Landfill Leachate

Collection Pipe Design

Solid Waste Association of North America
North Carolina Chapter
Spring Conference
April 25-28, 2016

Ali Khatami, Ph.D., P.E.

SCS Engineers
 Discussions
• Clogging at Leachate Collection Pipes
• Traditional Design of Leachate Collection
Pipes
• Innovative Design of Leachate Collection
Pipes
• Construction Details
 Clogging Issue

• Large quantities of leachate passing through a

small area of geotextile potentially causes
clogging

• Clogging reduces flow of leachate through

geotextile

• Clogging of geotextile at leachate collection pipe

potentially impedes free flow of leachate into the
pipe
 Rule of Transmissivities

Leachate must always flow from

a transmissive medium into
another medium with equal or
greater transmissivity
 Transmissivity Value Order

Waste < Sand < Geotextile < Geonet < Gravel < Pipe

Flow of water from left medium to right medium

would be an ideal arrangement

Examples:
Geotextile → Geotextile (√)
Geotextile → Geonet (√)
Geonet → Geotextile (X)
Geotextile → Gravel (√)
Geotextile → Sand (X)
Traditional Design of Leachate
Collection Pipes
Leachate Flow Path in Traditional Design

• from waste to sand layer (√)

• from sand layer to upper geotextile of geocomposite (√)
• from upper geotextile to geonet of geocomposite (√)
• from geonet to upper geotextile of geocomposite (X)
• from upper geotextile of geocomposite to geotextile
around gravel (√)
• from geotextile to gravel (√)
• from gravel to pipe (√)

Does Not Satisfy the “Rule of Transmissivities”

 Solution

Eliminate geotextile
Innovative Design of Leachate
Collection Pipes
Leachate Flow Path in Innovative Design

• from waste to sand layer (√)

• from sand layer to upper geotextile of
geocomposite (√)
• from upper geotextile to geonet of
geocomposite (√)
• from geonet to gravel (√)
• from gravel to pipe (√)

Follows the “Rule of Transmissivities”

Geomembrane at Base and through
LCS Trench
Geocomposite Drainage Layer
Terminated at LCS Trench
Geotextile Cushion in LCS Trench
Geonet Cushion in LCS Trench
Geocomposite Tied to Geonet
Gravel above Geonet for Pipe Support
Pipe Placed above Gravel
Pipe in LCS Trench
Gravel Placement in Progress
Pipe and Gravel In-place
Geotextile Pulled Over Gravel
Geotextile Sewn to Geocomposite
Geotextile Installation
Geotextile In-place and Sewn
Sand Scooped Over Geotextile
Lower Portion of Completed Cell
Middle Portion of Completed Cell
Upper Portion of Completed Cell
Thank You for Your Time