investigating the topographical effect on seismic response of municipal solid waste landfills (a numerical study)

In recent decades, the environmental impacts of landfills became a great concern. the performance of landfills in high seismic regions is one of these issues. although the stability of msw landfills is evaluated in static conditions, less attention has been paid to the seismic response of these landfills in high seismic regions. the topographical effect of slopes as one the major site effects influencing the seismic respond of slopes plays a significant role in landfill stability. in this study the seismic response of canyon type landfill, as one of the most common landfill types, is studied numerically, considering different geometries in three typical earthquake wave frequencies, using pga amplification factor. the geometrical parameters considered include crest width over landfill slope height (l/h) and slope dip (v/h). the results show, in l/h of more than 5:1, no significant fluctuation is seen in amplification magnitude. moreover, the af values generally increase in higher frequencies, where the minimum and maximum af values grow from 1.2 to 1.8 and 2.2 to 3, respectively, for 5 to 10 hz. the location of the minimum pga is also examined, as the suggested point for reconstruction, which is located 10 to 30 meters away from the landfill crest, for the studied conditions.