The main task in the design and construction of impermeable liners in landfills is to block the migration of pollutants to the groundwater

systems or to reduce its rate to a reasonable amount. That is why environmental regulations force governments to construct engineered

waste dumps for waste management purposes. These liners are exposed to various types of chemical, biological, and physical processes

and are affected by the leachate which is produced from decomposition of waste materials accompanying methane gas. The leachate

includes a lot of components such as water and different types of salts. For this reason, the geotechnical characteristics of clay liners

which are evaluated in laboratories using distilled water or tap water might be far different from the representative sample of the in-situ

conditions. There are some evidences regarding the effect of these salts on the physical and mechanical properties of clay barriers which

could affect the long-term performance of these liners. Since the main criterion for impermeable bottom liners in landfills is their

hydraulics conductivity, the increase of this parameter could have a considerable environmental impact. This paper embraces the results

of a recent study on the effect of three inorganic salts, NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2 on some geotechnical properties of a common used clay

soil in impermeable bottom barrier in Kahrizak landfill, the main waste disposal center of the Tehran Metropolitan. Also the effect of

bentonite content by adding different percentage of this special clay mineral, 10 and 20 percent, on these properties was investigated.

Laboratory tests like liquid limit, compaction, 1D consolidation and free swell tests were performed for this purpose. Results indicated

that all of these salts could have a considerable effect on the geotechnical properties of the mixtures. The main reason of such effects is

the changes which occur in diffuse double layer of clay particles.

Due to the existence of fibrous materials such as plastic fragments, the strength anisotropy of Municipal Solid Waste

(MSW) materials is the main source of differences between their mechanical response in direct shear and triaxial apparatus.

As an extension of earlier research on the mechanical behavior of MSW using a large traixail apparatus, results presented in

Shariatmadari et al. [1] and Karimpour-Fard et al. [2], the current study was programmed and executed. MSW samples were

tested using a computer controlled large shear box apparatus with normal stress levels ranging between 20 to 200 kPa. The

effect of fiber content, fiber orientation, aging and shearing rate on the response of MSW were addressed. The results showed

that shear strength of MSW increases with normal stress, although, in spite of the presence of reinforcement elements in MSW

and unlike the results from triaxial tests, no strain hardening could be observed in their mechanical response. An increase in

the shear strength of MSW was observed with increasing the shearing rate. Increasing the shearing rate from 0.8 to 19

mm/min, enhanced the shear strength of samples from 16 to 27% depending on the shear displacement level. Although, the

same trend was investigated in traixial tests, but lower rate-sensitivity in the mechanical response of MSW in direct shear tests

were observed.

Unlike the results of triaxial tests with aging process, mobilized shear strength level of MSW samples tested under direct

shearing decreased comparing fresh samples. It was also observed that altering the fiber content and their orientation could

affect the mechanical response and shear strength of the MSW. Additionally, there is an optimum fiber angle in MSW which

yields the highest level of shearing strength.