Simulating the effects of the passage of tractors on agricultural land

In order to improve and develop the Tunisian agriculture, the government has encouraged the introduction of modern technologies and has also promoted the adoption of innovative practices cultures. Indeed, the extensive use of mechanization can increase crop productivity but its inadequate application also has a negative impact on the ground caused by the phenomenon of compaction. Which will cause the loss of soil fertility and increased production costs. This problem is accentuated with increase the stress on contact wheel / ground. For this reason, the objective of this study is to simulate the footprint of the ground contact / tire of one tractor after its passage. The method of this work is based on a simulation including passages from tractor a mass 10500kg and tire pressure from different wheels. Simulation parameters were based on the choice of two inflation pressures of the rear wheels (1.6 bars and 2.1 bars) and those of the front wheels (0.8 and 1.6 bar) of soil and sandy loam in nature. The analysis was performed using specific database (TERRANIMO) and software (Softsoil). Main results shows an increase rera tire pressure by 31% matches to an increase in the maximum stress at 27%, and increase front tire pressure by 100% matches to an increase in the maximum stress at 80%. Thus we see that the results of the base and the software are near but not Concorde.