The essential mechanics of capillary crumbling of structured agricultural soils

In soil loosening processes like seedbed preparation, significant soil crumbling is often desired. A better understanding of the mechanics of crumbling is necessary to optimize crumbling operations, particularly in structured agricultural soils in which capillary bonds are dominant. To this end, a model of the mechanics of capillary crumbling in structured agricultural soils is developed. Four sets of experiments on cylindrical soil samples were carried out to investigate the validity of the model and soil crumbling characteristics as influenced by freezing, thawing and drying. After preparation and sample pre-treatment, the samples were dried to different moisture contents and then tested to determine soil bonding strength. Soil water suction was also monitored at testing as were sample dimensions at different stages of experimentation. The model was found to account satisfactorily for the mechanics of capillary crumbling in structured agricultural soils. Freezing had the effect of reducing the strength of inter-aggregate bonds whilst preserving the integrity of soil aggregates during crumbling.