Abstract
The nonlinear behavior of sabkha soil was investigated in two stages. In the first stage, a physical model representing a vibrating foundation resting on cement-stabilized sabkha soil overlying saturated and untreated sabkha soil was developed. The cement-stabilized sabkha soil samples used in the study contained 5 and 10% cement and had thickness ratios (which is the thickness of cement-stabilized sabkha soil/Foundation diameter) of 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6. In the second stage, a simplified method was developed to compute the stiffness and damping ratio of steady state physical models and predict the resonant displacement amplitude and resonant frequency of the models on the basis of the cyclic behavior of both untreated sabkha and cement-stabilized sabkha soils. The results revealed that the displacement amplitude of the models decreased with the increase in the cement content and thickness ratio of the sabkha soil. The natural frequency of the models slightly increased as the cement content and thickness ratio of the soil increased. The values obtained for the natural frequency of the models using the simplified method and the finite element method were the same with a maximum relative difference of only 15%. Nevertheless, the values of the maximum displacement amplitude of the models obtained using the two methods were different with the maximum relative difference standing at 59%.