What is an 'Attenuation Test'? 2

iandig · Apr 5, 2009

I have also posted this in Waste Disposal and Treatment' even though it would appear to relate to a specific soils test for assessing the suitability of clay to form an impermeable liner for a landfill.
I have been asked what the test is and what standard it refers to. Although I have been involved for over 25 years with testing and assessing clays for use as landfill liners, I have never come across this specific test. The request has come from a South African Engineer working for the EA in the UK, and the only info we have been provided with is a set of data which appears to assess the ability of a contaminant to migrate through the soil by testing the leachate after a perm test. No reference to any standard, no procedure and no methodology other than a list of numbers on a page. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and yes we have gone back to the Client AND the tried to get hold of the actual Engineer who requested this but so far have come up with a blank. Unfortunately with the EA, not providing a test result is not an option even though they don’t seem to be able to help with this.

msucog · Apr 6, 2009

when you say attenuation, i immediately think of how seismic forces transmit from the bedrock and are amplified by the soil column above. i guess i'm not completely sure what the question specifically is asking.

Ron · Apr 6, 2009

I believe it refers to the "attenuation" capability of soil to remove contaminants, whether by adsorption, biodegradation, or some other means.

I would imagine that tests for such would include those parameters, though I don't know of standard methods for such.

BigH · Apr 7, 2009

Could it also be related to the "dropping" off of leachate seepage due to clogging of pores with leachate solids? - I would think that with time, the ability of leachate to "travel" through the clay would reduce as minerals are deposited????? Nothing to back up this, though . . .

BigH · Apr 7, 2009

does any of the following help? They talk about testing but don't name any specific test in the abstracts - but probably do in the actual paper. (I've learned a bit since my earlier post [bigsmile]