Location
Arlington, Virginia
Date
14 Aug 2008, 2:15pm - 4:00pm
Abstract
Sabkha is one of the many types of evaporate regimes that exist around the globe. In addition to being distributed along the coasts, sabkha soils cover a number of continental depressions, both of which usually form in hot, arid climates and are associated with shallow groundwater tables. Sabkhas are well distributed locally and over the whole world. Sabkhas are characterized as being salt-full and water-sensitive soils. The presence of soluble salts makes the use of distilled water in testing these soils, as recommended by ASTM, etc., inappropriate. Further, sabkha soils possess low strength at their natural condition. Therefore, it would be imperative to stabilize the sabkha soil at the actual moisture content in the field. In this paper, the author reviews the modifications on some ASTM standard test methods in order to properly assess the geotechnical properties of sabkha soils. Moreover, two stabilizing programs of sabkha soil using lime and cement at various dosages are presented. The first program was concerned with stabilizing the sabkha at the optimum moisture content, while the second study was devoted to stabilize the sabkha at high (i.e., natural) moisture contents. The results of these studies indicate that sabkha (as a typical evaporitic soil) can be practically used by the construction industry in many field applications.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
6th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2008 Missouri University of Science and Technology, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Al-Amoudi, Omar Saeed Baghabra, "Testing and Stabilization of Saline Sabkha Soils: A Review" (2008). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 45.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/6icchge/session07/45
Testing and Stabilization of Saline Sabkha Soils: A Review
Arlington, Virginia
Sabkha is one of the many types of evaporate regimes that exist around the globe. In addition to being distributed along the coasts, sabkha soils cover a number of continental depressions, both of which usually form in hot, arid climates and are associated with shallow groundwater tables. Sabkhas are well distributed locally and over the whole world. Sabkhas are characterized as being salt-full and water-sensitive soils. The presence of soluble salts makes the use of distilled water in testing these soils, as recommended by ASTM, etc., inappropriate. Further, sabkha soils possess low strength at their natural condition. Therefore, it would be imperative to stabilize the sabkha soil at the actual moisture content in the field. In this paper, the author reviews the modifications on some ASTM standard test methods in order to properly assess the geotechnical properties of sabkha soils. Moreover, two stabilizing programs of sabkha soil using lime and cement at various dosages are presented. The first program was concerned with stabilizing the sabkha at the optimum moisture content, while the second study was devoted to stabilize the sabkha at high (i.e., natural) moisture contents. The results of these studies indicate that sabkha (as a typical evaporitic soil) can be practically used by the construction industry in many field applications.
