*Student, Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
**Research Scholar, Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
***Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Online published on 29 April, 2014.
This paper presents the results of comparative study of different types of cover systems used in landfills. Hydraulic Evaluation of Landfill Performance (HELP), a tool for analyzing water balance in landfill lining and capping systems is used in this study to investigate the performance of different types of cover systems (geo-synthetic clay liners GCL), RCRA_C Cover, anisotropic barrier cover (ABC), capillary barrier cover (CBC), Evapotranspiration Soil Cover (ET), landfill cover type C-1, C-2, C-3, C-4 and C-5). The cover systems were studied and analysed in terms of the parameters like leachate generation, lateral drainage and head over a period of 5 years. Series of simulations were performed using different climatic data and varying thickness of landfill covers. Two cities of India, Bangalore and Kanpur were selected for the study. The results show that the leachate collected was minimum in case of RCRA_C, GCL, C-5 and C-2 cover type for both Bangalore and Kanpur. The maximum head on the HDPE membrane were found in cover type C-1, ET and ABC. Therefore RCRA_C Cover, GCL, C-2, CPCB standards and C-5 cover type proved to be better cover systems in comparison to the others in the climatic conditions of Bangalore and Kanpur. The study shows the use of geosynthetics improved the performance of the covers.
Landfill covers systems, geo-synthetic clay liner, HELP model
