USE OF A HUMBOLDT GEOGAUGE TM IN DETERMINING THE RIGIDITY OF THE COVERAGE SOIL OF A LANDFILL

Resumen

This study used an equipment called Humboldt GeoGaugeTM, commonly applied in the evaluationof the quality of soil compaction in civil engineering works, to measure the rigidity of the cover layer (berms and slope) of a part of the largest Landfill of the State of Ceará, but in the process of closing its useful life. Nine sites were selected, three on the lower berm, three on the slope and three on the upper berm. At each point three readings of the soil rigidity and the strain modulus were extracted to obtain a mean. The results revealed that the berms are more rigid than the slope, indicating a greater and smaller soil compaction, respectively. Five points were classified as weakly rigid (k <10 MN/m) and the other four points were rigid (10 MN/m> k <12.96 MN/m). These results were discussed in the context of other important parameters of the landfill studied: soil and residue moisture content, presence of gases, soil permeability and granulometry, presence or absence of fissures/cracks on the cover, considering several approaches in the literature. The HumboldtGeoGaugeTM proved to be extremely feasible and suitable for measuring the soil rigidity of the coverlayer of the landfill in question, opening up new lines of research for sanitary and environmental engineering and especially for geotechnical control of these enterprises.