Experimental study on anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity for municipal solid waste

Anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity is an important parameter controlling fluid movement in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills, while measurements of anisotropy are rare. In this study, a laboratory-scale enhanced reactor was built to create MSW samples with different degrees of degradation. Vertical and horizontal hydraulic conductivities of these samples were measured in a self-designed permeameter to study the effects of compression and degradation on anisotropy of MSW. CT scanning was performed to observe the internal porestructure of MSW under compression. A prediction model of anisotropy under compression was established. It was found that as degradation time increased from 0 month to 18 months, the dry mass percent of 0D particles increased from 12.3% to 38.8%, while 2D particles content decreased from 78.7% to 47.2%. As vertical stress increased from 50 kPa to 400 kPa, dry unit weight (gamma d) increased from 3.26 kN/m3 to 5.51 kN/m3, anisotropy (A) increased from 1.26 to 5.17. It was because that the size and continuity of pores decreased and the angle of pore arrangement tended to be horizontal as the vertical stress increased. The relation between anisotropy and vertical stress could be well fitted with the prediction model. When degradation time increased from 0 month to 18 months, A decreased linearly from 5.02 to 2.75 due to the decreasing content of 2D particles. Anisotropy also decreased with the decreasing C/L. Compression has much greater influence on waste anisotropy than that of degradation. Anisotropy of MSW at different depths of landfills could be determined based on the trend lines in this study.