Authors: Afshin Khoshand Mamadou Fall
Publish Date: 2014/01/10
Volume: 32, Issue: 2, Pages: 489-503
Abstract
Landfills are one of the major sources of methane CH4 emission which is a very potent greenhouse gas The use of a natural process for microbial CH4 oxidation through biocovers provides a source reduction of CH4 emission Previous studies have mostly focused on biochemical properties and limited research has been conducted with regards to the geotechnical characterization of compost based biocovers This paper presents the results of a comprehensive laboratory investigation on pure compost and compost–sand mixtures with mix ratio of 31 11 and 13 w/w to determine the compaction shear strength compressibility and hydraulic and thermal conductivity properties of compost based biocovers Direct shear and ring shear tests have shown that the cohesion c and friction angle ϕ are in the range of 21–197 kPa and 441°–547° respectively Based on the results of one dimensional consolidation tests the coefficient of consolidation Cv values are in the range of 171–063 m2/year which is a function of the moisture and organic contents of the samples The lowest hydraulic conductivity ranges from 609 × 10−8 to 178 × 10−7 cm/s which occur at optimum moisture contents Thermal conductivity is measured under various porosities and moisture contents By increasing the dry density and sand content of the mixtures thermal conductivity increases The results presented in this paper will contribute to a better understanding of the geotechnical behaviour of compost based biocover and thus to a more costeffective design of biocovers
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