Geotechnical News • June 2016
49
GROUNDWATER
about five times higher than the target
value. The leakage, measured at sev-
eral water levels in the lagoons, almost
vanished at mid-water height. This led
to suspect either a poor condition of
the liner upper parts, or some leakage
around plastic pipes installed at mid-
height of the slope. Further investi-
gation has confirmed construction
defects in the slopes and found major
holes around the pipes. The defects
were repaired soon after; the liners
were tested again and passed the new
total leakage tests. This confirmed the
diagnostic correctness and repair suc-
cess. Thirty years later, the clay liners
are still performing well, according to
their low leakage rates as measured in
the drainage systems below the liners.
After these two liners were built and
repaired in the 1980s, several meth-
ods were developed to more rigor-
ously analyze a full-scale leakage
test (Chapuis 1990a), to predict the
K
of compacted clay at each place a
compaction control has been done
(Chapuis 2002), and to statistically
predict the resulting large-scale
K
value of the liner (Chapuis 2013).
However, even if predictive methods
are available now, there is still a need
to perform full-scale leakage tests,
wherever possible, because a few field
permeability tests in a clay liner can-
not correctly predict the total leakage,
and because no predictive method
can take into account errors in design
and poor field work. In addition,
full-scale testing is the only way to
compare prediction and theory, which
is crucial. Since the 1980s, there has
been an undeniable learning process
in the design, construction, and field
control of compacted clay liners, but
there are still lessons and information
to be extracted from old case stories.
It is also important to publish techni-
cal aspects of poor performance cases,
because these may help all those
involved in design, construction and
control of compacted clay liners.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks the site owner who
authorized publication of this case
history, with the request that all names
and legal issues be kept confidential.
He thanks Arthur Yelon for his editing
help.
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