Unreinforced geosynthetic clay liner case history

This paper describes a slope failure involving an unreinforced geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) in a municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill liner system. T he precise mechanism for the shear movement of the interim slope is not kno wn. However, the significant damage observed in the upper components of the composite liner system suggests that the failure was translatory primarily along the interface between the recompacted soil liner and the overlying h ydrated bentonite of the geomembrane-backed GCL. It also appears evident th at the slope inclination, slope height, physical characteristics, e.g. high unit weight, of the waste, and possibly the overlying smooth geomembrane/g eonet interface played a significant role in the movement. Design recommend ations for interface strengths and stability analyses are also presented.