This study aims to develop a simulation model to evaluate tillage quality. The Finite Element Method (FEM) was used to simulate the interaction between soil and tillage tools using ABAQUS software. Model simulated to study the effects of tool and soil parameters on the quality of tillage. These parameters including tool speed (0.83, 1.38 and 2.22 m/s), tillage depth (0.05, 0.075 and 0.1 m), soil bulk density (1300, 1350 and 1410 kg/m³), and tool geometry (shovel, sweep, and winged tools) in clay loam soil. Three factors were used to evaluate the quality of tillage. These were power consumption, degree of soil loosening and soil stress.
Results indicated that there was a reasonable agreement in the values of power consumption and degree of soil loosening resulted from simulated as compared with measured data from soil bin with R2 of 0.968 and 0.983, respectively. Sweep tool recorded the highest value of power consumption as compared with shovel and winged tool under different operational conditions. Furthermore, the highest value of degree of soil loosening resulted with shovel tool while sweep and winged tools resulted in the lowest and moderate values of degree of soil loosening. The highest values of soil stress obtained by shovel tool under various levels of soil bulk density and tool parameters. However, the lowest value recorded by sweep tool. |
