Abstract: In order to analyze the tension in geomembrane placed in landfill slope owing to the weight of municipal solid waste on the sealing liners, analytical solution of geomembrane tension based on equilibrium equation of geomembrane is gained with a strain-softening model of geomembrane-clay interface taken into account. In contrast to the conventional approach, this method can analyze three different stress states of the geomembrane-clay interface: elastic state, softening state and residual state; so it would be more reasonable for analyzing geomembrane tension. Parametric studies show that if the strength of loss in softening phase and the difference between residual displacement and peak displacement is small; the peak shear strength of the geomembrane-clay interface has a small effect on the geomembrane tension; and the maximal tension of the geomembrane mainly depend on its residual shear strength. Contrarily, if the softening characteristic of the geomembrane-clay interface is obvious; the influence of the peak strength and residual displacement is more notable. In addition, the height of the waste or the cover clay on the liners, the angle of slope and the length of geomembrane also have heavily effects on its tension.

Key words: geomembrane, tension, clay liner, strain-softening