge of the age of ground water can help to establish that a soil liner hydrogeologically isolates one aquifer from another. Another useful way to investigate the ability of a natural liner to isolate one stratum from another is to pump from a well in an underlying aquifer and to observe changes in water levels in wells installed in an overlying aquifer, or vice versa. Hydraulic conductivity of a natural liner should be studied with a combination of laboratory and in situ hydraulic conductivity tests. Laboratory test are usually performed with flexible-wall cells used to permeate samples obtained by pushing a thin-walled tube into soil that underlies a borehole (Daniel el ah, 1984). The results of such tests should be viewed with suspicion because if the liner contains hydraulic defects (e.g., cracks, fissures, slickensides, or root holes), the defects will probably be missed and the measured hydraulic conductivity will be too low (Olson and Daniel, 1981; Daniel, Trautwein, and McMurtry, 1985; Keller, van der Kamp, and Cherry, 1986; Bradbury and Muldoon, 1990). hi >itu hydraulic conductivity tests are an essential part of a credible effort to characterize the hydraulic conductivity of natural soil liners. I he normal type of test involves a single cased borehole and either a constant or a falling head. Several equations may be used to compute hydraulic conductivity; see Olson and Daniel (1981) and Chapuis (1989) lor details. The number of tests that are needed to characterize the hydraulic conductivity of a natural deposit of soil or rock varies from site to site and depends upon hydrogeologic complexity, the required accuracy to which the hydraulic conductivity needs to be determined, available funding, and other factors. Typically, of the order of 10-20 in *itit hydraulic conductivity tests are appropriate. Great care must be taken to seal the boreholes so that the hydraulic integrity of the liner is not compromised. Sealing techniques *M discussed in Part 4 of this book.

Compacted dmi liners 139 It is extremely difficult and expensive to prove that a naturally-occurring stratum of soil or rock uniformly possesses low hydraulic conductivity. For this reason, use of n natural soil liner as the sole means for protecting ground water from i "ntamination is not normally recommended. An exception might be the case of an extraordinarily uniform, massive, and well-characlei'teed Stratum of material, but such strata are rare. Another exception might be site remediation cases in which ground water flow and con tan li nation patterns are monitored and contingencies are made in case strata are more permeable than expected. The interested reader is encouraged to consult Keller, van der Kamp, and Cherry (1986) and Bradbury and Muldoon (1990) for examples of well-conceived evaluations of natural Oil liner;

7.3

COMPACTED CLAY LINERS 7.3.1 Introduction

Compacted clay liners are constructed primarily from natural soil materials, although the liner may contain processed materials such as bentonite or even synthetic materials such as polymers. Clay liners are constructed in layers called lifts. On side slopes, the lifts can be horizontal or parallel to the slope, although parallel lifts are not recommended for side slopes steeper than 2.5 to 3 on 1 (horizontal to vertical). As suggested by Fig. 7.1, lift parallel to the side slopes are preferred because the effect of a zone of poor material, or imperfect bonding of lifts, is less with parallel lifts. If horizontal lifts are used, it may help to place a slight inward inclination on the lift interfaces (Fig. 7.1) to minimize the tendency for leachate to flow along lift interfaces. 7.3.2 Compaction requirements

The objective of compaction is to remold chunks (clods) of soil into a homogeneous mass that is free of large continuous interclod voids. If this objective is accomplished with suitable soil materials, low hydraulic conductivity ( < = 1 x 10-7cm/s) will result. Experience has shown that the water content of the soil, method of compaction, and compactive effort have a major influence on the hydraulic conductivity of compacted soil liners. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that low hydraulic conductivity is easiest to achieve when the soil is compacted wet of optimum water content with a high level of kneading-type compactive energy (Mitchell. Hooper, and