A complex seepage flow field with unknown free surface was formed in the Shanghai Laogang Municipal Solid Waste （MSW） Landfill by the perimeter cut-off wall around the landfill site and the Prefabricated Vertical Drains （PVD） in the foundation of landfill. First, the equivalent vertical permeability was presented based on the drainage mechanism of PVD and the related calculation method was studied to macroscopically reflect the impact of PVD on the seepage flow status of the landfill foundation. With the influence of the cut-off wall and the PVD on the infiltration of groundwater, the total inflow was classified into two parts： the lateral inflow through the cut-off wall outside the landfill, and the upward infiltration through the PVD from the foundation of the landfill. Seepage analysis was conducted using the finite element method according to the actual scenario of Laogang Landfill, and the lateral infiltration and the upward infiltration were calculated, respectively. The results show that the total inflow into the landfill area was mostly supplied by the upward infiltration through the PVD and the perimeter cut-off wall was significantly effective to depressurize the seepage pressure and to reduce the flow rate.
A new numerical method for groundwater flow analysis was introduced to estimate simultaneously velocity vectors and water pressure head. The method could be employed to handle the vertical flow under variably saturated conditions and for horizontal flow as well. The method allows for better estimation of velocities at the element nodes which can be used as direct input to transport models. The advection-dispersion process was treated by the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach with particle tracking technique using the velocities at FEM nodes. The method was verified with the classical one dimensional model and applied to simulate contaminant transport process through a slurry wall as a barrier to prevent leachate pollution from a sanitary landfill.
