Subsoiler Tool with Bio-Inspired Attack Edge for Reducing Draft Force during Soil Tillage

Abstract

To alleviate soil compaction, subsoiling practices using subsoiler implements are commonly implemented. However, subsoiler bodies are subjected to great draft forces because they work deep in the soil. Therefore, to contribute to draft force reduction, in this work, a bio-inspired attack edge for a subsoiler body based on the internal and external contour lines of the claws of the Mexican ground squirrel (Spermophilus mexicanus) is proposed. As a first step, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling was used to select the best bionic subsoiler (BS) according to the draft force requirements. Then, the BS was fabricated and field-evaluated, and its real draft force during tillage was contrasted with those of a curve subsoiler (CS) and a straight subsoiler (SS). The field evaluation demonstrated that the BS demands, on average, 12.37% and 22.25% less draft force than the CS and SS, respectively. Additionally, the BS was better at entering the soil since its mean tillage depths were 24.86% and 5.73% higher than those of the SS and CS geometries, respectively. Therefore, it was found that modeling the attacking edge of a subsoiler body after the Mexican ground squirrel clearly reduced the draft force during tillage.