Assessment of wetting-induced deformation of coarse saline soil is required to facilitate the settlement control of infrastructures such as the transmission lines in Northwest China. The coarse saline soil exhibits high internal friction angle like common gravels and the cohesion up to 34.6 kPa, as revealed by direct shear tests. Laboratory wetting tests indicate that significant deformation occurs after water immersion, and the higher the water content, the lower the wetting deformation (or the lower the wetting collapsibility coefficient), and the shorter it takes to reach the deformation stability standard (0.01 mm/h). An improved von Wolffersdorff model and water-solute coupled transport model were used to simulate the settlement of coarse saline soil foundation during field immersion test. The effective wetting range (S_r > 60%) rapidly expands in coarse saline soil layer after water immersion, from bulb-shaped wetting front to disc-shaped, like the profiles of pore water pressure. Solute moves synchronously with water, primarily in the mode of convective diffusion. Compared with the limited horizontal deformation, settlement of foundation mainly occurs in the vertical direction, and increases with stepwise load.

需要评估湿润的粗盐土引起的变形，以便于控制西北地区诸如输电线路等基础设施。直接剪切试验表明，粗盐渍土表现出高的内摩擦角，如普通砾石，内聚力高达34.6 kPa。实验室润湿试验表明，浸水后会发生明显的变形，含水量越高，润湿变形越小（或润湿塌陷系数越低），达到变形稳定性标准（0.01 mm / h）所需的时间越短）。利用改进的von Wolffersdorff模型和水-溶质耦合运移模型，模拟了田间浸水试验过程中盐渍土壤地基的沉降。有效润湿范围（S _r  > 60％）在浸泡后在粗盐碱土层中迅速膨胀，从球状的润湿锋面到圆盘状，就像孔隙水压力的分布一样。溶质与水同步移动，主要以对流扩散的方式进行。与有限的水平变形相比，地基沉降主要发生在垂直方向，并随着阶跃荷载而增加。