Assessing Empirical Correlations between Engineering Properties of Chemically Treated Geotextile

Abstract

Geotextile plays an integral part in an efficient landfill system for solid waste management. It serves numerous purposes and improves the efficiency and operation of the landfill. In a landfill, geotextile experiences chemical environment generating from the leachate of waste. The chemical compatibility between the material of geotextile and liquid leachate generated from the waste highly dominates the performance of geotextile in landfill operation. In this paper, the properties of geotextiles subjected to highly acidic (pH 0.5) and alkaline (pH 14) environment are evaluated to determine the competency of the particular geotextile for the application in landfill of hazardous and low level radioactive waste. This particular pH range creates a strong chemical environment and signifies the condition that generates from hazardous and low level radioactive waste. For experimental purposes, geotextiles were immersed in the solution of acidic and alkaline conditions for 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 days. Several experiments were conducted in these chemically treated samples in the terms of physical, mechanical, and hydraulic properties and finally the relationships between the properties were determined.