Brisbane Landfill Cell Geomembrane Protection

The project

As part of the ongoing waste disposal requirements of the Brisbane City Council, an additional landfill cell needed to be constructed to provide additional storage volume.

The civil contractor was engaged by Brisbane City Council to implement a design that required a compacted clay layer to be covered with a 1.5mm thick HDPE secondary lining system to seal the cell.

The challenges

A HDPE geomembrane is susceptible to puncture by materials that may contain granular material. A damaged geomembrane can compromise the integrity of the landfill cell at a great cost to the client and the environment.

This meant that a heavyweight, non-woven geotextile was required to protect the liner from puncture by the adjacent drainage aggregate. A non-woven geotextile was selected as a cost-effective solution to ensure the liner was not damaged.

Our solution

Global Synthetics communicated with the contractor to obtain an understanding of the correct nonwoven geotextiles required to provide the necessary geomembrane protection.

A review of the technical specification was completed and the Geofirma® AS540E nonwoven geotextile was accepted as meeting the design requirements to protect the geomembrane liner.

Geofirma® nonwoven geotextile is manufactured from a continuous filament process and then heavily needle punched to produce a nonwoven geotextile that allows over 40% elongation to conform to undulating ground conditions. Manufactured in different grades, Geofirma® satisfies a very wide range of strength, drainage, filtration and protection requirements.

Of particular importance in this specific landfill application was the cushioning function of the nonwoven geotextile to protect the geomembrane.

Geofirma® AS540 nonwoven geotextile was placed over the HDPE geomembrane liner and then covered with a 400mm layer of leachate drainage aggregate plus a system of leachate drainage pipes.

Once all the drainage aggregate and drainage pipes were installed, a layer of a lighter geotextile Geofirma® AS200B filtration and separation geotextile was placed over the drainage aggregate so landfill waste could start to be placed into the cell.

Support for every landfill project

Global Synthetics can assist in selecting the most appropriate products that are suited to your situation. With our extensive engineering experience, we provide sound suggestions for our clients based on the necessary separation, filtration and cushioning functions.