INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS Int. J. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 2010; 34:1169–1190 Published online 26 October 2009 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/nag.856 A coupled model for prediction of settlement and gas flow in MSW landfills L. Yu ∗, † , F. Batlle and A. Lloret Department of Geotechnical Engineering and Geosciences, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain SUMMARY Prediction of long-term settlement and control of gas pollution to the environment are two principle concerns during the management of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. The behavior of settlement and gas flow in MSW landfills is complicated due to the combined effect of mechanical deformation of the solid skeleton and continuous biodegradation of the waste. A one-dimensional settlement and gas flow model is presented in this paper, which is capable of predicting time evolution of settlement as well as temporal and spatial distribution of gas pressure within multi-layered landfills under a variety of operating scenarios. The analytical solution to the novel model is evaluated with numerical simulation and field measurements. The resulting efficiency and accuracy highlight the capability of the proposed model to reproduce the settlement behavior and gas flow in MSW landfills. The influences of operating conditions and waste properties on settlement and gas pressure are examined for typical MSW landfills. Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 16 September 2008; Revised 3 September 2009; Accepted 7 September 2009 KEY WORDS: municipal solid waste landfill; settlement; gas flow; Laplace transform; analytical formulation 1. INTRODUCTION Sanitary landfills are recognized to be an economic method for the disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW). Prediction of long-term settlement and control of gas pollution to the environment are two principle concerns during the management of MSW landfills. MSW landfills suffer large long-term settlement that is associated with volume reduction caused by biodegradation of organic solids, and also by creep of the MSW skeleton [1, 2]. The impact of excess settlement on liner system and final cover, landfill gas (LFG)/leachate extraction system as well as post-closure development of MSW landfill is significant. Therefore, accurate estimation of ∗ Correspondence to: L. Yu, Department of Geotechnical Engineering and Geosciences, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain. † E-mail: yulitongji@hotmail.com Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.