Special Issue "Advances in Environmental Geotechnics"
Quicklinks
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2011)
Special Issue Editor
Guest Editor
Dr. Hiroshan Hettiarachchi
Department of Civil Engineering, Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West Ten Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48075, USA
Website: http://www.ltu.edu/facultyandstaff/hettiarachchi.asp
E-Mail: hiroshan@ltu.edu
Interests: geoenvironmental engineering: settlement mechanics of bioreactor landfills; stability analysis of bioreactor landfills; geotechnical properties of municipal solid waste (MSW); properties and behavior of soils: scouring at bridge piers; shear strength properties of soils
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Geotechnical engineering aspects are central and critical to most problems of environmental control. Design, construction, operation and maintenance of solutions to such environmental problems require a thorough understanding in Environmental Geotechnics. It is an interdisciplinary field that has become popular among engineers (mainly geotechnical, environmental, water resources), scientist as well as geologists. Typical subjects covered in this area include contaminant transport, dredged soils, industrial wastes, geosynthetics, landfills (bioreactor and traditional), municipal solid waste, site remediation, tailing dams. Modeling, testing, monitoring, risk assessment and sustainability in geoenvironmental engineering are among the other emerging topics. “Advances in Environmental Geotechnics” presents the latest developments and novel findings in this interdisciplinary field.
Dr. Hiroshan Hettiarachchi
Guest Editor
Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs).
Keywords
- contaminated transport
- dredged soils
- geoenvironmental engineering
- geotechnical reuse of industrial wastes
- groundwater modeling
- geosynthetics
- landfills
- municipal solid waste
- site remediation
- sustainability
- tailing dams
Published Papers (5 papers)
|
Received: 2 March 2011; in revised form: 13 May 2011 / Accepted: 13 May 2011 / Published: 24 May 2011
Show/Hide Abstract
| Download PDF Full-text (477 KB) | Download XML Full-text
Abstract: Addition of liquids into landfilled waste can result in an increase in pore water pressure, and this in turn may increase concerns with respect to geotechnical stability of the landfilled waste mass. While the impact of vertical well leachate recirculation on landfill pore water pressures has been mathematically modeled, measurements of these systems in operating landfills have not been reported. Pressure readings from vibrating wire piezometers placed in the waste surrounding a liquids addition well at a full-scale operating landfill in Florida were recorded over a 2-year period. Prior to the addition of liquids, measured pore pressures were found to increase with landfill depth, an indication of gas pressure increase and decreasing waste permeability with depth. When liquid addition commenced, piezometers located closer to either the leachate injection well or the landfill surface responded more rapidly to leachate addition relative to those far from the well and those at deeper locations. After liquid addition stopped, measured pore pressures did not immediately drop, but slowly decreased with time. Despite the large pressures present at the bottom of the liquid addition well, much smaller pressures were measured in the surrounding waste. The spatial variation of the pressures recorded in this study suggests that waste permeability is anisotropic and decreases with depth.
|
|
Received: 1 March 2011; in revised form: 21 May 2011 / Accepted: 10 June 2011 / Published: 16 June 2011
Show/Hide Abstract
| Download PDF Full-text (242 KB) | Download XML Full-text
Abstract: In-situ air sparging has evolved as an innovative technique for soil and groundwater remediation impacted with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including chlorinated solvents. These may exist as non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) or dissolved in groundwater. This study assessed: (1) how air injection rate affects the mass removal of dissolved phase contamination, (2) the effect of induced groundwater flow on mass removal and air distribution during air injection, and (3) the effect of initial contaminant concentration on mass removal. Dissolved-phase chlorinated solvents can be effectively removed through the use of air sparging; however, rapid initial rates of contaminant removal are followed by a protracted period of lower removal rates, or a tailing effect. As the air flow rate increases, the rate of contaminant removal also increases, especially during the initial stages of air injection. Increased air injection rates will increase the density of air channel formation, resulting in a larger interfacial mass transfer area through which the dissolved contaminant can partition into the vapor phase. In cases of groundwater flow, increased rates of air injection lessened observed downward contaminant migration effect. The air channel network and increased air saturation reduced relative hydraulic conductivity, resulting in reduced groundwater flow and subsequent downgradient contaminant migration. Finally, when a higher initial TCE concentration was present, a slightly higher mass removal rate was observed due to higher volatilization-induced concentration gradients and subsequent diffusive flux. Once concentrations are reduced, a similar tailing effect occurs.
|
|
Received: 15 March 2011; in revised form: 13 June 2011 / Accepted: 13 June 2011 / Published: 16 June 2011
Show/Hide Abstract
| Download PDF Full-text (2099 KB) | Download XML Full-text
Abstract: Geomembranes are an important component of modern engineered barriers to prevent the infiltration of stormwater and runoff into contaminated soil and rock as well as waste containment facilities—a function generally described as a geomembrane cover. This paper presents a case history involving a novel implementation of a geomembrane cover system. Due to this novelty, the design engineers needed to assemble from disparate sources the design criteria for the engineering of the cover. This paper discusses the design methodologies assembled by the engineering team. This information will aid engineers designing similar cover systems as well as environmental and public health professionals selecting site improvements that involve infiltration barriers.
|
|
Received: 4 March 2011; in revised form: 22 June 2011 / Accepted: 23 June 2011 / Published: 28 June 2011
Show/Hide Abstract
| Download PDF Full-text (1163 KB) | Download XML Full-text
Abstract: Clayey soil found in coal mines in Appalachian Ohio is often sold to landfills for constructing Recompacted Soil Liners (RSL) in landfills. Since clayey soils possess low hydraulic conductivity, the suitability of mined clay for RSL in Ohio is first assessed by determining its clay content. When soil samples are tested in a laboratory, the same engineering properties are typically expected for the soils originated from the same source, provided that the testing techniques applied are standard, but mined clay from Appalachian Ohio has shown drastic differences in particle size distribution depending on the sampling and/or laboratory processing methods. Sometimes more than a 10 percent decrease in the clay content is observed in the samples collected at the stockpiles, compared to those collected through reverse circulation drilling. This discrepancy poses a challenge to geotechnical engineers who work on the prequalification process of RSL material as it can result in misleading estimates of the hydraulic conductivity of the samples. This paper describes a laboratory investigation conducted on mined clay from Appalachian Ohio to determine how and why the standard sampling and/or processing methods can affect the grain-size distributions. The variation in the clay content was determined to be due to heavy concentrations of shale fragments in the clayey soils. It was also concluded that, in order to obtain reliable grain size distributions from the samples collected at a stockpile of mined clay, the material needs to be processed using a soil grinder. Otherwise, the samples should be collected through drilling.
|
|
Received: 10 March 2011; in revised form: 1 July 2011 / Accepted: 5 August 2011 / Published: 24 August 2011
Show/Hide Abstract
| Download PDF Full-text (2507 KB) | Download XML Full-text
Abstract: Leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) containing gasoline represent a significant public health hazard. Virtually undetectable to the UST owner, gasoline leaks can contaminate groundwater supplies. In order to develop remediation plans one must know the extent of gasoline contamination. Centrifugal simulations showed that in silty and sandy soils gasoline moved due to the physical process of advection and was retained as a pool of free products above the water table. However, in clayey soils there was a limited leak with lateral spreading and without pooling of free products above the water table. Amount leaked depends on both the type of soil underneath the USTs and the amount of corrosion. The soil vapor extraction (SVE) technology seems to be an effective method to remove contaminants from above the water table in contaminated sites. In-situ air sparging (IAS) is a groundwater remediation technology for contamination below the water table, which involves the injection of air under pressure into a well installed into the saturated zone. However, current state of the art is not adequate to develop a design guide for site implementation. New information is being currently generated by both centrifugal tests as well as theoretical models to develop a design guide for IAS. The petroleum contaminated soils excavated from leaking UST sites can be used for construction of highway pavements, specifically as sub-base material or blended and used as hot or cold mix asphalt concrete. Cost analysis shows that 5% petroleum contaminated soils is included in hot or cold mix asphalt concrete can save US$5.00 production cost per ton of asphalt produced.
|
Last update: 1 March 2011
