Geosynthetic containment beneath Stockholm-Arlanda Airport

Abstract

Arlanda International Airport in Stockholm, Sweden, is in the process of constructing a new, third runway. Through extensive siting studies and economic evaluation, the alignment of this runway and the associated taxiway has been located over an esker, a ridge-like glacio-fluvial formation common in Sweden. This esker is an aquifer and constitutes a water supply for the airport as well as a back-up water supply for more than 250,000 residents of the area. The use of approximately 100 tonnes (110 tons) of deicing products per runway each year, and the periodic use of solvents to remove rubber deposits from the pavement have resulted in the need for a protection system for this valuable water resource. As a result, design of a lining system was commissioned to minimize the impact of these constituents on the groundwater. Based on the preliminary design, select portions of the new runway and taxiway are to be lined with a geomembrane. Sensitive and critical areas will include the use of a geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) beneath the geomembrane to form a composite liner, and/or a geotextile above the geomembrane as a protective cushion. The geomembrane lined area totals approximately 330,000 m 2 (3,550,000 ft 2), making the project one of the largest installations of this nature in northern Europe.