Numerical modelling to show variation in the amount of leachate in a solid waste column in the sanitary landfill sites of the Mejía and Ambato cantons

• Published in: PeerJ preprints 2018-05
• Main Authors: José Elías Cuásquer Jordán, Bélgica Estefanía Paredes Paredes, María José Paneluisa Tituaña, Maribel de los Angeles Chillagana Toapanta, Richard Jachson Vilches Moreno, Bence Mátyás, César Iván Álvarez Mendoza, Lenin Javier Ramírez Cando
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biodegradable materials; Depth perception; Landfill; Leachates; Porosity; Pressure; Soil pollution; Vegetation
• ISSN: 2167-9843
• DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.26907v2

The leachate generated by the direct disposal of solid waste into the soil of terrace number one of the Romerillos sanitary landfill site contaminates the environment. This is visible from an average distance of up to 20m with the presence of dry vegetation cover showing infiltration by leachate and soil pollution in the surface and underground. Meanwhile, in the soil of terrace number one of the Ambato sanitary landfill site, the contaminated environment is visible from an average distance of 33m with the presence of dry vegetation cover. At both the Romerillos and the Ambato sanitary landfill sites, a quantification study of codified (Matlab) and spatial (ArcGis) variability of the characteristics, such as hydraulic load, pressure load and percentage of leachate, was carried out. Field data was collected for the Matlab simulation. For 10 specific GPS Navigator sampling points, the variables studied included infiltration speed, porosity, infiltration distance, Van Genuchten parameters and time. Estimation graphs were created for each variable at 10, 20, 30 and 40mins. Through the observation of the graphs obtained in Matlab, it was determined that the variable hydraulic load is inversely proportional to depth. It was also established that the behaviour of the pressure load is directly proportional to depth and percentage of leachate was inversely proportional to depth. All the variables analysed showed a normal behaviour due to the silty-clay soil type in the "Romerillos" sanitary landfill site and sandy-loam in the Ambato sanitary landfill site.