Abstract
This study aims to investigate the effect of reinforcement exerted by soft plastics contained in landfills, which especially focuses on the continuous or discontinuous-placed state of soft plastic, to the slope stability of landfills. Two conditions of landfills were simulated in a large box. The one case was “continuous model” in which the soft plastics were mixed and placed continuously in the entire sample, and the other case was “discontinuous model” in which the soft plastics were placed discontinuously with an interception layer formed with decomposed granite soil in the center of the samples. The results obtained from the comparative tests showed that the distribution of lateral pressure on the wall of both cases was quite different. In addition, the deformation of the continuous model maintained self-standing and stable condition, while that of the discontinuous model did not converge in accordance with the lateral stress released during the movement of the sidewall. It is believed that the horizontal tensile stress generated on a soft plastic will be transmitted to other soft plastics as long as the soft plastics were continuously mixed and placed in the entire landfill, and that a large reinforcing effect will be exerted in the entire landfill as a result.
