Earthquake-Induced Lateral Displacement of a Landfill

In the wake of stability failure of the Kettleman Hills Waste Repository on March 19, 1988, the stability of landfill mass in earthquake-prone areas has become an important issue in the community. Based on a proposed landfill site in the Memphis, Tennessee area, this paper studies behaviors of landfills under various landfill and earthquake conditions (height and slope angle of the landfill, average unit weight of the landfill refuse, and peak acceleration and time duration of bedrock motion) by calculating lateral displacements induced by a design earthquake. Results indicate that lateral displacement of a landfill is proportional to the slope angle of the landfill, peak acceleration and time duration of bedrock motion, and is inversely proportional to the average unit weight of the landfill refuse. The slope angle of a landfill and the peak acceleration of bedrock motion have significant influence on the lateral displacement of a landfill compared with landfill height, average unit weight of landfill refuse and time duration of bedrock motion. Results also indicate that some landfill heights should be avoided to diminish landfill resonance, and the maximum slope angle of a landfill under certain seismic conditions depends on the internal friction angle of the landfill refuse. In addition, the lateral displacements calculated from actual and pseudo-accelerations are compared and discussed