Abstract
As the age of waste changes, the strength of the waste varies during the service years of the landfill. On base of the upper bound limit analysis theorem, two mechanisms for stability analysis of landfills layered by aging are presented in this paper. The rotational-translational mechanism is generalized to analyze the multi-layer municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill slope. The other failure mechanism is comprised of irregular blocks undergoing translational movements. To examine the two mechanisms, the cases of a soil slope layered horizontally and a landfill slope layered by aging are taken into consideration in the case studies. In comparison with the results from the shear strength reduction finite element method (SSRFEM), it demonstrates that the validity of the two mechanisms in the stability analysis of landfill slope cases considering the aging of landfills. In addition, the stability of the Coll Cardús in Spain with complex layers by aging is analyzed, and the results are also compared with those from the SSRFEM.
