Long-term settlement behaviour of MSW landfills with various fill ages

MSW landfill settlement characteristics are peculiar because a considerable amount of settlement occurs due to the decomposition of waste organic solids for very long duration. The total amount of settlement that occurs due to this decomposition in a MSW landfill is mainly dependent upon the amount of biodegradable solid waste and hence the fill age of the MSW landfill. The settlement stabilisation period is also dependent upon the decomposition condition. In order to investigate the settlement characteristics of MSW landfills, a mathematical model was proposed and applied to settlement data of MSW landfills which have various fill ages. A data bank of model parameters were obtained and the trends were analysed. The long-term settlement behaviour of MSW landfills can be fairly well estimated by the proposed model. It is supposed that the total remaining amount of settlement might be predicted on the basis of the fill age with two appropriate design parameters.