Modeling the stress-strain state of of a municipal solid waste landfill

Introduction. The process of municipal solid waste (further MSW) generation is inextricably linked with the life of humanity. Every day each person generates some, a small amount of garbage. As a result millions of tons of MSW are generated daily in the world which are unsuitable for further use and require disposal. There are various ways of handling MSW including their treatment, recycling and disposal. In Russian Federation the vast majority of MSW are currently located on the specially equipped facilities –– waste landfills. To date the most common waste management strategy remains their placement in a landfill. Waste landfills are arrays of stored waste and are special engineering structures designed for the safe isolation of their contents from the environment. Landfill includes gas exhaust and leachate drainage systems, liner and cover systems. The main component of this structure is waste itself. Mechanical stability of landfills should be provided at all stages of waste storage as well as after it complete filling to designed capacity and at post-closure stage. As the result of deformation of unstable waste, all landfill systems can be destroyed up to the collapse of garbage array leading to the significant environmental and other consequences. One of the most common problems leading to the various incidents at landfills is an incorrect assessment of their stability. MSW landfill is a complex multiphase system in which various interacting processes occur simultaneously. The main factor in the calculation and design of landfills is the forecast of their settlements. Studies by many authors have established that biological decomposition has a significant impact on the properties of MSW after which the waste is considered as the landfill soil with a particle size of up to 20 mm. Materials and methods. The paper presents the methodology and the results of numerical modeling of stress-strain state of the designed object “Waste Landfill”. The facility is an array of municipal solid waste of 38 meters high. Waste is stacked in the layers of 1.75 m thick. Each waste layer is covered by the loam cover of 0.25 m thick. Stress-strain state of municipal solid waste including biological creep was modelled using well-known “Soft-Soil-Creep model” (SSC-model). Results. The results of numerical simulation of stress-strain state of the waste pile at all stages of the filling and in the post-closure period are presented. An assessment of the increase in the capacity of the landfill due to the compaction and biological creep has been performed. Stability analysis of the landfill and potential failure mechanisms at different stages of filling and operation are presented. Conclusions. Numerical modeling of stress-strain state of the MSW array using the “Soft-Soil-Creep model” allows to analyze the stability of the waste pile at any stage of landfill filling and evaluate the increase in landfill capacity due to the waste settlement taking into account the mechanical creep and biocompression during layer-by-layer filling.