Abstract: The resistivity characteristics of HDPE membrane vulnerabilities and its influencing factors and mechanisms are unknown in complex landfill environments, which restricts the application of electrical methods to accurately quantify leakage in landfills. Based on the principle of electrical leakage detection of impermeable layers, the key factors such as excitation voltage (20-200 V), leak radius (1.0-12.5 mm) and leachate resistivity (0.68-2.60 Ω·m) were used to investigate the influence of the simulated leakage device and landfill equivalent circuit model on the measurement of total resistance and leak resistance and the mechanism. The results showed that the influence of the leak radius on the measured total resistance was a power function, and the stability of the measured total resistance was poor when the leak radius was less than 4 mm and the excitation voltage was in the range of 20-40 V. The stability of the measured total resistance was better when the leak radius was greater than 4 mm and the excitation voltage was greater than 40 V. The leak resistance varied significantly with the leachate resistivity and showed a linear relationship with the leachate resistivity, indicating that the leachate resistivity was the main influence on the leak resistance. This indicates that the leachate resistivity is one of the main factors affecting the leak resistance. The study shows that there is a significant correlation between the measured total resistance, leachate resistivity and leak radius, and the relationship model differs between different landfill sites due to the difference in actual site conditions.