The Effect Of Heat On The Diversion Length Of Capillary Barriers

Within the literature, capillary barriers have been suggested as an alternative hydraulic barrier in cover liners for waste dumps. When a waste dump reaches its full capacity, cover liners are usually constructed over the waste mound to seal the waste from the surrounding environment. One main function of a cover liner is to prevent substantial amounts of water infiltrating into the waste material thereby preventing leaching and potentially contamination of the ground water system. A capillary barrier consists of a fine soil overlying a coarse soil, which can impeded infiltrating water at the soil layer interface by capillary forces. Breakthrough into the coarse soil will only occur once enough water has accumulated at the interface to overcome the water-entry pressure of the coarse soil. If a capillary barrier is inclined, water will flow laterally downslope (or upslope) until breakthrough is reached. The length of this lateral flow, parallel to the slope, is known as the diversion length. Additionally, sealed waste can produce a substantial amount of heat due to the decomposing waste material. Therefore, it is important to explore the effect of heat on the performance of capillary barriers.