Shear Displacement Dependent Strength of Municipal Solid Waste and Its Major Constituent

Abstract

Abstract A limited amount of data exist on the shear strength properties of municipal solid waste. Similar to the soil strength parameters, the data on wastes are reported in terms of a cohesion intercept and an angle of internal friction. Most often the strength parameters reported are for the maximum values mobilized in laboratory testing. Recent state-of-the-art review papers on the topic have summarized the available strength data and noted that large shear displacements are required to mobilize peak shear strength parameters. In comparison, other components of a landfill system such as mineral and geosynthetic liners mobilize peak strengths at much smaller shear displacements. There are, therefore, shear displacement incompatibility issues that need to be resolved. In this paper the shear strength data from the direct shear tests performed on municipal solid waste samples and its major constituent (paper) are presented as a function of shear displacement. Results of a limited number of simple shear tests performed on municipal waste samples are also presented and compared with the data from direct shear testing.