Simplified method to characterize municipal solid waste properties under seismic conditions

The response of municipal solid waste landfills during earthquakes is gaining worldwide attention due to the devastating nature of earthquakes on landfills. Safety code provisions and regulations of various countries require the incorporation of safety measures against seismic hazards in the design of new landfills, as well as for extensions of existing landfills in seismic zones. Determination of dynamic properties is the first step for the analysis of municipal solid waste materials under seismic conditions. Landfill composition and properties, like unit weight, shear wave velocity, shear strength, normalized shear modulus, and material damping, are the most important dynamic properties that have direct impact on the seismic behaviour of landfills, and need to be evaluated carefully. In the present study, based on the extensive data provided by various researchers, the dynamic properties of landfill materials are analyzed using curve-fitting techniques, and simple mathematical equations are proposed. The resulting profiles are compared with laboratory and field data wherever possible. These properties are difficult to generalize and may vary from landfill to landfill. Hence, the proposed simple mathematical models for these landfill properties can be used to design municipal solid waste landfills in the absence of landfill-specific field data under seismic conditions.