Modelling and simulation of high density polyethylene liner installation in engineered landfill for optimum performance

Abstract

Geomembrane liner is an important part of a landfill system that must be selected and installed properly to avoid high induced stresses and imperfections. Considering a fixed HDPE liner thickness of 2mm and variable masses in this study, the liner was modelled and simulated for 27 scenarios using Solidworks and Artificial Neural Networking approach. Static analysis was further performed on the Solidworks model under a distributed load of 4000kg in properly aligned and improperly aligned conditions to the base and side walls of a landfill system. The minimum stress and width of imperfection obtained from the Solidworks simulation was 77MPa and 34mm while 65MPa and 67mm was obtained from the ANN simulation. The liner failed outrageously in the improperly aligned condition with maximum induced stress of 3,606.521MPa, but no sign of failure was observed for the properly aligned condition which the maximum stress (0.018Mpa) was quite low. This investigation can serve as a guide towards proper installation of geomembrane liners for optimum performance in landfill applications.

Keywords: Solid waste, engineered landfill, Geomembrane liner, Installation