Principal Investigator: Dr. Milind V. Khire, P.E. Research Assistant: Ramil Mijares Funding Agency: Environmental Research & Education Foundation and Waste Management Abstract This project is about hydraulic equivalency of prescribed RCRA caps versus earthen (evapotranspirative) final caps for sub-humid climates such as Michigan. The hydraulic equivalency will consider the effe...

Principal Investigator: Dr. Milind V. Khire, P.E. Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Abstract During the past two decades, the majority of geotechnical and geoenvironmental research related to landfills using in-situ sensing systems and field methods has been focused on securing the boundaries of the landfills - caps and liners. The proposed research is about sensing the "heart...

Principal Investigators: Milind V. Khire, Ph.D., P.E. Research Assistant: Chadi El-Mohtar Funding Agency: Michigan State University   Abstract This paper presents a vertical pullout test (VPT) developed by the authors to measure the peak interface friction angle (δ) and adhesion (ca) between soil and planar geosynthetic products (e.g., geomembrane, geotextile). The key advantages of thi...

Principal Investigator: Milind V. Khire, Syed Hashsham, Tom Voice Funding Agency: National Science Foundation   Abstract When Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations came into effect in the late 80’s, the requirement of including a geomembrane (1 to 1.5 mm thick plastic sheet) in the final cap of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfi...

Principal Investigator: Dr. Milind V. Khire, P.E. Funding Agency: Michigan State University                                                    Abstract Over 62 million tons of fly ash is annually generated in the U.S. alone from coal-fired power plants. Class F fly ash has been of very little use and has been typically disposed of in landfills at a significant cost. The key objective of th...

Principal Investigator: Milind V. Khire, Ph.D., P.E. Research Assistant: Mazen Haydar Funding Agencies: Waste Management Inc. and Michigan State University Abstract Recirculation of leachate in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills is commonly done for the following reasons: Reduce leachate treatment costs; Accelerate decomposition of MSW to promote gas generation; Accelera...

Principal Investigator: Dr. Milind V. Khire, P.E. Funding Agency: Waste Management, Inc.           Abstract Leachate recirculation in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills offers these key benefits: (1) reduction in leachate treatment and disposal costs; (2) accelerated decomposition and settlement of waste resulting in gain in airspace; (3) acceleration in gas production; a...