Effect of texturing on the longevity of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) geomembranes in municipal solid waste landfills

The effect of texturing (co-extrusion using blowing agent) on the longevity of a geomembrane (GMB) when immersed in synthetic municipal solid waste leachate is investigated over a ~ 3-year period. Based on data at four temperatures (40, 55, 75, and 85oC), the time to antioxidant depletion of the textured portion of a 1.5 mm core thickness high density polyethylene (HDPE) GMB may be 40% (Std-OIT) and 9% (HP-OIT) faster compared to the 1.5 mm smooth edge of the GMB. However, despite this, stress crack resistance results show that texturing may have no significant effect on the time to nominal failure for this GMB. It is also shown that HDPE GMBs made from nominally from the same resin but from different production lots have different rate of SCR degradation and hence time to nominal failure; this should be considered both in landfill design and landfill construction quality assurance.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author