Effects of local site conditions on the seismic response of municipal solid waste landfills

✍ Scribed by P.N. Psarropoulos; Y. Tsompanakis; Y. Karabatsos

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 722 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0267-7261
• DOI: 10.1016/j.soildyn.2006.10.004

✦ Synopsis

Over the last decade, the seismic response of landfills made of municipal solid waste has drawn attention mainly due to the environmental and public-health issues that could be raised in the event of a failure. Nevertheless, there are several associated technical issues that have not been adequately investigated. One of these is the impact of local site conditions on the earthquake-induced accelerations and, thereby, on the seismic design of a landfill. This study presents the results of a parametric numerical simulation that has been performed in order to examine the effects of local site conditions on the dynamic response of a typical landfill. Emphasis is given on the special characteristics of ground motion, while the material nonlinearity of both soil and waste is taken into account by an equivalent-linear procedure. Results indicate that local site conditions may play a significant role in the seismic response of a landfill. However, this role cannot be judged a priori as beneficial or detrimental, as it depends not only on soil conditions and seismic excitation, but also on the material and geometric characteristics of the landfill.