Case study of water evacuation from a waste cover via evapotranspiration and a drainage geocomposite

Melissa Chappel, Eric Blond, Pascal Saunier

In the proceedings of: GeoMontréal 2013: 66th Canadian Geotechnical Conference; 11th joint with IAH-CNC

Session: Geosynthetics - Drainage and Soil Filtration

ABSTRACT: The performance of a tubular drainage geocomposite has been investigated in a waste cover test pad located north of Montreal, Quebec, over a three year period. The average annual infiltration to the geocomposite was 45% of precipitation. It was found that the pore size and texture differences between the topsoil and the geotextile under the topsoil formed a capillary break that held water in the topsoil. It was concluded that evapotranspiration eliminated infiltration through the cover to the geocomposite during the growing season from May to September. The geocomposite performed as designed when required to drain water from October to April, during periods when the cover system was not frozen.

RÉSUMÉ: La performance des géocomposites de drainage avec mini-drains a été évaluée pendant 3 ans dans le cadre de la couverture de lieu d'enfouissement technique situé au Nord de Montréal, Québec. Il a été relevé que 45% des précipitations se sont infiltrés et ont été captés par le géocomposite. Il a été également démontré que la granulométrie et les différents types de sols entre l'engazonnement et les géotextiles forment un bris capillaire qui retient temporairement l'eau dans la couverture. Il a été conclu que l'évapotranspiration a empêché l'infiltration d'eau vers le géocomposite au travers de la couverture pendant la saison chaude entre mai et septembre. Le géocomposite a quant à lui remplit pleinement sa fonction telle que dimensionnée pour drainer les eaux d'infiltration, lorsque nécessaire, entre octobre et avril, lorsque le système de couverture n'était pas gelé.

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Cite this article:
Melissa Chappel; Eric Blond; Pascal Saunier (2013) Case study of water evacuation from a waste cover via evapotranspiration and a drainage geocomposite in GEO2013. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Geotechnical Society.

@article{GeoMon2013Paper500,author = Melissa Chappel; Eric Blond; Pascal Saunier,title = Case study of water evacuation from a waste cover via evapotranspiration and a drainage geocomposite ,year = 2013}