Vertical Barriers for Land Contamination Containment: A Review

Benyi Cao, Jian Xu, Fei Wang, Yunhui Zhang and David O’Connor
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Benyi Cao: State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Management and Pollution Control, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Nanjing 210042, China
Jian Xu: State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Management and Pollution Control, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, Nanjing 210042, China
Fei Wang: Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, School of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing 211102, China
Yunhui Zhang: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
David O’Connor: School of Real Estate & Land Management, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester GL7 6JS, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 23, 1-18

Abstract: Soil pollution is one of the major threats to the environment and jeopardizes the provision of key soil ecosystem services. Vertical barriers, including slurry trench walls and walls constructed with soil mix technology, have been employed for decades to control groundwater flow and subsurface contaminant transport. This paper comprehensively reviewed and assessed the typical materials and mechanical and permeability properties of soil–bentonite, cement–bentonite and soil mix barriers, with the values of mix design and engineering properties summarized and compared. In addition, the damage and durability of barrier materials under mechanical, chemical, and environmental stresses were discussed. A number of landmark remediation projects were documented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the use of barrier systems. Recent research about crack-resistant and self-healing barrier materials incorporating polymers and minerals at Cambridge University and performance monitoring techniques were analyzed. Future work should focus on two main areas: the use of geophysical methods for non-destructive monitoring and the optimization of resilient barrier materials.

Keywords: in-ground barrier; cut-off wall; resilient material; land contamination; soil pollution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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