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Geotextiles and Geomembranes 24 (2006) 188197 www.elsevier.com/locate/geotexmem

Technical note

Hydraulic and mechanical behavior of GCLs in contact with leachate as part of a composite liner
Nathalie Touze-Foltz, Christian Duquennoi, Eneric Gaget
Hydrosystems and Bioprocesses Research Unit, Cemagref, BP 44, 92163 Antony Cedex, France Received 20 August 2005; received in revised form 12 December 2005; accepted 24 January 2006 Available online 20 March 2006

Abstract When a geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) containing sodium bentonite is brought into contact with uids and soils containing other cations, the latter may exchange with the sodium present between clay layers. This modication of clay surface chemistry may change the clay microstructure and its mechanical behavior. The inuence of cation exchange on the potential for squeezing of bentonite was studied by submitting 10-cm-diameter GCL samples to squeezing tests. Those samples were part of 1-m-diameter GCL specimens that had intentionally been put in contact with leachate during a one year period through the discontinuity in a damaged geomembrane as part of a composite bottom liner, and an underlying soil containing calcium, thus generating cation concentration gradients through the GCL specimens. The impact of the hydration mode of the GCL on ow rate through the composite liner and cation exchange was studied. Results obtained tend to show that if pre-hydration of GCL on the whole surface under no load as compared to pre-hydration through the discontinuity in the geomembrane slightly prevented from cation exchange, it resulted in a larger ow rate in the composite liner. Consequently, based on the experiments presented in this paper, pre-hydration of GCLs prior to conning is discouraged. Furthermore, an increase in the calcium concentration combined with a decrease in potassium and ammonium concentrations at the surface of clay particles lead to a softening of bentonite resulting in a greater susceptibility to bentonite squeezing in the GCL samples. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Geosynthetic clay liners; Composite liner; Leachate; Advection; Cation exchange; Bearing capacity

1. Introduction Geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) are very often used in municipal solid waste (MSW) landlls composite bottom liners. In case the geomembrane overlying the GCL is damaged, advective ow is to occur through the discontinuity in the geomembrane, at the interface between the geomembrane and GCL and following through the GCL. As MSW leachate usually contains cations, it is suspected that cation exchange is to occur in the GCL following the ow of leachate. There have been many laboratory studies of the evolution of GCLs in contact with various types of chemical permeants containing cations that focused on the evolution of the permeability of the GCL (Petrov and Rowe, 1997; Ruhl and Daniel, 1997, Shackelford et al., 2000; Jo et al., 2001). The hydraulic performance of GCLs
Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 140 966 039; fax: +33 140 966 270.

also depends on the distribution of bentonite mass per unit area within the material (Bouazza, 2002). Once hydrated the bentonite has a very low shear strength. It is possible in this case that stress concentration activities and permanent structural loads cause the bentonite to squeeze laterally and lead to a local reduction in thickness which in its turn can cause a higher liquid ux at these locations (Koerner and Narejo, 1995; Fox et al., 1996). Points of stress concentration can cause lateral ow of bentonite (Stark, 1998). There are several potential sources of stress concentration that might potentially cause thinning of bentonite (Daniel, 2000):

E-mail address: nathalie.touze@cemagref.fr (N. Touze-Foltz). 0266-1144/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.geotexmem.2006.01.004

stones in the subgrade or overlying soil can serve as points of stress concentration, causing bentonite thinning next to the stone; Peggs and Olsta (1998) describe a project in which the subgrade stones were so severe that they actually punctured the GCL, which might be viewed as bentonite thinning carried to the extreme;

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the potential for thinning exists around ruts or other points of unevenness in a subgrade (Daniel, 2000); and wrinkles in geomembranes could be sources of stress concentration that might cause bentonite thinning.

2. Materials and methods 2.1. Geosynthetics A smooth 2 mm thick HDPE geomembrane was used together with a GCL. The GCL was a granular sodium bentonite core sandwiched between a slit-lm polypropylene woven geotextile and a polypropylene staple ber nonwoven geotextile. Dry bentonite mass per unit area was 5.3 kg/m2 with an initial water content equal to 9% with respect to dry weight. CEC was measured to be 75 Meq/ 100 g dry mass of soil. 2.2. Soils The soil used in this study was a mix of ne sand and clayey loam, 50% in dry mass each, whose hydraulic conductivity was close to 109 m/s. CEC was measured to be 7 Meq/100 g dry mass of soil. This soil will be called loam in the following. 2.3. Fluids Two solutions were used in the experiments: (a) a low ionic strength NaCl solution (103 M) used as a prehydration uid and noted PF; and (b) a real leachate sampled in the leachate collection pond of a French municipal solid waste landll in operation for approximately 15 years. The composition of this real leachate noted RL in the following is detailed in Table 1. Notations adopted are consistent with those of Guyonnet et al. (2005) who presented other aspects of clay leachate interactions that were part of the same research program (Guyonnet et al., 2003).

Mitchell (1993) indicates that such factors as particle size, degree of crystallinity, type of adsorbed cations, pH, the presence of organic matter, and the type and amount of free electrolyte in the pore water control the engineering properties of clay, like compressibility. Following, a variation in the susceptibility of GCLs to compression in relation with cation exchange may happen. This phenomenon has not previously been investigated to the authors knowledge. It is thus the rst objective of the present paper to show how cation exchange is to occur in a GCL which is part of a composite bottom liner. GCLs under study were put in contact with a real MSW landll leachate through a discontinuity in the geomembrane, thus generating gradients of concentration through the GCL. Furthermore, the main cation contained in the underlying soil was calcium, in order to study the potential competition between a leachate containing mainly monovalent cations, and an underlying soil containing a divalent cation, in regard with the distance to the discontinuity in the geomembrane. The second aim of the study was, following leachate percolation during a one year period, to evaluate how the potential for bentonite thinning was impacted by the contact of the GCL with the leachate and underlying soil. Hydraulic tests were performed in 1-m-diameter experimental devices. They were followed by squeezing tests on samples taken from the GCLs, in order to check how the exchanged cations impacted the susceptibility for thinning of GCLs.

Table 1 Compositions of uids used in the LIXAR research program (concentrations in moles/l unless indicated otherwise) Permeant liquida pH Chemical constituent Ca PF RL 7.3 8.1 2.1 103 Cl 9.8 104 7.9 102 Na 1.2 103 7.6 102 Mg 4.2 103 K 3.9 102 HCO3 1.6 101 SO4 5.7 104

Chemical constituent NH4 RL 1.1 10

1

B 9.0 10
4

Ba 1.4 10
6

Be 2.7 10
6

Mn 5.4 10
6

Co 3.4 10
7

Ni 3.2 10
6

Si 1.4 103

Chemical constituent Pb RL
a b

As 2.8 106

Sr 4.4 107

Zn 2.6 106

Cr tot. 1.5 105

CODb (mg/l) 3157

BODc (mg/l) 271

SMd (mg/l) 61.6

6.3 108

PF, pre-hydration uid; RL, real leachate. COD, chemical oxygen demand. c BOD, biological oxygen demand. d SM, suspended matter.

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2.4. Methodology for ow measurement The experimental setup was made of two identical 1-mdiameter cells previously described by Cartaud et al. (2005a,b). The cells consist of three parts (see Fig. 1): (a) a bottom part with a round base plate xed on the beam of a hydraulic press that applies the conning stress; (b) an intermediate 1-m-diameter cylinder 0.3 m high xed on the base plate for accommodating the simulated composite liner; and (c) an upper cylinder, 25 cm high, to accommodate the granular layer that simulates the drainage layer on top of a bottom landll liner. A polyethylene lm and geotextile were placed at the bottom part of the cell, respectively, to protect the base plate of the cell from corrosion and ensure drainage of potential efuents. The loam was carefully compacted in four lifts using a light hammer. The total thickness of the compacted loam was 27 cm. Following, a GCL specimen either initially dry, GCL-D, or hydrated, GCL-H, was placed above the loam, with the non-woven geotextile on top. In case of GCL-H, the hydration was performed by immersion in PF for 2 h and a half, without load. This time was necessary for the specimen to reach a gravimetric water content equal to 100%. This corresponds to recommendations given by the French Chapter of IGS as regards the minimum water content of the GCL to achieve prior to contact with leachate (Comite Franc ais des Geosynthetiques, 1998). Following, a geomembrane specimen having a 4-mmdiameter circular discontinuity at its center was installed above the GCLs. A special Y connection was glued over the discontinuity in the geomembrane. Two pipes were then inserted in this connection, one connected to a Mariotte bottle to perform ow rates measurements and the other one used as a purge. Following, a 828 g/m2 geotextile was placed above to protect the geomembrane

against penetration by the 25 cm thick gravel layer, 25/ 35 mm, which was added on top of the geotextile. Then, a stainless steel plate was placed above the gravel layer. Once this operation was performed, a 50 kPa normal load was applied by the hydraulic press. Finally, the liquid supply was activated and the tests started. The tests were carried out with a hydraulic head equal to 0.3 m. In the GCL-D column, it was decided to supply the composite liner with PF during 2 weeks and only then to percolate leachate. This corresponds to the case where rain water could percolate through an existing hole in the geomembrane just after placement, and before leachate production by waste. In the GCL-H column, no uid was supplied during two weeks for water content homogenization purposes. This condition could represent what happens in case a hole does not appear immediately in the geomembrane but on the short term, for example during placement of the rst layer of waste, or in case no rainfall events occur during the two weeks following placement of the GCL. In the following GCL-D and GCL-H will refer to the GCL specimens, whereas GCL-D column and GCL-H column will refer to the composite liners involving, respectively, GCL-D and GCL-H. The evaporation was recorded in a 4-mm-diameter vertical pipe located in the vicinity of the test device. This allowed to check whether the uid level decrease in the Mariotte bottles was actually due to ow through the liner.

2.5. Methodology for GCL samples conservation At the end of the hydraulic tests 37 10-cm-diameter GCLs samples were taken from GCL-D and GCL-H in order to conduct squeezing tests. Fig. 2 indicates the location and numbering of the 37 samples taken from each
Cross direction 11 21 22 14 24 23 33 31 32 34 Main flow direction

Mariotte bottle 12 Confining stress Purge Hydraulic head 42 0.27 m loam Legend : GCL Geomembrane Geotextile 71 73 74 Downstream flow
Fig. 1. Principle of test columns (based on Barroso, 2005).

13

0.25 m

41 43 44

51 53 54 81 82 84

52 62 55

61 63 64

Granular layer

72

91 83 94 93

92

1m

Fig. 2. Cartography of the 10-cm-diameter GCL samples locations.

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GCL. As all samples could not be immediately tested, a procedure was elaborated in order to prevent any dimension or mass variation. Each sample was wrapped in Paralms M and inserted in a succession or three resealable bags from which air was removed as much as possible. Then samples thus conditioned were immersed in a water tank pressurized at 50 kPa. A hydrostatic pressure identical to the pressure applied during the hydraulic test was thus applied to each sample. Samples were removed from this tank just before being submitted to the squeezing test that will be detailed in Section 2.6. Two weeks were necessary to test all samples. During this period of time, some water could enter the rst two layers of resealable bags but never reached the samples. No variation in diameter, thickness or mass of the samples was observed in relation with this conservation process. 2.6. Methodology for squeezing test Unlike penetration tests performed by Koerner and Narejo (1995) and Fox et al. (1996), the objective of the squeezing test presented in this paper is not to design the minimum thickness of cover soil necessary to prevent the GCL from stress concentrations. It is rather to quantify the mechanical behavior of the GCL and to evaluate a possible relationship between bentonite softening and cation exchange. Consequently, GCL samples were squeezed between a static rigid base plate and a moving 40-mm-diameter piston, without any soil cover (see Fig. 3). Each GCL sample was squeezed at a constant load, until a constant value of penetration was obtained. The initial load applied was equal to 80 kPa and successive loads corresponding to increments in load equal to 80 kPa were applied until the material resistance became too high and the test stopped. The loading rate was equal to 5 N/s. A typical curve obtained through this squeezing test is presented in Fig. 4.

3.5 3 Penetration (mm) 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 500 1000 1500 Time (s) 2000 2500
80 kPa 160 kPa 240 kPa 320 kPa 400 kPa 480 kPa 560 kPa

Fig. 4. Typical curve obtained during a squeezing test, for sample 54 of the GCL-H column.

2.7. Other tests performed Prior to the squeezing tests, wet mass, diameter and thickness of each sample were measured. After the squeezing tests the samples were dried and weighed again in order to determine their wet mass per unit area. Following, some bentonite was removed from the GCL samples in order to determine the clay surface chemistry. The cations occupying the exchange sites were analyzed according to Remy and Orsini (1976) as previously described by Guyonnet et al. (2005). One gram of bentonite was placed in contact with 50 ml of a concentrated solution of cobaltihexamin chloride, 4 g/l for 1 h. After this period the ion-exchange is supposed to have occurred. As cobaltihexamin is a colored molecule, the ion-exchange capacity is measured by spectrocolorimetry. The cations displaced into solution by cobaltihexamin were analyzed by ion chromatography (DIONEX DX120) with a pre column Dionex IONPACs CG16 and a IONPAC CS16 column. Furthermore, a transmissivity test was performed for a GCL non-initially hydrated, according to the protocol described by Barroso (2005), with the same materials and the same hydraulic head as in the GCL-D column. The aim of this transmissivity test was to determine what could be the expected size of the GCL-D area wetted with PF during the hydration period. 3. Results 3.1. Hydraulic results 3.1.1. Between 0 and 240 days of testing Flow rates obtained in both columns are presented in Fig. 5. The initial time corresponds to the load application in both columns. The evaporation phenomenon was found to be negligible in both hydraulic experiments, with values around 1013 m3/s. Flow rates in both GCL-D and GCL-H columns decreased with time and seemed to reach steady state after 120 days of test. No change in these trends occurred prior

Fig. 3. Ongoing squeezing test.

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108
GCL-D introduction of blue dye

109 Flow rate (m3s-1) 1010 1011 1012 1013

GCL-H Evaporation

Fig. 5. Flow rates evolution with time for both composite liners as compared to evaporation.

to a dramatic increase after 240 days of test that will be explained in the following. Flow rates measured at steady state are approximately equal to 1012 m3/s for the GCL-D column, whereas the mean ow rate in the GCL-H column is close to 6 1012 m3/s. The higher ow rate obtained on this latest column is supposed to be linked to the mode of pre-hydration of GCL-H, without load. Indeed, Petrov et al. (1997) showed evidence that the pre-hydration under load was leading to lower bulk void ratios, and that lower bulk void ratios lead to lower hydraulic conductivities. 3.1.2. Between 240 and 460 days of testing After 240 days of testing, the system used to supply the conning pressure malfunctioned due to a short cut in the power supply, which resulted in a temporary loss of conning pressure. The temporary loss of conning pressure caused an increase in ow rate that allowed the detection of this malfunctioning. As soon as this problem was detected, the conning pressure was again applied. The problem was rst detected for the GCL-D column which seemed to be more sensitive to this release of load. The ow rate reached its previous steady state value in 120 days. Then the increase in ow rate was detected on the GCLH column about 30 days after the power supply failure. The steady state value obtained prior to the release of load could not be reached again prior termination of the test even if a two orders in magnitude decrease in the ow rate was noticed. Consequently, this event did not seem to impact the ow rate at steady state for the column for which the testing time was long enough. The test duration was not long enough to know if the same conclusion could be drawn for the GCL-H column. CoomassieG250s (Merck) blue dye was added to the leachate after 332 days in the GCL-H column and after 367
Fig. 6. View of wetted areas at the end of the experiments on GCL columns for: (a) GCL-D column; and (b) for GCL-H column.

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360 380 400 420 Test duration (days)

1014

days in the GCL-D column. Fig. 6 shows pictures of the extension of the blue dye after termination on the experiment. As the blue dye was inserted during a decrease in ow rate, it is clear that these wetted areas are larger than the ones that would have been obtained at steady state. This is almost true for the GCL-H column where the blue coloration is really light on the edges and dark only on a small area close to the hole location in the geomembrane. These wetted areas anyway give some information mainly on the non-uniformity of ow at the interface as the wetted area are not circular even though the hole in the geomembrane was. Reasons for this non-uniformity can be linked to the non-uniformity of the GCL itself (mass per unit area) and of the way the load is transmitted to the GCL from the gravel layer. Following a main ow direction and a cross ow direction were dened (see Fig. 2). Samples uptake from both GCLs were performed in such a way that these directions are identical for both GCLs. These pictures also inform on the limited

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Potassium Magnesium Calcium Ammonium Sodium 100%

progression of liquid in the interface provided that a minimum load is applied on top of the composite liner. This observation is consistent with results obtained by Barroso (2005). 3.1.3. Transmissivity test Fig. 7 shows the ow rates obtained in the transmissivity test performed with the loamy soil and GCL used in this study, with PF, as compared to the ow rate obtained in the rst days of experiment in the GCL-D column. Results are very close to each other in both tests. It is thus expected that the wetted areas in both tests be approximately the same size. As no ow was noticed at the outlet of the 0.1m-radius transmissivity cell, it is assumed that the GCL area wetted by PF in the GCL-D column prior to leachate percolation ts in the central square 0.3 m large containing samples 5-15-5 as depicted in Fig. 2. 3.2. Clay surface chemistry 3.2.1. General trends The exchangeable cation populations are presented in Fig. 8a for the main ow direction and Fig. 8b for the cross direction. Data presentation is limited to the central area of both GCLs corresponding to gray samples in Fig. 2 as no signicant evolution is noticed away from this central zone as regards calcium and sodium proportions. Ammonium and potassium proportions are insignicant outside this central area. Only half axis is considered, in which the leachate ow was dominant according to Fig. 6. Analyses of the bentonite cation population prior to testing are given in the rst bar of both graphs entitled Bentonite. The rst observation that can be made is that for all samples, whatever the column, the proportion of sodium has greatly decreased even though the pre-hydration uid contained sodium. Unloading during the test may have led GCLs to swell and to imbibe water from the subgrade. It is thus rather clear that diffusion is not the only mechanism for calcium uptake but that advection may also have been

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

Bentonite Loam

(a)

PFRLa

GCL-D GCL-D GCL-D GCL-H GCL-H GCL-H 5-3 5-4 7-2 5-3 5-4 7-2 Potassium Magnesium Calcium Ammonium Sodium

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0% Bentonite Loam

(b)

PFRLa

GCL-D GCL-D GCL-D GCL-H GCL-H GCL-H 5-3 5-5 9-1 5-3 5-5 9-1

Fig. 8. Comparision of clay surface cation population for both columns to the original bentonite, loam and test PFRla from Guyonnet et al. (2005) for: (a) samples 5-3, 5-4 and 7-2; and (b) samples 5-3, 5-5 and 9-1.

107 108 Flow rate (m3s-1) 109 1010 1011 1012 GCL-D column Transmissivity tests results

10

15 20 Time (days)

25

30

Fig. 7. Comparison of ow rate for GCL-D column and transmissivity test.

involved. Following kinetics were certainly accelerated, but it is believed that the competition phenomena that will be described in the following would have also been observed without the unloading, because of the existence of exchangeable cations in the subgrade. Just under the hole, where the leachate supply was the most important according to the concentration of blue dye in this location, the relative proportion of Ca2+ and Mg2+ is slightly less than in the original bentonite. Na+ preferably exchanged to NH+ and K+ present at high 4 concentrations in the leachate. Away from the geomembrane discontinuity, the cation population varies with the distance to discontinuity in the

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geomembrane. As this distance increases, the relative proportion of NH+ and K+ decreases whereas the relative 4 proportion of Ca2+ increases. The cation population also varies with the direction considered. Indeed, bigger proportions of NH+ and K+ 4 are observed in sample 5-4 located in the main ow direction than in sample 5-5 located at the same distance of the discontinuity in the geomembrane than sample 5-4 but in the cross direction, and this whatever the column considered. As shown in Table 1, NH+ and K+ are the two major 4 cations in RL. Thus, their high presence reveals zones where leachate had a signicant access. The decrease with the distance to discontinuity in the geomembrane is consistent with this invasion. The decrease in proportions of NH+ and K+ with the distance to discontinuity tends to 4 show that the increase in Ca2+ is not due to leachate migration. Rather, Ca2+ is supplied by the underlying loam as it is the main cation present in the loam according to Fig. 8. This competition between monovalent cations and a divalent cation perfectly illustrates the fact that cation exchange is not only a question of valence and ion size but also of relative abundance of the different ion types (Mitchell, 1993). Indeed, cations of high replacing power can be displaced by cations of low replacing power by mass action, if the concentration in solution of the ion of low replacing power is high relative to that of the ion of high replacing power. In the present case, it is not a question of replacement of Ca2+ by NH+ and K+ but of 4 competition of these various cations from different origins in replacing Na+. 3.2.2. Comparison to data from Guyonnet et al. Results obtained by Guyonnet et al. (2005) with the same GCL, pre-hydration uid (PF) and real leachate (RL) are given in the second bar of both graphs of Fig. 8 indicated as PFRLa as given by Guyonnet et al. (2005). These results were obtained from oedometer tests aiming at quantifying the evolution in hydraulic conductivity of the GCL hydrated with PF and following permeated with RL (Norotte et al., 2004). These results are thought to be suitable for comparison to sample 5-3 of both columns as at the center of the columns both samples were hydrated with PF prior to RL percolation. Fig. 8 tends to show that cation exchange is more advanced on GCL-D and GCL-H columns than in the PFRLa test as the proportion of sodium is less. The number of pore volumes of leachate permeated in the columns were calculated and are respectively equal to 2.15 for GCL-D and 0.53 for GCL-H. They are lower than the number of pore volumes obtained by Guyonnet et al. (2005), equal to 3. Nonetheless, the numbers of pore volumes calculated for GCL-D and GCL-H take into account the void ratio of the 1-m-diameter GCL specimens. It is thought that the number of pore volumes permeated across sample 5-3 located under the discontinuity in the geomembrane are certainly larger than 3 for

both columns. Indeed, the number of pore volumes permeated decreases with the distance to defect as the relative proportion of NH+ and K+ do and the mean 4 value calculated at the column scale is not representative of what happens under the discontinuity in the geomembrane. Fig. 8 also shows that the proportion of Ca2+ is slightly lower in GCL-D than in the initial bentonite on the other hand. This contrasts with the reduction in the proportion of Ca2+ in the PFRLa test. A possible explanation is linked with the presence of calcium in both the underlying soil and leachate that keeps the proportion of Ca2+ almost identical as compared to the initial state. This results tend to show that when examining the inuence of cation exchange for example on transfers due to leachate permeation, the whole liner composition has to be taken into account, and not only the GCL, in order to properly estimate the potential variation of permeability with time. 3.2.3. Inuence of the hydration process As mentioned in Section 2.4, GCL-D was hydrated under load through the hole in the geomembrane with PF during a two weeks period, whereas GCL-H was hydrated by immersion without load prior to test set up. According to Petrov et al. (1997) the pre-hydration under load leads to lower bulk void ratios and following to lower hydraulic conductivities which tended to result in a greater ow rate in the GCL-H column than in the GCL-D column as mentioned in Section 3.1.1. The objective of this section is to study if the prehydration mode also inuences cation uptake. As regards sample 5-3 of both columns, the proportion of Ca2+ is lower in GCL-H than in GCL-D (but still larger than in PFRLa test). This could be linked with the hydration process of both GCLs. Indeed, a concomitant uptake of liquid coming from the underlying loam containing calcium and sodium from PF was possible in GCL-D, whereas GCL-H was fully hydrated with PF prior to contact with the loam. Following the uptake of calcium from GCL-H could be less as the bentonite has been immersed in PF than when PF is percolated through the geomembrane discontinuity, as was the case with GCL-D. It is furthermore interesting to notice that initial hydration with PF of the whole GCL-H did slightly prevent, for the test duration, this GCL from cation exchange involving Ca2+ outside the central square (sample 5-1-5-5), as compared to GCL-D that was not initially hydrated with PF out of the central square taking account of the transmissivity results discussed in Section 3.1.3. Indeed proportion of Ca2+ in samples 7-2 and 9-1 is slightly greater in GCL-D samples than in GCL-H samples (see Fig. 8). These results reinforce the idea that a pre-hydration with potable water or a low ionic strength solution is favorable to limit the impacts of permeants on GCLs, mostly quantied in terms of hydraulic conductivity (Petrov and Rowe, 1997, Ruhl and Daniel, 1997). Nonetheless, as the hydration process of GCL-H (without load) resulted in a

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Bulk GCL void ratio

greater ow rate at steady state in the composite liner, the impact of the hydration thus conducted is more detrimental than benecial to the composite liner, as regards the experiments presented in this study, quantied in terms of ow rate through the composite liner. 3.3. Mechanical results All samples were mechanically characterized using the squeezing test described in 2.6. Values of loads were plotted as a function of penetration values obtained at the end of each loading stage for all samples. Examples of such plots are presented on Fig. 9. As can be noticed, the curves obtained are almost linear for loads greater than 160 kPa. Accordingly, the slope of the loadpenetration curves ~ noted E in the following was calculated for each sample. ~ The analysis of Fig. 9 also shows that E is decreasing as the distance to the discontinuity in the geomembrane increases. Various factors such as the mass per unit area of bentonite and the thickness or water content of the GCLs samples could explain this phenomenon. In order to normalize the effects of these parameters, bulk GCL void ratio was used. Petrov and Rowe (1997) rst introduced the concept of bulk GCL void ratio in order to homogenize the effects of variable mass of bentonite on GCL height. Bulk GCL void ratio is dened as the ratio of volume of voids within the geotextile and bentonite components of the GCL to the volume of voids within the GCLs. Further details on the computations may be found in Petrov and Rowe (1997). As noted earlier, the region of particular interest is situated in the central area of both GCLs (gray samples on Fig. 2). ~ Thus, the values of E for this central zone were plotted as a function of bulk GCL void ratio. Results obtained, presented in Fig. 10, show that bulk GCL void ratios are greater for GCL-H than GCL-D, which could be explained by the lack of conning stress during the hydration process leading to a greater thickness, but show only slight variation in GCL bulk void ratio for a given GCL and ~ no clear trend in variation with E. This observation is consistent with water content values given in Table 2 for

3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 105 2105 3105 4105 ~ E (kg/m2/s2) 5105 6105 7105 GCL-D GCL-H

~ Fig. 10. Relationship between bulk GCL void ratio and E.

Table 2 Water contents of GCL samples submitted to mechanical test prior to testing Sample 1-4 2-4 3-3 4-3 5-1 5-2 5-3 5-4 5-5 6-2 7-2 8-1 9-1 GCL-D column 70.51 67.97 74.18 68.19 66.82 75.50 78.89 77.75 69.52 73.39 72.86 67.89 70.25 GCL-H column 89.07 78.24 89.69 77.50 75.80 73.51 74.81 77.97 74.06 82.02 91.90 86.60 91.35

500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0.0

33 0.2 0.4 0.6

52

53

54 1.4

72 1.6 1.8

0.8 1.0 1.2 Penetration (mm)

Fig. 9. Plots of loads as a function of penetration at the end of each loading stage for GCL-H and main ow axis.

the various samples under consideration prior to mechanical testing and showing that the water content of the samples in the GCL-H column is greater than in the GCLD column. As clay surface chemistry was also a function of the distance to geomembrane discontinuity, the possible existence of a relationship between cation concentration ~ and E was investigated. Calcium, potassium and ammonium concentrations in GCL samples were plotted as a ~ function of E on Figs. 1113. Figs. 11 and 12 tend to show ~ an increase in E when the calcium concentration decreases and when the potassium concentration increases, for both ~ GCLs, i.e. a decrease in E as the distance to discontinuity in the geomembrane increases. The clearest trend is obtained for calcium. There seems to be a trend to a ~ decrease in E as the ammonium concentration decreases, but which is not as clear as for potassium. Magnesium and sodium concentrations are not presented here as they did not experience large changes through the GCLs and did ~ not signicantly impact the value of E. The dispersion noticed in the data can be attributed to the fact that there is not certainly a simple linear relationship between cation concentrations and the mechanical

Load (kPa)

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Calcium concentration (Meq/100 g)

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 105 2105 3105 4105 ~ E (kg/m2/s2) 5105 6105 7105 GCL-D GCL-H

~ Fig. 11. Plot of calcium concentration as a function of E.

100 GCL-D GCL-H 10

0.1

105

2105

3105 4105 ~ E (kg/m2/s2)

5105

6105

7105

~ Fig. 12. Plot of potassium concentration (in long scale) as a function of E.

Ammonium concentration (Meq/100g)

100 GCL-D GCL-H 10

phase. The hydration phase occurs as montmorillonite is hydrated from the completely dry state. The hydration phase continues until several monolayers of water molecules are bound in the interlayer. When polyvalent cations occupy the exchange sites, only the hydration phase occurs. The interlayer expands until it contains four monolayers of water and then expands no further. The osmotic phase occurs only when the exchange sites contain monovalent cations. If polyvalent cations replace the Na+ cations, the bentonite should shrink as the volume of bound water decreases until the interlayer spacing reaches the four monolayer state. Accordingly, a larger fraction of the water will be mobile (and the hydraulic conductivity should increase) (Jo et al., 2001). As noticed in Fig. 10 no signicant change in bulk GCL void ratio was noticed through the GCL samples for a given column which tends to indicate that no shrinkage of the bentonite occurred. Nonetheless, the concentration of Ca2+ in samples increases as the distance to discontinuity in the geomembrane does, there is a potential for increasing the proportion of free water that could be expelled more easily during squeezing tests than bounded water. This could explain the softening of GCL samples with the increase in calcium concentration. The detrimental effect of cation exchange, mainly studied in terms of Ca2+ replacing Na+ in natural sodium bentonite is rather well known as regards the evolution of permeability with time (Egloffstein, 2000, Melchior, 2002), and the reduction of the self-healing capacity of bentonite (Lin and Benson, 2000, Mazzieri and Pasqualini, 2000). Based on the results presented in this paper, it also seems that this exchange has a detrimental effect on the mechanical properties of bentonite as an increase in calcium concentration leads to an increase in the potential for bentonite thinning under constant load, thinning that could result in an increase in GCL permeability, especially following cation exchange. 5. Conclusion

Potassium concentration (Meq/100g)

0.1

105

2105

3105 4105 ~ E (kg/m2/s2)

5105

6105

7105

~ Fig. 13. Plot of ammonium concentration (in long scale) as a function of E.

behavior of GCL samples as other factors, that were not quantied here, like organic matter, can also impact the mechanical behavior of clays (Mitchell, 1993). 4. Discussion Jo et al. (2001) based on a literature review indicate that the interlayer bound water in montmorillonite forms in two phases: the hydration (or crystalline) phase and the osmotic

Two 1-m-diameter experiments aiming at quantifying ow rates through composite liners incorporating GCLs were conducted. The difference between both experiments originated from the pre-hydration process of the GCL. Hydraulic tests were performed with a real leachate during a one year period prior to dismantling the columns and performing squeezing tests on 10-cm-diameter GCLs samples. The objective of those tests was to quantify the potential impact of cation exchange on the mechanical behavior of the bentonite. Results obtained tend to show that if pre-hydration of GCL on the whole surface under no load as compared to pre-hydration through the discontinuity in the geomembrane slightly prevented from cation exchange, it resulted in a larger ow rate in the composite liner. Consequently, based on the experiments presented in this paper, prehydration of GCLs prior to conning is discouraged.

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Results also indicate that cation exchange occurred not only as a result from leachate percolation but also from cation uptake from the underlying soil. This shows the importance, when studying the inuence of cation exchange on parameters such as permeability, taking into account the whole liner system, and not only of the single GCL liner to properly estimate the potential impact of cation exchange on the liner behavior. Finally, squeezing tests performed tend to show that an increase in calcium concentration, and to a lesser extent a decrease in ammonium and potassium concentrations, resulted in a softening of GCL samples, making them potentially more subject to bentonite squeezing under constant load. Acknowledgments This work was part of the LIXAR project performed by BRGM, Cemagref and INSALyon, with a partial nancial support of the Ademe. References
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