Development of An Equipment For Measuring Pressure-Sinkage Behaviour of A Heavy Clay Soil

Proceedings of the International Soil Tillage Research Organisation (ISTRO) Nigeria Symposium, Akure 2014 November 3 - 6, Akure, Nigeria
Development of Equipment for Measuring Pressure-Sinkage Behaviour of a Heavy Clay Soil. 84 – 93.
Development of Equipment for Measuring Pressure-Sinkage Behaviour of a Heavy Clay Soil

2*
Ajewole P.O. and 1Manuwa S. I.
1
Department of Agricultural Engineering,
Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure, Nigeria
2
Department of Agricultural and Bio-Environmental Engineering,
Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, P.M.B. 5351, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria
*Correspondence Email: ajepet2005@yahoo.com
Abstract
Bekker’s model of soil pressure-sinkage is one of the well-knownmodels for evaluating off-road
vehicle performance and predicting terrain changes caused by heavy agricultural machinery. This
study reports the development of equipment for measuring soil pressure-sinkage behaviour of a
heavy clay soil. The equipment which was mounted on an indoor soil bin consists of a hydraulic
loading system, pressure gauge, frame and sinkage plates. Plate penetration tests were carried on
the experimental soil using both rectangular and circular plates. Bekker’s model was used to
determine the soil stiffness constants kc , k and n from the experimental data.For rectangular plates,
the average values of kc , k and n obtained are 1434.81 kN/mn-1, 165.79 kN/mn and 1.3126
respectively at four different cone indices while for circular plates, the average values of kc , k and
n are 432.58 kN/mn-1, 97.75 kN/mn and 1.2283 respectively at four different cone indices. The results
showed that the values of kc were higher than that of k  at different cone indices. The circular
plates also gave higher values of sinkage constants than the rectangular plates. The values of kc and
k also increased with values of cone indices.
Keywords: pressure sinkage, equipment, stiffness constants, soil, plates.
1. Introduction
Soil compactions under tractors and agricultural machines are of special concern because weights of
these machines have been increased dramatically in the last decades (Hakansson and Reeder, 1994;
Abu-Hamdeh and Reeder, 2003). One of the most causes of soil compaction is soil sinkage imposed
by wheels and tracks. Therefore prediction of soil sinkage under wheels or tracks is very important
for determining the level of soil compaction (Abu-Hamdeh, and Reeder, 2003).
Furthermore, the ability to predict soil sinkage can enable agricultural engineers to till or traffic the
soil when it is not in a highly compatible state or to estimate the damage being done to the soil
structure due to their excessive loading when tillage or traffic is necessary (Rashidi et al, 2006).
Currently, there are two major techniques used in measuring and characterizing terrain properties for
evaluation of off-road vehicle mobility in the field: the cone penetrometer technique and the
bevameter technique (Wong, 2010). The bevameter technique by Bekker (1956, 1960, 1969) is based
on the premise that terrain properties pertinent to terramechanics can best be measured under loading
conditions similar to those exerted by an off-road vehicle. A vehicle exerts normal and shear loads to
the terrain surface. To simulate these, the bevameter technique comprises two separate sets of tests.
One is a plate penetration test and the other is a shear test. In the penetration test, the pressure-
sinkage relationship of the terrain is measured using a plate of suitable size to simulate the contact
area of the running gear is vehicle.
84
Based on the measurements, vehicle sinkage and motion resistance may be predicted. In the shear
test, the shear displacement and the shear strength of the measured, upon which the tractive effort-
slip characteristics and the maximum traction of a vehicle may be estimated. For measuring the
pressure-sinkage relationship of terrain, the device for in situ or laboratory sinkage can be used.
Goodman and Lee (1963) used an experimental equipment to obtain load sinkage soil values for
evaluating the effects of remolding on soil constants to use in soil-vehicle relationships. Wong
(1980) used a bevameter with a portable automatic data processor for field measurements of the
terrain properties in relations to off-road mobility. Youssel and Ali (1982) and McKyes (1985) used
sinkage devices to determine soil parameters in laboratory condition. Earl and Alexandrou (2001)
used sinkage device for studying the behavior of oil under normal load in a soil bin as well as in field
soil. For modeling the sinkage test in tilled soil for mobility study, Benoit and Gotteland (2004) used
sinkage equipment to conduct penetration tests in small and large soil bins.
Though much research has been done in developing equipment, modeling and measuring soil
pressure-sinkage in some parts of the world, very little work has been done on soil pressure-sinkage
studies in this part of the world. Therefore, the development of equipment for measuring the soil
pressure-sinkage is necessary so as to determine soil pressure-sinkage relationships and predict soil
sinkage which results into soil compaction.
.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1 Fabrication and Assembly of the Pressure-Sinkage Equipment
The equipment components were fabricated at the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal
University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. The u-channel and cylindrical pipes were cut using
portable cutting machine while the sinkage plates were machined and drilled using the lathe machine
in the workshop. The bought-out components such as pressure gauge and hydraulic jack and all the
fabricated components were brought to the Soil Tillage Dynamics Laboratory where they were
bolted together and assembled on an existing soil bin in the laboratory. The isometric view of the
equipment is shown in Fig. 1.
2.2 Soil Sample Collection and Preparation

A heavy clay soil was used for the experiment. At the sites where the soil samples were collected, an
area from which sufficient soil that can fill the soil bin compartment was marked out. The area was
then dug to a depth of 35 cm. Both the surface and sub-surface soil dug out were then mixed together
before they were transported to the laboratory. The physical and mechanical properties of the soil
were determined in the laboratory following the procedures reported by Manuwa (2009) and are
shown in Table 1 and 2 respectively. The soil samples collected were spread out on polythene sheets
and air-dried for 3 days. The soil was turned at interval to ensure uniform drying. After they have
been sufficiently dried, they were then packed and loaded into the soil bin.
2.3 Sinkage Plates

The sinkage tests in this study were performed using three circular plates and three rectangular plates
since the plate form or shape has strong effect upon the values of sinkage parameters and
consequently upon plate sinkage prediction (Nang et al, 2007). The dimensions of the rectangular
plates and circular plates and their aspect ratio are shown in Table 3.
2.4 Plate Penetration Test Procedure and Collection of Pressure-Sinkage Data

The soil bin was filled with dry sample of the experimental soil in seven layers of 100 mm thick. The
soil was then compacted to a cone index of about 621 kPa at 75 mm depth according to the
procedure reported in Manuwa and Ademosun (2007). The moisture content of the sample were then
determined at this cone index using gravimetric method.
85
Each of the six plates used was then driven into the soil at five different pressure intervals and at a
particular cone index. At each pressure interval, the depth of sinkage was read on the slide gauge and
recorded. After each cone index test, the soil was then removed from the soil bin and loosened by
hand shovel. The soil bin was then filled again with the loosened soil and compacted to higher cone
index and the value of the cone index wasrecored. Plate penetration tests were carried out at four
different cone indexes. The pressure intervals and depth of sinkage obtained at each cone index were
also recorded. This procedure was replicated three times.
2.5 Application of Bekker’s Soil Pressure-Sinkage Model

The result of the pressure-sinkage experimentation gave the values of pressure versus the
sinkage (depth of sinkage) for each penetration plate. The graph of pressure against the sinkage
produced was plotted using the model proposed by Bekker (1956):
k 
p   c  k  z n (1)
b 
where:
p is the contact pressure (Nm-2),
b = the width of a rectangular sinkage plate or radius of a circular sinkage plate (m),
n = the exponent of deformation (dimensionless)
kc= the cohesive modulus of deformation (Nmn-1),
kφ= frictional modulus of deformation (Nmn),
The logarithmic values of p and z obtained from the experiment were calculated and the graph of log
p was plotted against log z using SigmaPlot software in order to obtain the values of stiffness
constant kc, kφand n. Equation (1) thus become:
k 
log p  log  c  k   log z n
b  (2)
k 
Letting k   c  k  , then we have
b 
log p  log k  n log z (3)
Graph of log p against log z gave a slope, n and intercept, log k from which the value of k was
1
determined. Using equation k  k c    k , the graph of k against 1/b will also give a slope, kc and
b
intercept, k  which are the soil stiffness constants required.
3. Result and Discussion

3.1 Plate Penetration Test Result
The pressure and sinkage values obtained at different cone indexesare shown in Tables 4 – 7. Graph
of log p plotted against log z are shown in Fig. 2-5. Table 8 gives the summary of the values of kc
and k andn obtained different cone indexes.
86
3.2 Discussion
From Table 8, for rectangular plates, the average values of kc , k  and n obtained are 1034.81 kN/mn-
1, 165.79 kN/mn and 1.3126 respectively at four different cone indexes while for circular plates, the
average values of kc , k and n are 232.58 kN/mn-1, 97.75 kN/mn and 1.2283 respectively at four
different cone indexes. It was observed that the values of kc were higher than that k at different
cone indexes. This is reasonable because of the moderately high clay content of the sample since kc
is the cohesive modulus of deformation. It was also observed that the circular plates gave higher
values of sinkage constants than the rectangular plates. This agrees with the result obtained by Nang
et al (2007) who used both circular and rectangular plates to determine the soil sinkage parameters
with an experimental device.
Variations of values of kc and k  with cone index for both types of plates used are shown in Fig. 6
and 7. For the rectangular and circular plates, the values of kc and k  increase with cone index at an
increasing rate. This may be due to increase in bulk density of the soil as cone index was increased.
4. Conclusion
A pressure-sinkage equipment was designed and fabricated to investigate the pressure-sinkage
behaviour of a heavy clay soil. The equipment was used to carry out plate penetration tests using
both circular and rectangular plates at different cone indexes. Average soil stiffness constants were
obtained for the experimental soil. Variation of the values of soil stiffness constants kc and k  shows
that they increase as cone index increases. The values of kc were higher than that of k  at different
cone indexes.The circular plates also gave higher values of sinkage constants than the rectangular
plates. The data obtained in this study are relevant in the design of tractive devices and also in
evaluating the performance of the off-road vehicles and mobility studies of natural terrains.
References
Abu-Hamdeh, N.H. and Reeder, R.C. (2003): Measuring and predicting stress distribution under
tractive devices in undisturbed soil. Biosys. Eng., 85: 493- 502.
Bekker, M. G. (1956): Theory of land locomotion-the mechanics of vehicle mobility. University of
Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI: 522pp.
Bekker, M. G. (1960): Off-The-Road Locomotion. Ann Arbor, MI, USA, The University of
Mchigan Press.
Bekker, M. G. (1969): Introduction to Terrain-Vehicle Systems. Ann Arbor, MI, USA, The
University of Michigan Press.
Benoit, O. and Gotteland, P. (2004): Modelling of sinkage tests in tilled soils for mobility study. Soil
and Tillage Research, 80, 215-231.
Earl, R. and Alexandrou, A. (2001): Deformation processes below a plate sinkage test on sandy
loam soil: experimental approach. Journal of Terramechanics, 38, 153-162.
Goodman, J. and Lee, N. (1963): Effect of remolding on soil values related to vehicle mobility.
Proceedings of 1st International Conference on the Mechanics of Soil-Vehicle Systems, 63-
75.
Hakansson, I. and Reeder, R. C. (1994): Subsoil compaction by vechicles with high axle load-extent,
persistence and crop response. Soil Tillage Research, 29: 277-304.
Manuwa, S. I. (2009): Performance evaluation of tillage tines operating under different depths in a
sandy clay loam soil. Soil and Tillage Research 103 (2009) 399-405.
87
Manuwa, S. I. and Ademosun, O. C. (2007): Draught and soil disturbance of model tillage tines
under varying soil parameters. Agricultural Engineering International: the CIGR
Ejournal. Manuscript PM 06 016. Vol. IX. March, 2007.
McKyes, E. (1985): Soil cutting and tillage. Elsevier Science Publishing Company Inc. New York,
USA.
Nang, N. V., Takaaki, M., Tatsuya, K. and Shikegi, I. (2007): Experimental device for measuring
sandy soil sinkage parameters. Bulletin of Faculty of Agriculture Saga University No.
www.dl.saga- u.ac.jp/contents/mgzn/ZR00006175/ZR00006175.pdf.
Rashidi, M., Keyhani, A. and Tabatabaeefar, A. (2006): Multiplate penetration tests to predict soil
pressure-sinkage behaviour under rectangular region. International Journal of
Agriculture and Biology. http://www.fspublishers.org.
Wong, J. Y. (2010): Terramechanics and off-road vehicle mobility. Elsevier.The Boulevard,
Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK.
Wong, J. Y. (1980): Data processing methodology in the characterization of the mechanical
properties of terrain. Journal of Terramechanics, 17, 13-41.
Youssel, A. A. and Ali, G. A. (1982): Determination of soil parameters using plate test. Journal of
Terramechanics, 19, 129-147.
Fig. 1: Isometric view of the pressure-sinkage equipment
Table 1: Physical properties of experimental soil

Classification Heavy Clay
Sand (%) 17.33
Silt (%) 6.30
Clay (%) 76.37
Bulk Desity (kg/m3) 1600
Particle Density (kg/m3) 2600
Moisture Content (% dry basis) 17.07
Table 2: Mechanical properties of experimental soil

Classification Heavy Clay
88
Moisture content (%) 14.6

Bulk Density (kg/m3) 1650
Cohesion (kPa) 29.80
Angle of Internal Friction (degree) 28.2
Adhesion (kPa) 0.46
Cone index at 75mm depth (kPa) 630
Table 3: Dimensions and aspect ratios of the sinkage plates

Type of Plate Sinkage Plate Width (mm) Length (mm) Aspect Ratio Diameter
Number (mm)
1 25 37.5 1.5 -
Rectangular
2 30 75 2.5 -
3 50 150 3.0 -
Plates
4 - - - Ø25
5 - - - Ø30
Circular
Plates
6 - - - Ø50
Table 4: Pressure-sinkage values of moist soil at cone index of 621 kN/m2

Sinkage Values, z (mm)
Pressure, P (kN/m2) Rectangular plate sizes (mm) Circular plate sizes (mm)
25 x 37.5 30 x 75 50 x 150 Ø25 Ø30 Ø50
50 31 28 26 22 30 29
100 47 45 43 39 42 44
150 61 59 57 52 56 61
200 71 70 69 65 69 71

25 x 37.5 30 x 75 50 x 150 Ø25 Ø30 Ø50
50 22 23 15 22 23 22
100 38 37 30 36 40 35
150 52 49 44 50 51 46
200 59 61 57 61 64 58
89

2
Pressure, P (kN/m ) Rectangular plate sizes (mm) Circular plate sizes (mm)
25 x 37.5 30 x 75 50 x 150 Ø25 Ø30 Ø50
50 21 22 14 11 21 20
100 37 35 28 27 32 33
150 51 48 43 38 44 45
200 59 60 55 54 57 56

25 x 37.5 30 x 75 50 x 150 Ø25 Ø30 Ø50
50 20 20 12 10 20 18
100 36 32 23 23 29 30
150 48 42 40 37 42 41
200 53 55 51 53 52 53
2.4
2.3
2.2
2.1 Plate 1
Plate 2
Log P
Plate 3
2.0 Plate 4
Plate 5
1.9 Plate 6
1.8
1.7
1.6
-1.7 -1.6 -1.5 -1.4 -1.3 -1.2 -1.1
Log z
Fig. 2: Graph of Log P against Log z at cone index of 621 kN/m2
90
2.4
2.3
Plate 1
2.2 Plate 2
Plate 3
2.1 Plate 4
Plate 5
Log P
Plate 6
2.0
1.9
1.8
1.7
1.6
-1.9 -1.8 -1.7 -1.6 -1.5 -1.4 -1.3 -1.2 -1.1
Log z
2.4
2.3
2.2
2.1 Plate 1
Plate 2
Log P
Plate 3
2.0
Plate 4
Plate 5
1.9 Plate 6
1.8
1.7
1.6
-2.0 -1.8 -1.6 -1.4 -1.2 -1.0
Log z
91
2.4
2.3
2.2
2.1 Plate 1
Plate 2
Log P
Plate 3
2.0 Plate 4
Plate 5
1.9 Plate 6
1.8
1.7
1.6
-2.2 -2.0 -1.8 -1.6 -1.4 -1.2
Log z
Table 8: Values of kc and k  andn obtained for heavy clay soil
kc (kN/mn-1) k  (kN/mn) n
Moisture Cone Rectangul Circul Rectangul Circula Rectangul Circular
Content Index ar Plates ar ar Plates r ar Plates Plates
(%) dry (kN/m2) Plates Plates
basis
621 1.5234 1.4808
18.07 776 1.2734 1.3836
(moist) 1103 320.43 107.96 85.30 58.70 1.2286 1.2029
1327 1201.33 270.99 163.30 73.40 1.2251 0.8461
1441.62 309.92 195.85 122.80
1575.84 441.44 218.70 136.10
Average 957 1434.81 432.58 165.79 97.75 1.3126 1.2283
92
1800
1600
1400
1200
kc
1000
(kN/ Rectangular Plates
800
mn-1) 600 Circular Plates
400
200
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Cone Index (kN/m2)
Fig. 6: Graph of values of kc against cone index (kN/m2)
250
200
kφ 150
(kN/m
n-1 Rectangular Plates
)
100 Circular Plates
50
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Cone Index (kN/m2)
Fig. 7: Graph of values of kφ against cone index (kN/m2)
93

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Proceedings of the International Soil Tillage Research Organisation (ISTRO) Nigeria Symposium, Akure 2014 November 3 - 6, Akure, Nigeria

Development of Equipment for Measuring Pressure-Sinkage Behaviour of a Heavy Clay Soil

Keywords: pressure sinkage, equipment, stiffness constants, soil, plates.

2.2 Soil Sample Collection and Preparation

2.3 Sinkage Plates

2.4 Plate Penetration Test Procedure and Collection of Pressure-Sinkage Data

2.5 Application of Bekker’s Soil Pressure-Sinkage Model

log p  log k  n log z (3)

3. Result and Discussion

Fig. 1: Isometric view of the pressure-sinkage equipment

Table 1: Physical properties of experimental soil

Table 2: Mechanical properties of experimental soil

Moisture content (%) 14.6

Table 3: Dimensions and aspect ratios of the sinkage plates

Table 4: Pressure-sinkage values of moist soil at cone index of 621 kN/m2

Table 5: Pressure-sinkage values of moist soil at cone index of 776 kN/m2

Table 6: Pressure-sinkage values of moist soil at cone index of 1103 kN/m2

Table 7: Pressure-sinkage values of moist soil at cone index of 1327 kN/m2

Table 8: Values of kc and k  andn obtained for heavy clay soil

Cone Index (kN/m2)

Fig. 6: Graph of values of kc against cone index (kN/m2)

Cone Index (kN/m2)

Fig. 7: Graph of values of kφ against cone index (kN/m2)

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