An investigation of the bevameter soil physical measurements in the prediction of soil tool draft

Abstract

The relationship between the parameters measured during soil testing using the bevameter system and the horizontal forces acting on a simple soil-cutting blade were investigated. Field experiments were conducted on untilled, compacted soil and on recently-tilled soil. On both soils, five sites were randomly chosen and bevameter and draft measurements were performed The parameters measured were modulus of soil deformation, wet and dry bulk density, soil moisture content, tool operating depth, tool operating velocity and horizontal draft. A statistical analysis of the data indicated that a mathematical model for predicting draft should contain the following variables: operating depth, dry bulk density and modulus of deformation. A linear regression analysis of draft versus modulus of deformation showed significance at the 95% confidence level on the untilled sites at all measured depths. A similar analysis of the tilled site indicated significance at the 70 mm depth only. The usefulness of the bevameter deformation modulus as an indicator of draft was found to be limited to shallow depths.