Sabkha (salt-encrusted flat) soils are problematic because they lose strength due to wetting, and they have liquefaction potential. These soils are spread in North Africa, Australia, and most of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Owing to a lack of experimental studies, the cyclic behavior of sabkha soils is relatively unknown. The monotonic and cyclic behaviors of sabkha soil were studied based on effective stress (50, 100, and 150 kPa) and cyclic stress ratio (CSR) (0.15, 0.35, and 0.65) using cyclic triaxial and bender element tests. Results indicate that the sabkha exhibits ductile behavior with the cohesion value of 9.33 kPa and a friction angle of 33°. The maximum shear moduli are 18,900, 49,500, and 63,500 kPa for effective confining pressures of 50, 100, and 150 kPa, respectively. Furthermore, the shear modulus tended to decrease with shear strain for different cyclic stress ratios. On the other hand, the damping ratio depends on the level of the cyclic stress ratio. At a cyclic stress ratio of 0.15, the damping ratios remained constant with shear strain. For a cyclic stress ratio of 0.65, the damping ratios decreased with shear strain. However, at a cyclic stress ratio of 0.35, the damping ratio varied with shear strain depending on effective stress.

中文翻译：

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盐结平地（Sabkha）土壤的单调和循环行为

Sabkha（盐渍平坦的）土壤存在问题，因为它们会因润湿而失去强度，并且具有液化潜力。这些土壤分布在北非、澳大利亚和沙特阿拉伯东部省的大部分地区。由于缺乏实验研究，sabkha 土壤的循环行为相对未知。基于有效应力（50、100 和 150 kPa）和循环应力比 (CSR)（0.15、0.35 和 0.65），使用循环三轴和弯曲单元试验研究了 sabkha 土的单调和循环行为。结果表明，sabkha 具有延展性，内聚力值为 9.33 kPa，摩擦角为 33°。对于 50、100 和 150 kPa 的有效围压，最大剪切模量分别为 18,900、49,500 和 63,500 kPa。此外，对于不同的循环应力比，剪切模量有随剪切应变降低的趋势。另一方面，阻尼比取决于循环应力比的水平。在循环应力比为 0.15 时，阻尼比随剪切应变保持恒定。对于 0.65 的循环应力比，阻尼比随着剪切应变而降低。然而，在循环应力比为 0.35 时，阻尼比随剪切应变而变化，具体取决于有效应力。