Landfill Development Upkeep

[AceNRC]

I'm looking for useful proven techniques to use on a landfill development project. I'm interested in techniques to help extend the life of the site improvement features (such as sidewalks, utility pipes, pavements, etc.) in the face of the constant settling that occurs.

Some ideas that come to mind are light weight concrete, flexible couplings….. Any additional techniques?

Anything pointing me to a website or informative article would be appreciated.

 

[cvg]

provide plenty of slope and extra capacity for your drainage features such as channels and pipes. Make sure the cap layer is thicker than the minimum necessary or covered with another thick protective layer. I'm not sure what good lightweight concrete will do. It certainly will do little to reduce settlement. Concrete, in general is not a good material to use on a landfill. If used, make sure it is heavily reinforced.

 

[AceNRC]

Ok, well to be more specific we are looking to fix problems on an already developed site. These issues are mainly due to the site improvements settling away from the building (building is on piles).

 

[LCruiser]

What kind of bldg did they put on a landfill? How old, how deep, what type of landfill, what utilities? What kind of traffic in and out of the bldg?

 

[LCruiser]

And, how much settlement over how long? Got curves?

 

[AceNRC]

Commercial retail store....that should answer a few of your follow ups. 3-4" of visual settlement at locations such as staircase to concrete sidewalk. No curves.

I'm helping put together some ideas that we may use, so I don't know all your answers.

 

[cvg]

predicting settlement on landfills is difficult and risky at best. Past performance is not always indicative of future. Your best bet would be to put everything on the piles. Otherwise, expect settlement and lots of movement and don't use concrete. If somebody has any proven methods, I would also be interested.

 

[msucog]

if you were getting ready to develop the site, i'd suggest that you align your performance expectations with the materials you're dealing with and the amount of money thrown at the problem. since it's already built, i'd say plan to continously make repairs for the long run. if you want to throw a lot of money at the problem, you might check with a foundation repair company (

http://www.atlaspiers.com

for example). i'm not sure how much they will be able to help depending on the landfill composition.

prior to building the thing, even putting it on piles may be tough depending on what's in the landfill and how deep it is. maybe preloading would help will put a dent in your pocket book and schedule and is no sure thing (did i mention that most everything in geotechnical engineering is not a sure thing? but there are different measurements of how close you can come to that sure thing). it might be more cost effective in the long run to turn it in to green space for a nice park (to make everyone feel like their saving mother earth--feels good doesn't it?) and use the money you saved to develop the site next door.