Features of furrow formation with rotary and arrow-headed working bodies

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Soil-cultivating machinery and tools equipped with rotary working bodies are effectively used at operations of surface tillage. However, the subject of furrow formation with rotary working bodies is unaddressed to the full extent that makes it a relevant issue for the study.
 AIMS: Revealing the patterns of furrow formation with rotary working bodies equipped with the cutting blades made along the elliptical line at the angle to the working body rotation plane.
 METHODS: The grapho-analytical method is presented in the article and used for defining the parameters of a furrow formed with the following types of rotary working bodies: a spherical disk with a closed surface, an annular working body and a rotary working body with the cutting blades made along the elliptical line and set up at the acute angle to the rotation axis. The experiments were carried out in controlled laboratory conditions with a physical model of the rotary working body with the cutting blades made along the elliptical line in a soil channel filled with dampened sand. During the experiments, the attack angle was 20-40 with a step of 10 and the kinematic coefficient, which is the ratio of circumferential velocity to transverse velocity, had the following values: 1, 1.4, 1.8 and 2.2.
 RESULTS: The cutting blades made along the elliptical line form short furrows with the ellipse-shaped cross-section and with the angle of inclination from the movement direction of 20-40 depending on the attack angle and the kinematic coefficient. Meanwhile, the furrows formed with the working body have the form of a parallelogram at the top view.
 CONCLUSIONS: The practical value of the study lies in revealing the features of furrow formation with rotary working bodies equipped with the cutting blades made along the elliptical line aimed to making a flat bottom of a furrow necessary for grain planting.