Design, construction and evaluation of a miniature soil bin plus predicting the measured parameters during primary tests using ANFIS

Abstract

A clear understanding of soil-machine interaction is utilised in many areas, such as rational design and performance optimisation of soil-engaging tools/implements. This research developed a new soil bin to investigate the interaction between soil-narrow tines and soil failure. The new soil bin consisted of a chassis, a bin, a variable speed carriage and a bolt and nut type power transmission system between the motor and carriage. The design criteria of the new soil bin were based on the drive system's immediate acceleration of the carriage unit. A curved chisel tine was tested to evaluate the system's capabilities. Three parameters, including lift height, failure side area and forward failure distance, were investigated at two forward speeds of 0.037 and 0.05 m/s and three rake angles of 5°, 10° and 20°. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test revealed the effect of rake angle on the lift height, failure side area, and forward failure distance was significant (P < 0.01). However, the forward speed did not have any significant influence on parameters. Also, the lift height and failure side area increased significantly (P < 0.01) by increasing the rake angle, while the forward failure distance decreased. Regarding soil failure, the results were in harmony with Godwin and Spoor's model. The regression and ANFIS models were developed to predict the output parameters by considering input parameters. The R2 values and ANFIS models were 0.4895, 0.7264, 0.9856, and 0.9999, 1, 1, respectively, for lift height, side area, and forward distance. Therefore, ANFIS approach was more accurate for predicting soil failure parameters.

Keywords

• ANFIS
• Inceptisols
• Soil bin
• Soil-tool interaction
• Soil movement
• Tillage