Author : Anis Elaoud, Sayed Chehaibi and Khaoula Abrougui

Soil compaction is a serious problem in agriculture. This compression is caused by the passage of machinery on soils, particularly in conditions of excess moisture. At regional level, we studied the influence of the weight of two different tractors on soil failure and compaction. The experimental parts which are based on the passage of two types of tractors, (a small tractor KUBOTA: engine power 25 kW, type E-TCVS and 1200 kg and a means tractor: MATER 7007: 45 kW power, and weight 1900 kg), are performed to quantify compaction caused by these types of equipment with inflation pressure of wheels 2bars. The study of resistance to penetration is produced on three soils worked uncultivated. This study showed an increased resistance to penetration by increasing the weight of the tractor. We increased the weight of the vehicle which realizes his passage on an agricultural soil of 38 %, an increase of accentuation and soil compaction can be up to 30 % at the first parcel (P1) and 15 % in the second parcel (P2) (eg 20 cm depth).And the number of passage, we note that the first pass of the tractor 1 effects an increased resistance to penetration by 44 % compared to the initial state (passage 0) and the second pass makes a accentuation of 11 % relative to the first pass at the parcel P2, which shows that the first pass performs compaction most important and most severe. Thus, after a sometimes (eg 20 days) we notice that there’s in decrease compaction can sometimes attain 62 % (parcel 1 to 20 cm) which shows that the ground based on the area and compaction in decrease function of time.

Keywords: Wheel traffic, Tractor, Soil compaction, Resistance to penetration

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.5, No.1 (Feb-2015)