Impact of drying and wetting cycles (D-W) on the behavior of sebkha soils in the presence of salt water and distilled water

This experimental study investigates the impact of drying-wetting D-W cycles on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and salinity of sebkha soils. Laboratory tests on cylindrical samples were carried out with different water contents and subjected to 4 D-W cycles, using distilled and salt water. The results obtained show that, for each drying cycle, the rigidity of samples saturated with distilled water is higher than that of samples saturated with sabkha water. The results show that, for each drying cycle, the axial strain of samples saturated with distilled water is greater than that of samples saturated with sebkha water. In addition, the unconfined compressive strength of samples saturated with distilled water increases with decreasing water content and decreases with increasing number of cycles, while this effect is less pronounced for samples saturated with salt water. This is expressed by the influence of salinity, which increases under the effect of D-W cycles for samples saturated with sebkha water, and decreases for those saturated with distilled water. The impact of salinity, modified by these cycles, is particularly evident on the structure of the soil since it becomes denser with increasing salinity and looser and more porous with decreasing salinity.