Investigating the effects of tire load, forward velocity and multi-pass on cone index and soil compaction

One of the major limitations in farmlands is soil compaction caused by trafficking of agricultural machinery. Machinery trafficking management on farmland in terms of how and why is depended on the parameters of each section, soil and crop operations. This study was aimed at investigating the effects of wheel forward velocity, load and multi-pass on clay loam soil compaction. Experimental tests were conducted in the soil bin facility equipped with single wheel tester. Input parameters were velocity at three levels (i.e. 0.5, 1 and 1.5 m/s) and wheel load at three levels (i.e. 2, 3, 4 kN). Rut depths and cone index as research target variables were measured in different combinations of treatment and repetition of wheel passes in each direction. The effect of wheel load on the increase of rut depth was only significant up to sixth levels. Moreover, wheel load and number of passes over the same path had a significant effect on the increase of cone index. In contrary, the effect of forward velocity on this parameter is ignorable based on the statistical analysis performed. Furthermore, the effect of wheel pass number on rut depth and cone index was extracted as regression models.