A simultaneous model for ultrasonic aggregate stability assessment

Aggregate stability is a difficult to quantify, complex soil property. Ultrasonic processing of soil–water suspensions enables quantifiable and readily reproducible assessment of the level of mechanical energy applied to soil aggregates. Here, we present a method of investigating the stability and comminution of soil aggregates by simultaneously modeling the redistribution of particles throughout any arbitrarily-selected set of soil particle-size intervals as ultrasonic energy is applied to a soil–water suspension. Following model development, we demonstrate its application to 5 particle-size subgroups (0.04–2000 μm) of a Dystroxerept subject to 12 levels of ultrasonic energy between 0 and 5800 J g− 1 (750 mL− 1). Laser granulometry was used for particle-size distribution (PSD) analysis, providing precise, non-disruptive measurements of changes in the volume of PSD subgroups in both the microaggregate (< 250 μm; 3 subgroups) and macroaggregate (> 250 μm; 2 subgroups) fractions throughout ultrasonic treatment. Two groups of aggregates were detected exhibiting significantly (p < 0.05) different ultrasonic stability: a group composed exclusively of macroaggregates ranging 250–2000 μm in size, and a finer, relatively stable group ranging 20–1000 μm. The PSD of particles liberated from two aggregate groups significantly (p < 0.05) differed: the coarser, less-stable group liberated 13% clay (0.04–2 μm), 53% fine silt (2–20 μm), and 34% coarse silt and sand (20–250 μm); while the finer, more-stable group liberated 26% clay and 74% fine silt. The ultrasonic energy required to disrupt 25%, 50%, and 75% of all aggregates within a given PSD interval significantly (p < 0.05) differed between all selected intervals, showing a trend of declining stability with increasing particle-size. Both the flexibility of the proposed model and the extension of ultrasonic stability assessment to simultaneous analysis of both microaggregate and macroaggregate subgroups can facilitate broader application of ultrasonic methods to soil processes related research.