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.
Highlights
Industrial activities have increasingly been causing severe environmental impacts on air, water, and soil
Future work should focus on two main areas: the use of geophysical methods for non-destructive monitoring and the optimization of resilient vertical barrier materials
Without ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) replacement, or even with GGBS content of up to 70%, the hydraulic conductivity values are in the range from 1 × 10−7 to 1 × 10−8 m/s, which is the typical value of cement–bentonite walls traditionally formulated without slag [31]
Summary
Industrial activities have increasingly been causing severe environmental impacts on air, water, and soil. In China, for instance, a government report showed that 16.1% of all tested soil samples were polluted, covering 6.3 million square kilometers [6] It is, important to effectively manage contaminated sites and mitigate the threat posed to public health and the environment. Source removal can be achieved by flushing out the contaminants or by treating the soil chemically, thermally, or biologically; pathway management involves containment technologies that can encapsulate the contaminants and prevent their further spread; modifying the exposure of the receptor can be achieved by choosing a use for the land in the future where exposure will be reduced. In China, barriers constructed with soil mix technology have been adopted in many land contamination risk management projects. Future work should focus on two main areas: the use of geophysical methods for non-destructive monitoring and the optimization of resilient vertical barrier materials
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