landfilldesign.com
Design of Lateral Drainage Layers Comprising Two Different Slopes - Design Calculator
| Lateral drainage layers used in landfills are often comprised of two sections with two different slopes.
For instance, in a landfill cover, there is a flat slope typical of 3-8% as an upstream, and a steep slope typical of 4:1 or 3:1 as downstream.
In a landfill liner system, however, the upstream is a steep slope and the downstream is a flat slope.
Geonet composites can be used for both steep slopes and flat slopes. For liner systems, granular drain is also used at the downstream section.
This calculator determines the maximum liquid depth over the liner and required transmissivity for two slopes without an intermediate drainage system.
When an intermediate drainage system is present to separate the two drainage layers, the single slope design calculator should be used. |
Case 1 (a & b): Geocomposite drains are used for both upstream and downstream sections

| Maximum Liquid Depth | |
| Upstream section | |
| Downstream section | |
| Required Transmissivity | |
| Upstream section | |
| Downstream section | |
| Ultimate Transmissivity | |
| Upstream section | ![]() |
| Downstream section | ![]() |
Case 2: Geocomposite drains at the upstream and granular drain at downstream

| Maximum Liquid Depth | |
| Upstream section | |
| Downstream section | ![]() |
| where | |
| |
|
| and | |
| |
|
| Required Transmissivity | |
| Upstream section | |
| Downstream section | |
| Ultimate Transmissivity | |
| Upstream section | ![]() |
| Downstream section | ![]() |
Case 3: Granular drains at the upstream and geocomposite drain at downstream

| Maximum Liquid Depth | |
| Upstream section | ![]() |
| where | |
![]() |
|
| and | |
|
|
| Downstream section | ![]() |
| Required Transmissivity | |
| Upstream section | ![]() |
| Downstream section | ![]() |
| Ultimate Transmissivity | |
| Upstream section | ![]() |
| Downstream section | ![]() |
where:
Symbol |
Description | Unit |
| kup | The hydraulic conductivity of the liquid collection material in the upstream section | m/s |
| kdown | The hydraulic conductivity of the liquid collection material in the downstream section | m/s |
| Lup | The length of the liquid collection layer in the upstream section | m |
| Ldown | The length of the liquid collection layer in the downstream section | m |
| q h | Impingement rate | m/s |
| bup | Slope for the upstream section | degrees |
| bdown | Slope for the downstream section | degrees |
| FS d | Overall factor of safety for drainage | - |
| RF in | Intrusion Reduction Factor | - |
| RFcr | Creep Reduction Factor | - |
| RFcc | Chemical Clogging Reduction Factor | - |
| RFbc | Biological Clogging Reduction Factor | - |
"Hydraulic Design of Geosynthetic and Granular Liquid Collection Layers Comprising Two Different Slopes". Giroud, J.P., Zornberg, J.G., Beech, J.F., Geosynthetics International, Vol. 7, No. 5-6, 2000.
"Hydraulic Design of Geosynthetic and Granular Liquid Collection Layers". Giroud, J.P., Zhao, A., Zornberg, J.G., Geosynthetics International, Vol. 7, No 5-6, 2000.
"Designing with Geosynthetics". Koerner, R.M., Prentice Hall Publishing Co., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1998.
Copyright 2001 Advanced Geotech Systems. All rights reserved.