Evaluation of red soil-bentonite mixtures for compacted clay liners

Compacted clay liners are an integral part of the waste landfills,which are provided to contain the leachate within the landfills and protect the surrounding environment.Generally,locally available natural soils are used for the construction of compacted clay liners if they satisfy the design criteria.However,not all soils in their natural state satisfy all the design criteria for the liner materials.Thus,there is a definite need to modify the locally available natural soils by blending with bentonite to meet the required design criteria for the liners.In view of this,the present study evaluates the suitability of an Indian red soil enhanced with bentonite as a liner material.To achieve this,a series of experiments were carried out using locally available red soil and bentonite.First,the suitability of the red soil was evaluated as a liner material.The experimental results showed that the red soil met all the selection criteria stipulated by the Environmental Protection Agencies(EPAs)for the liners except the hydraulic conductivity criterion.Therefore,the red soil was mixed with bentonite contents of 10%,20%and 30%,and the red soil-bentonite mixtures were evaluated for their suitability for liners in their compacted state.Further,as the liners in the arid and semi-arid regions are subjected to moisture variations due to seasonal moisture fluctuations and other factors,the red soil-bentonite mixtures were subjected to wetdry cycles,and their suitability was evaluated after wet-dry cycles.The experimental results revealed that all the red soil-bentonite mixtures met the stipulated EPA criteria for the liners in the as-compacted state.However,the red soil-bentonite mixtures with 20%and 30%bentonite contents only satisfied the hydraulic conductivity requirement even after wet-dry cycles.The experimental findings were supplemented with the microstructural insights captured through digital camera images,scanning electron microscopy(SEM),and mercury intrusion porosimetry(MIP)studies.

Structural,volumetric and water retention behaviors of a compacted clay upon saline intrusion and freeze-thaw cycles

This study investigates the evolution of the structural,volumetric and water retention behaviors of a compacted clay during soaking and desiccation considering the influences of freeze-thaw(FT)cycles and saline intrusion.Compacted specimens were subjected to different FT cycles and then submerged in NaCl solution with different concentrations to facilitate the saline intrusion and measure the swelling behaviors.Shrinkage curve and filter paper tests were thereafter performed to reveal the clay’s volumetric and water-retention characteristics during desiccation.Mercury intrusion porosimetry and field emission scanning electron microscopy tests were conducted to observe the evolution of the clay’s microstructure.Experimental results show that the clay’s micropores decrease and macropores increase after FT cycles,which is associated with the migration of water,growth of ice crystals,and development of FT-induced cracks during FT cycles.Similar observations were obtained from specimens after the saline intrusion,which is attributed to the osmotic and osmotically-induced consolidation.FT-induced cracks significantly reduce the clay’s swelling and shrinkage potentials.FT cycles result in the shrinkage of micropores which leads to a reduction in the water retention capacity in the low suction range(capillary regime).The salinization suppresses the swelling of the clay and prolongs its primary and secondary swelling stages.The shrinkage potential initially increases and then decreases with increasing saline concentration.Salinization has significant influences on the osmotic suction and thus alters the clay’s water-retention curves in terms of total suction.It demonstrates little impact on the clay’s water-retention curves in terms of matric suction.

Feasibility of compacted attapulgite/diatomite amended clayey soils as gas barrier materials

Compacted clay liners are extensively used as barriers to control the upward diffusion of vapors of volatile or semi-volatile organic contaminants released from unsaturated contaminated soils at industrycontaminated sites.This study aimed to investigate the gas diffusion barrier performance of compacted clayey soils amended with three agents including attapulgite and diatomite individually,and attapulgite/diatomite mixture.The properties including water retention,volumetric shrinkage,gas diffusion,and unconfined compressive strength were evaluated through a series of laboratory tests of amended compacted clayey soils.The results demonstrate that the decrease in volume proportions of interaggregate pores leads to an increase in unconfined compressive strength(qu).Both hydrophilic groups and microstructures of attapulgite and diatomite result in an increase in water retention percent(Wt)of compacted clayey soil specimens after amendment regardless of the type of agent or initial water content(w0).Furthermore,the ratio of the gas diffusion coefficient(De)to the gas diffusion coefficient in the air(Da)was significantly reduced owing to a decrease in volume proportions of inter-aggregate pores,hydrophilic group,and microstructures of attapulgite and diatomite.Scanning electron microscope analyses revealed that rod-shaped attapulgite filled the inter-aggregate pores formed by clay particles,whereas the disc-shaped diatomite particles,characterized by micropores,failed to obstruct the interaggregate pores due to their larger particle size.Mercury intrusion porosimetry(MIP)analyses showed a reduction in pore volume in the inter-aggregate pores,leading to a reduction in the total pore volume for both the attapulgite and attapulgite/diatomite mixture amended clays,which is in accordance with the scanning electron microscope(SEM)results.The findings are pertinent to the practical application of compacted clay liners as gas barriers against the upward migration of volatile or semi-volatile organic contaminants at contaminated sites.

Behavior of compacted clay-concrete interface

Tests of interface between compacted clay and concrete were conducted systematically using interface simple shear test apparatus.The samples,having same dry density with different water content ratio,were prepared.Two types of concrete with different surface roughness,i.e.,relatively smooth and relatively rough surface roughness,were also prepared.The main objectives of this paper are to show the effect of water content,normal stress and rough surface on the shear stress-shear displacement relationship of clay-concrete interface.The following were concluded in this study:1)the interface shear sliding dominates the interface shear displacement behavior for both cases of relatively rough and smooth concrete surface except when the clay water content is greater than 16%for the case of rough concrete surface where the shear failure occurs in the body of the clay sample;2)the results of interface shear strength obtained by direct shear test were different from that of simple shear test for the case of rough concrete surface;3)two types of interface failure mechanism may change each other with different water content ratio;4)the interface shear strength increases with increasing water content ratio especially for the case of clay-rough concrete surface interface.

Shear Strength Behavior of Two Landfill Clay Liners

Direct shear tests were conducted to obtain both the shear strength ofcompacted clay liners (CCLs) specimens and the interface shear strength between compacted clay linerand base soil. These experiments were conducted under the conditions of five different watercontents. The experimental results show that shear strength of both CCLs and CCLs/base interfacedecreases with the increase in the water content of CCLs and base soil. In addition, the considerateconcentration of NaCl in leachate has no deteriorating effect on the shear strength of liners.Triaxial shear tests were also conducted on clay liner specimens to obtain total and effective shearstrength under a fast compression. The shear strength parameters with total stress are φ=18. 5°and c=30 kPa for clay-bentonite, and φ=48. 5° and c=90 kPa for sand-bentonite and those witheffective stress are φ'= 27. 2° and c'=25 kPa for clay-bentonite, and φ'=35° and c'=100 kPa forsand-bentonite, respectively. These results indicate that the compacted clay-bentonite shows normalconsolidation, but that the compacted sand-bentonite exhibits over-consolidation.