Elsevier

Geotextiles and Geomembranes

Volume 33, August 2012, Pages 34-42
Geotextiles and Geomembranes

Three-dimensional finite-element analyses of seepage and contaminant transport through composite geosynthetics clay liners with multiple defects

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2012.02.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Given the relatively recent history of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs), questions remain over their long-term performance in landfills. Defects in the geomembrane (GM) overlying the clayey barrier are likely to develop, providing an advective pathway for contaminants to migrate into the liner and the underlying groundwater. The effects of this process on the integrity of the liner have been usually quantified through hydraulic leakage rates, which does not account for diffusion effects. More recently, efforts have been made to couple leakage with contaminant migration analyses that take into account defects in the geomembrane and evaluate chemical concentration in the groundwater, as well as leakage rates. However, these studies have always been conducted in 1D or 2D, despite the fact that 3D effects are clearly present.

We develop a 3D finite-element model and simulate the transport of dichloromethane (DCM) through a typical GCL composite liner system consisting of a GM, a GCL, an attenuation layer and a thin aquifer. We solve the steady-state flow equation, coupled with the reactive diffusion-advection equation through the Soil Pollution Analysis System (SPAS). The GM is either free of defects, or carries one or multiple defects. We run our analyses in 2D and 3D in order to investigate the impact of a number of 3D effects: (a) the extent of the defect in one direction (full or partial length of the landfill base); (b) the direction of groundwater flow (parallel versus normal to the defect); (c) aquifer downstream boundary condition (zero-flux, advective discharge or infinite extent); and (d) different arrangements of multiple defects.

Leakage rates and contaminant concentrations are found to increase with defect size as expected. 1D and 2D assumptions about the direction of groundwater with respect to the defect orientation and the mass-transport boundary condition applied downstream in the aquifer can lead to significant underestimation of contamination levels.

Introduction

Geosynthetic Clay Liners (GCLs), made in most cases of bentonite sandwiched between two geotextile layers, have become widely used in landfills around the world. Industrially manufactured in the form of rolls, they are easier to handle than Compacted Clay Liners (CCLs) and, when combined with thin geomembranes (GM) as composite liners, provide powerful insulation against waste leachate. However, given that the liner operates in an aggressive hydraulic, mechanical, thermal and chemical environments, questions remain about the GCLs long-term performance and their ability to maintain their insulation function over their intended design life (Rowe et al., 2004).

Wrinkles and other defects often develop in the GM, in the short- and long-terms, for various reasons, including diurnal temperature variations and poor quality assurance during placement (Nosko and Touze-Foltz, 2000). Owing to the swelling properties of bentonite, GCLs develop good contact with the overlying GM, reducing the impact of advective contaminant transport generated by the defects. Extensive research has been undertaken into leakage rates and contaminant migration through clay liners (Giroud et al., 1992, Giroud, 1997, Touze-Foltz et al., 1999, Foose et al., 2001, Touze-Foltz and Barroso, 2006, Touze-Foltz and Giroud, 2003, Touze-Foltz and Giroud, 2005, Çelik et al., 2008). Simplified formulae for calculating leakage rates, in CCLs and GCLs, have been developed for various types of defects and the effects of wrinkles size and frequencies on the hydraulic performance of GCLs has been widely studied (Wilson-Fahmy and Koerner, 1995, Giroud and Touze-Foltz, 2005, Rowe, 2005). Research has also been undertaken into contaminant levels within underlying aquifers due to defects in the geomembrane (Rowe, 2005, Abuel-Naga and Bouazza, 2009, El-Zein and Rowe, 2008, El-Zein and Touze-Foltz, 2010).

While the leakage rate is an important performance indicator, it only reflects the strength of advective flow through the liner. A more robust groundwater risk assessment must consider other contaminant fate processes, such as molecular diffusion in the clay and the attenuation layer, mechanical dispersion in the groundwater, sorption and decay. For example, the Ontario regulations recognize the two necessities of: (a) considering both advection and diffusion; and (b) defects in the geomembrane: “The design must consider both advective and diffusive contaminant transport and must include examination of the effect of the failure of any engineered facilities when their service lives are reached.” (Ontario Landfill Regulations, 2010).

A number of studies have performed such combined hydro-chemical analyses in 1D and 2D (Rowe and Booker, 2005, El-Zein and Rowe, 2008, El-Zein and Touze-Foltz, 2010). El-Zein and Rowe (2008) and later El-Zein and Touze-Foltz (2010) identified specific conditions under which leakage rates does not reflect the true magnitude of contamination taking place.

1D and 2D analyses are relatively simple to conduct but they suffer from significant limitations. They are based on simplifying assumptions such as: (a) the leak must extend to the full-length of the landfill cell, in one dimension; (b) no diffusion or mechanical dispersion occur in that dimension; and (c) the groundwater must flow in the direction normal to the leak in the aquifer. A three-dimensional approach makes it possible to avoid these assumptions. However, to the best of our knowledge, no paper has yet addressed the coupled effect of hydraulic flow and chemical transport of contaminants through defective liners in 3D.

In this paper, we develop a 3D finite-element model of a typical GCL system. We use the steady-state flow equation, coupled with the reactive diffusion-advection equation and apply them to the multi-layered medium through the Soil Pollution Analysis System (SPAS). We simulate the transport of DCM through a system consisting of a GM, a GCL, an attenuation layer and a thin aquifer. The GM is either free of defects, or carries one or multiple defects. We run our analyses in 2D and 3D in order to quantify the effects of three commonly encountered sets of assumptions: (a) the defect extend the full-length of the landfill in one direction (as opposed to partial length); (b) the groundwater flow is normal, rather than parallel, to the direction of the defect; (c) a zero-flux boundary condition downstream from the aquifer, rather than an advective discharge or infinite boundary condition; and (d) a single defect, rather than multiple ones.

Fig. 1 is a graphic illustration of points (a), (b) and (d). In the remainder of the paper, we briefly present the theory of seepage and contaminant transport on which our models are based. Next, we describe the computer code developed and the landfill models we built, including the material properties used. Finally, we present our results and discuss our findings.

Section snippets

Theory of seepage and contaminant transport

The transport of water and dissolved chemicals in the water-saturated subsurface can be represented by the semi-coupled steady-state seepage and time-dependent reactive diffusion-advection equations. Water flow is assumed to be at steady-state because the time scale of chemical transport is much larger than that of hydraulic seepage in clayey soils. Soil is assumed to be a continuum. Chemical transport is governed by a Fickian diffusion process (which represents molecular diffusion and

Finite-element implementations and CONFEM3D

Two finite-element formulations of Eqs. (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (15), (16), (17), (18), (19), (20) were implemented in a computer program CONFEM3D with a graphic interface SPAS3D. The first formulation, LTFEM, solves a Laplace-transform version of the equation then inverts the solution numerically back into the time domain (El-Zein et al., 2005, El-Zein et al., 2006, El-Zein and Balaam, 2008). This formulation is computationally efficient

Study of the migration of DCM with SPAS3D

Building on a previous study by El-Zein and Rowe (2008), the case of the migration of DCM through a GCL composite liner with a single or multiple rectangular leaks, into the underlying aquifer, has been simulated. DCM is an organic contaminant with a relatively high diffusion coefficient through high-density polyethylene geomembranes.

A cross-section of the base model, with 1 leak is shown in Fig. 2. Material properties are shown in Table 1. The landfill is taken to be 40 m wide and 100 m long,

Contours of velocities and concentrations

Fig. 5 shows typical results generated by SPAS3D. The build-up of high seepage velocities around the defects can be seen in Fig. 5a. Fig. 5b depicts the sudden spike in downward Darcy velocities around the defect. The strength of leakage and the width of the leakage area clearly depend on the width of the defect and the transmissivity of the GM-GCL interface. Finally, Fig. 5c provides a view of the lower surface of the aquifer and the way contaminants spread from an area below the leak. The

Conclusions

The development of SPAS3D allows more accurate numerical analyses, with fewer simplifying assumptions, of multi-layered liner systems with multiple defects to be conducted. Our results have three implications. First, the assumption made in 2D analyses of a long leak, does not seem to incur more than about a 30% increase in groundwater concentration of the organic contaminant, on the conservative side. This is an acceptable level of inaccuracy in 2D analyses given the computational benefits that

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