Abstract
Small-scale laboratory tests on the effect of contaminant travel in geo-composite liners
through circular punctured geomembrane were conducted in a modeled device. The influence of pressure
on contaminant flow rate, contaminant transport and the buffering ability of natural soil profile were
investigated. Flow through the geo-composite liner-buffering profile (BP) system was measured for tests
with the punctured geomembrane under loads of up to 150 kPa. Results and analysis showed significant
reduction in flow rate with increased pressure on the system. This reduction is attributed to the reduced
barrier system transmissivity, θ and soil liner compressibility. The flow rate data for tests with
geomembrane in this study were compared with predicted values using equations from Forchheimer (1930)
and Giroud et al., (1989). The comparison showed inapplicability to this study and in practice if perfect
contact conditions at the geomembrane/soil interface are assumed. However, equations from Giroud (1997)
for good contact conditions gave reasonable flow rate predictions through punctured geomembrane of
geo-composite liners.