Waste Geotechnics, Organics & Non-Textbook Soils
Conventional geotechnical practices are often mistakenly applied to materials which do not behave as traditional mineral soils such as highly compressible organics and municipal solid waste (MSW). In recent years this has led to numerous catastrophic failures worldwide including many that have resulted in significant loss of life. TerrAtlantic's staff has developed a particular interest in these materials and their research on this subject has gained international recognition.
In the spring of 2009, a portion of this work entitled Contruction on Organic Terrain & Characterization of Organic Soils was presented by TerrAtlantic's Senior Geotechnical Consultant, Dr. Arvid Landva for the Canadian Geotechnical Society's Cross Canada Lecture Tour. A further lecture dealing with the geotechnical behaviour of MSW will be given by Dr Landva and Dr. Simon Dickinson at the 2009 Canadian Geotechnical Conference in Halifax. All of this research is currently being assembled in the form of 4 journal papers which will be submitted for publication later this year.
With respect to this interesting subject, our services include:
- Evaluation of existing landfill stability
- Forensic analysis of landfill failures
- Consultation on projects where construction on highly compressible soils such as peat, or very weak soils is anticipated
- Large scale laboratory testing of MSW
- Peat classification
