3rd International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA - 2014

Mechanical characterization of MSW using CPTu tests

P. Lapeña & J. Cañizal
University of Cantabria (Santander, Spain)
A. Martínez Parra
Ferrovial Servicios (Spain)
M. Devincenci
Igeotest (Spain)

ABSTRACT: The knowledge of the mechanical properties of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) has many implica-
tions on landfill design. The shear strength of the waste determines the inclination to be given to the landfill slopes,
which in turn governs the landfill capacity. Traditionally these properties are obtained either using geotechnical la-
boratory or field tests. CPTu, analyzed using charts devised for soils, was used to study the behavior and to obtain
the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion parameters of three landfills spread over Spain. This paper shows the obtained
charts and early conclusions.

1 INTRODUCTION

The behavior of a landfill relies, among many other parameters, on the mechanical properties of the waste dis-
posed in it. There are several factors influencing the mechanical characteristics, such as composition, age, confin-
ing pressure, details of landfill operation, existence of soil layers as waste cell coverage, etc.
Shear strength determines the inclination to be given to the landfill slopes for a safe operation, which is a key
parameter in landfill design.
Because of the nature of waste (great variability on particle size, heterogeneity of the mass, variability on the
properties over time due to degradation, etc.), achieving a full mechanical characterization is not possible. Be-
cause of that, usually only ranges for the parameters are given (Sánchez et al. 1993, Palma 1995, Cañizal et al.
2011).
Due to the similarities between soils and wastes, the behavior of MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) is usually
studied using models devised for soils, mainly the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. However, the special charac-
teristics of wastes make it necessary to adapt the existing methodologies used in soils to their application in
MSW. Although using equipment designed to test in soils is possible, some adjustments need to be done to test
procedures and data analysis taking into consideration the special features of wastes.
Prior work has shown that, although both using laboratory tests and field tests are possible geotechnical ap-
proaches to study the behavior of wastes, field tests have some clear advantages in terms of safety and representa-
tiveness (Cañizal et al. 2011). The usage of laboratory tests to obtain these properties faces several problems in-
cluding, but not limited to, taking representative samples of the wastes and health and environmental hazards of
testing this type of materials in geotechnical laboratories, usually located in general usage buildings. Because of
that, the University of Cantabria’s Geotechnical Group is researching on obtaining the mechanical properties of
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wastes using field tests. Although the interpretation of field test is more complex, its usage has become an attrac-
tive alternative, because it eliminates both problems mentioned for laboratory tests.
The first studies carried out by this group date back to the early nineties (Sanchez et al. 1993, Palma 1995)
with the realization of several field tests in Meruelo landfill, in the region of Cantabria (Spain). Among the tests
made, there were some static penetration tests, using mechanical tips (Gouda and Begemann). Currently, a new
research campaign is being undertaken on characterizing MSW using field tests, and more specifically cone pene-
tration and piezocone tests (CPT, CPTu) as well as pressuremeter tests. The campaign includes the realization of
several CPTu tests in landfills spread all over Spain.

2 LANDFILL DESCRIPTION

Site investigation field tests were carried out in three landfills.

Figure 1. Pictures of the MSW landfills studied. (a) Can Mata (b) Alcalá del Río (c) Cañada Hermosa

The first landfill, called Can Mata (CM) landfill, is located northwest of Barcelona. It can be divided into two
different areas. In one area there are MSW and industrial waste similar to MSW (non-hazardous) from the period
1994-2003. The maximum height of waste is 65 m, with a minimum thickness of about 20 m. The area occupied
by waste is approximately 21 ha. The second area, known as "new landfill", began operations in 2004 and it is
currently in use. The waste in this area comes from previous treatments of non-hazardous MSW and industrial
solid waste similar to MSW. The maximum height of waste is 70 m, with a minimum thickness of around 30 m.
The area occupied by waste is approximately 17 ha. The test points were uniformly located in areas where waste
was landfilled, in order to be 3D representative. This same approach was used in the other two facilities.
The second facility is called Alcalá del Río (AR) and it is located in the southwest of Spain, near Seville. The
landfill is divided into four cells, but the oldest one (cell 1) was capped with geosynthetics; therefore research has
focused on cells 2, 3 and 4. The operation in cell 2 began in 2005 and currently waste is landfilled in cells 3 and 4.
The waste received at the waste treatment park is non-hazardous MSW and industrial waste similar to MSW. Af-
ter a series of mechanical treatments, refuse from the different treatments is managed at the landfill. The research
area occupies a surface of 10.4 ha. The maximum height of waste is around 40 m, whereas the minimum is 20 m.
Finally, the third landfill, Cañada Hermosa (CH), is located in the southeast of Spain, near the town of Murcia.
The waste treatment park consists of a Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) plant (sorting, recycling and
composting plants) and a landfill. Additionally, it also receives material from an MSW treatment plant and light-
weight packaging residue from a nearby plant. The MSW landfilled can be divided into the following categories:
refuse from selection plant, refuse from sorting plant, refuse from industrial plant and, finally, refuse from com-
posting plant. The compost of sludge did not start until 2005. The landfill is divided into 13 cells, with 10 already

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built. The operation of the landfill started in 1994. The investigation area covered 27 ha. The maximum depth of
waste is 40 m, whereas the minimum is about 20 m.

3 CPTU METHODOLOGY

To establish geotechnical profiles for the waste mass on the landfills and to assist in characterization of the on-site
waste materials, a CPTu site investigation was conducted in each landfill. The program consisted of advancing 32
CPTu soundings within the landfills. The soundings were distributed among the landfills as follows:

 10 CPTu soundings with dissipation tests in Can Mata landfill (CM)

 10 CPTu soundings with dissipation tests in Alcalá del Río landfill (AR)
 12 CPTu soundings with dissipation tests in Cañada Hermosa landfill (CH)

A 17ton mixed CPT-drilling truck provided the necessary reaction for the tests in Can Mata landfill and 20ton
CPT truck has been used in the other two. (see Figure 2)

Figure 2. Site investigation equipment used to study MSW sites (a) 17ton mixed CPT-drilling truck (b) 20 ton
CPT truck
 
The CPT devices used were made by GEOMIL (Netherlands). The system comprised subtractive electrical
cones with 60º tapered, 15 cm2 tip area. The porous filter was located just behind the cone tip in u2 position.
All the CPTu tests were performed according to the guidelines established by the International Society for Soil
Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, with a rate of penetration of the cone of 20 mm/s and recordings of qc,
fs and u2 every 20 mm. Typical graphical results are shown in Fig 3.

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Figure 3. Typical CPTu results
 
CPTu tests were used to identify waste soil behavior type. Values of pore pressure readings were obtained de-
spite the absence of water table. This could be due to the presence of leachate inside the waste deposits that could
influence the classification.
In the three landfills studied, the general behavior was very similar. Showing a great heterogeneity in deposits,
with peaks in the qc and fs measurements.
The initial target depth was not achieved in all soundings. Maximum thrust capacity or rod inclination were the
termination criteria for some tests.
The maximum penetration in each Site is shown in Figure 4:
 
5
0
m

5
0
m
1
3
0

b
1
1
0

︵ ︶
9
0

5
0
m
1 1 1
8 6 4
0 0 0

︵ ︶

Figure 4. Landfill’s longitudinal profiles showing the CPTu soundings depth (a) Can Mata site, (b) Alcalá del Río
site (c) Cañada Hermosa site.

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4 DATA ANALYSIS

The aim of this study was to obtain the mechanical characteristics of the waste mass using models and methodol-
ogies designed for soils. There are several characteristics of the material that can cause tests results to differ from
what it is expected in a natural soil. In this early stage of the research, the data analysis was made using different
charts available for soils, trying to compare the behavior of the waste to the one observed in well-known materi-
als. The analysis was made in two steps; first, soil behavior type identification was made and, based on it, the me-
chanical properties were obtained.

4.1 Soil behavior type identification

Usually the soil behavior type (SBT) identification is automatically done by software used to analyze the CPTu
results. In this case, the software was not capable of obtaining realistic soil type profiles. According to the auto-
mated analysis, the soil type changes every few centimeters, sometimes drastically, which is not consistent with
the historical deposit records of the landfills. This effect can be explained by the high heterogeneity of the landfill,
made up of particles very different in shape and size. Because of that, a manual analysis was carried out to obtain
the soil type profile, and thus, the chart to be used to obtain the mechanical properties. The analysis consisted on
manually find ranges with similar average values of cone resistance and friction ratio and replace the points of the
ranges with their average depth and value. The coefficient of variation of each range was also obtained to control
the quality of the procedure. As it can be seen in Figure 3, besides the variability of the acquired values, several
peaks appear in the graph. Usually these are caused by large particles, such as cans or tires, which are usually
moved away by the equipment as it is pushed into the ground. These unusually high values can alter the interpre-
tation, giving raise to incorrect conclusions. Hence, peak values were isolated in ranges and taken apart from the
data to be analyzed using the charts.
One very common issue in the analysis of field tests on MSW is obtaining the unit weight profile of the waste
mass. Although there are some models available (Zekkos, 2006), the investigation required to obtain their parame-
ters in order to obtain results with the needed accuracy is very expensive and time consuming. In addition, alt-
hough the tests carried out were CPTu, due to the poor reliability of pore pressure readings in this type of materi-
al, classifications that did not require CPT pore pressures were used. Therefore, the non-normalized charts
proposed by Schmertmann (1978) and Robertson (2010) were used to interpret results.

4.2 Mechanical properties of the waste mass

Once the soil behavior type profile was determined, the appropriate correlation was used to determine the me-
chanical properties. In this early stage of the investigation, Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion was assumed. As it is
shown in the next section, the overall behavior of the material that makes up the landfill can be assimilated with
the one observed in sands, so the chart proposed by Robertson and Campanella (1983) was used to estimate the
Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters. Several values for the unit weight within the usual ranges (9 kN/m3 to 12
kN/m3) were tried to obtain effective stress, but the observed difference in the results was negligible. Hence, the
final analysis was made assuming a constant unit weight profile of 10 kN/m3.

5 RESULTS
5.1 Soil behavior type identification
Figure 5 shows data from all three landfills plotted on the Robertson (2010) chart. Most of the points are in areas
4 and 5, that correspond with “Silt mixtures: clayey silt and silty clay” and Sand mixtures: silty sand to sandy silt”
respectively. This is consistent with the Group’s experience and the revised bibliography, that suggest a sand-like
behavior of the wastes with some cohesion caused by the reinforcement effect of fibrous material inside the waste
mass.

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 To corroborate and compare the results obtained using the Robertson (2010) chart, data was also evaluated us-
ing the chart proposed by Schmertmann (1978). Results are shown in Figure 6.

Can Mata (CM) Alcalá del Río (AR) Cañada Hermosa (CH)

1000 1000 1000

8 8 8
7 7 7

9 9 9

100 100 100

Cone resistance, qc/pa

6 6 6

5 5 5

10 4 10 4 10 4

3 3 3

1 1 1

2 2 2
1 1 1
0.1 1 10 0.1 1 10 0.1 1 10

Friction Ratio, Rf (%) Friction Ratio, Rf (%) Friction Ratio, Rf (%)

(a) (b) (c)
 
Figure 5. Robertson’s (2010) chart of the three landfills: (a) Can Mata, (b) Alcalá del Río, (c) Cañada Hermosa

Can Mata (CM) Alcalá del Río (AR) Cañada Hermosa (CH)

100 100 100

10 10 10
Cone resistance, qc (MPa)

1 1 1

0.1 0.1 0.1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Friction ratio, fs / qc (%) Friction ratio, fs / qc (%) Friction ratio, fs / qc (%)

(a) (b) (c)  
Figure 6. Schmertmann’s (1978) chart of the three landfills: (a) Can Mata, (b) Alcalá del Río, (c) Cañada Hermo-
sa
 
In this case, most of the points are located either in the clean sand areas, from loose to medium dense, or in the
sand-silt mixture areas.
The results obtained with both the Robertson (2010) and Schmertmann (1978) charts suggested that the waste
mass can be assimilated in behavior with a silty-sand. In order to obtain a first estimation for the Mohr-Coulomb
strength parameters the waste was treated like sand, and hence only the friction angle (φ) was obtained.

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5.2 Mechanical properties of the waste mass
To obtain the peak friction angle (φ), the chart and correlation proposed by Robertson and Campanella (1983) was
used, assuming a constant unit weight of 10 kN/m3 (see Figure 7)
In this case, the results vary significantly between the three facilities, with values of friction angles ranging
from less than 30º to 38º. For the Can Mata (CM) waste, the obtained frictional angle ranged between 32º and 38º
whereas for the Cañada Hermosa (CH) waste, the values are between 30º and 34º, with a significant amount of da-
ta with a friction angle of less than 30º.

Can Mata (CM) Alcalá del Río (AR) Cañada Hermosa (CH)

0 0 0

CM14CPT AR10CPT CH15CPT

CM11bCPT AR10bCPT CH10CPT
CM10CPT AR09CPT CH09CPT
50 50 50
CM08CPT AR06CPT CH08CPT
CM07CPT AR04CPT CH07CPT
CM05CPT AR02cCPT CH06CPT
CM03CPT AR02bCPT CH05CPT
100 100 100
CM02CPT CH04CPT
CM01CPT CH03CPT
46º
CH02CPT
CH01CPT
150 150 150
Effective stress, '0 (kPa)

200 44º 200 44º 200 44º

250 250 250

300 300 300

42º 42º 42º

350 350 350

30º 30º 30º
36º 38º 40º 36º 38º 40º 36º 38º 40º
32º 34º 32º 34º 32º 34º

400 400 400

0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50

Cone resistance, qc (MPa) Cone Resistance, qc (MPa) Cone resistance, qc (MPa)

(c) (b) (c)
 
Figure 7. Robertson and Campanella (1983) CPT chart of the three landfills: (a) Can Mata, (b) Alcalá del Río, (c)
Cañada Hermosa

6 CONCLUSIONS

Although there are not many reported cases of CPTu testing on municipal solid waste, the CPTu has turned out to
be suitable for its usage in that particular field. After more than 30 CPTu soundings in different landfills and
waste conditions, no mayor operational problems were found. The results obtained are similar to the data obtained
by other field and lab tests, according to the experience of the authors and others. Further investigation needs to
be done to find better correlations or to verify the already existing charts for soils for its usage in wastes.
After the analysis of the acquired data on the three tested landfills, it can be said that there is a certain differ-
ence on their behavior. The more reasonable explanation for these differences is the influence of the type of
wastes that are disposed in each landfill and the operational procedures on each landfill (compaction, waste pre-
treatment, leachate and gas management, etc.). Additional research needs to be done to identify the main parame-
ters affecting the shear strength of the waste mass and to produce new models or charts that take into considera-
tion all that aspects.

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7 REFERENCES

Cañizal J., Lapeña P., Castro J., Da Costa A. and Sagaseta C., 2011. Determination of shear strength of MSW.
Field tests vs. laboratory tests. Fourth International Workshop Hydro-Physico-Mechanics of Landfills.
Santander, Spain
Kavazanjian E., 2003. Evaluation of MSW properties using field measurements. Proceedings, GRI-17: Hot Topics
in Geosynthetics, IV,Koerner, R.M., Hsuan, Y., Koerner, G.R., and Ashley, M.V. editors., Geosynthetics
Institute, Folsom, Pennsylvania, December 2003, pp. 74-113
Palma, J., 1995. Comportamiento geotécnico de vertederos controlados de residuos sólidos urbanos. PhD Thesis.
University of Cantabria.
Robertson, P.K., Soil behavior type from the CPT: an update. 2010. 2nd International Symposium on Cone Pene-
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Robertson, P.K., Campanella R.G. Interpretation of Cone Penetratios Tests – Part I (Sand). 1983. Canadian Ge-
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Sánchez, J.M., Palma, J., Sagaseta, C. and Cañizal, J. 1993. Mechanical properties of wastes in a sanitary landfill.
Waste Disposal by Landfill. (R.W. Sarsby, ed.). Bolton, U.K. 357-364.
Stark, T., Huvaj-Sarihan, N., Li, G., 2009 “Shear strength of municipal solid waste for stability analyses”. Environ
Geol. 57: pp.1911–1923.
Schmertmann, J.H., 1978. Guidelines for Cone Penetration Test, Performance and Design. Federal Highway Ad-
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Zekkos, D., Bray, J.D., Kavazanjian, E., Matasovic, N., Rathje, E.M., Riemer, M.F. and Stokoe, K. H., 2006. Unit
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