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Agriculture machinery interacts with soils in a number of ways, and so the processes of tillage, traction and compaction are of vital interest to engineers involved in agriculture. This course investigates these processes by developing a detailed understanding of the response of soils to imposed stresses and their resulting deformations and modes of failure. A theoretical framework that explains and describes the action of tillage tools, the development of wheel tractive forces, and the process of soil compaction is established. Methods for accessing and describing soil structure, and efficient operation of soil engaging tools are discussed and linked to plant growth and crop yield. The process of soil compaction and the practice of controlled traffic will also be reviewed. The course uses real world data sets from both field and lab work to show how the theory is related to practice.
