Limit equilibrium analysis of translational failure of landfills under different leachate buildup conditions

Excessive leachate levels in landfills can be a major triggering mechanism for translational failure. The scope of this paper is to present the development of the calculation methods for limit equilibrium analysis of translational failure of landfills and the effects of parametric variation on the factor of safety (FS) of landfills under different leachate buildup conditions. During the development of the calculation methods, 4 leachate buildup conditions are considered. The FS for an interface with high friction angle and low apparent cohesion generally drops much more quickly when leachate levels are increased than that for an interface under inverse conditions. The critical interface of a multilayer liner system with the lowest FS for the entire waste mass can shift from one to another with changes in the leachate levels. The different interfaces of a multilayer liner will have different FS-values under different leachate buildup conditions.