EQUATIONS FOR CALCULATING THE RATE OF LIQUID MIGRATION THROUGH COMPOSITE LINERS DUE TO GEOMEMBRANE DEFECTS

Equations available to date for calculating the rate of liquid migrati on through a composite liner due to geomembrane defects require the us e of graphs to obtain the value of one of the terms of the equations f or the case where the liquid head is larger than the thickness of the low-permeability soil component of the composite liner. In this paper, it is shown that the terms that require graphs can be expressed analy tically, which leads to a new set of equations that provides an entire ly analytical means of calculating the rate of liquid migration throug h composite liners. This new set of equations is particularly useful w hen the liquid head is large compared to the thickness of the low-perm eability soil component of the composite liner, which is often the cas e when the low-permeability soil associated with the geomembrane to fo rm a composite liner is a geosynthetic clay liner. A numerical example is given.