Calculation set for design and optimization of vegetative soil covers Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Peace, Gerald L. ; Goering, Timothy James (GRAM, Inc., Albuquerque, NM)

Sandia National Laboratories

关键词: 36 Materials Science;    Hydraulics;    Wastes;    Sandia National Laboratories;    12 Management Of Radioactive Wastes, And Non-Radioactive Wastes From Nuclear Facilities;   

DOI  :  10.2172/882354
RP-ID  :  SAND2005-0480
RP-ID  :  AC04-94AL85000
RP-ID  :  882354

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

This study demonstrates that containment of municipal and hazardous waste in arid and semiarid environments can be accomplished effectively without traditional, synthetic materials and complex, multi-layer systems. This research demonstrates that closure covers combining layers of natural soil, native plant species, and climatic conditions to form a sustainable, functioning ecosystem will meet the technical equivalency criteria prescribed by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. In this study, percolation through a natural analogue and an engineered cover is simulated using the one-dimensional, numerical code UNSAT-H. UNSAT-H is a Richards. equation-based model that simulates soil water infiltration, unsaturated flow, redistribution, evaporation, plant transpiration, and deep percolation. This study incorporates conservative, site-specific soil hydraulic and vegetation parameters. Historical meteorological data are used to simulate percolation through the natural analogue and an engineered cover, with and without vegetation. This study indicates that a 3-foot (ft) cover in arid and semiarid environments is the minimum design thickness necessary to meet the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency-prescribed technical equivalency criteria of 31.5 millimeters/year and 1 x 10{sup -7} centimeters/second for net annual percolation and average flux, respectively. Increasing cover thickness to 4 or 5 ft results in limited additional improvement in cover performance.