Effects of Bonded Tyres on Leachate Recirculation of Bioreactor Landfills

Introduction: In bioreactor landfills, leachate recirculation significantly influences the process of stabilization and the stability of slope. Method: To speed up the leachate recirculation and reduce its adverse impact on slope stability, this paper proposes a new method which constructs a spatial net consisted of bonded whole tyres in the municipal waste during landfilling. Results and Conclusion: In this study, a numerical two-permeability flow model was used to investigate the effects of tyres embedding on the outflow rate of leachate injection. Furthermore, it was coupled with momentum balance equations to determine the local factor of safety of slope stability. The established model was applied to a simplified bioreactor landfill. The simulation results demonstrated that the tyre net can accelerate the rate of leachate injection and contribute to distribute the liquid more uniformly. Meanwhile, the slope stability was improved due to the enforcement of waste in the presence of tyres.