Elastic Properties of Potatoes
E. E. Finney, Jr. and C. W. Hall
T H E i m p o r t a n c e of t h e properties of
agricultural p r o d u c t s a n d t h e n e e d
for s t u d y a n d research in this area w a s
e m p h a s i z e d b y M o h s e n i n in 1 9 6 3 ( 6 ) *.
Because of t h e increasing emphasis b e -
ing p l a c e d o n m e c h a n i z a t i o n of t h e
h a r v e s t i n g a n d h a n d l i n g of fruits a n d
vegetables, it is e v e n m o r e essential to
d e t e r m i n e t h e e n g i n e e r i n g a n d physical
properties of these commodities if bruis-
ing a n d m e c h a n i c a l d a m a g e a r e to b e
minimized.
T h e p u r p o s e of this p a p e r is to ( a )
review t h e t h e o r y of elasticity as it is
r e l a t e d t o elastic constants of solids,
( b ) describe a m e t h o d u s e d to evalu-
ate t h e elastic properties of potatoes,
a n d ( c ) p r e s e n t values for t h e m o d u -
lus of elasticity a n d Poisson's ratio of
the potato tuber.
THEORY
A b o d y is perfectly elastic if t h e d e -
formation or strain occurs i n s t a n t a n e -
ously w i t h t h e application of stress,
a n d this deformation is completely a n d
instantaneously r e c o v e r e d w h e n t h e
stress is r e m o v e d . I t is generally as-
s u m e d in addition t h a t t h e r e is a one-
to-one relationship b e t w e e n t h e state
of stress a n d t h e state of strain in a n
ideal linear elastic b o d y ; h e n c e , all
t i m e - d e p e n d e n t effects are excluded.
I n 1 6 7 6 R o b e r t H o o k e s h o w e d that,
for small strains, certain bodies u n d e r
uniaxial stress exhibited ideal elasticity
a n d t h e stress a w a s directly propor-
tional t o strain e. T h e proportionality
constant h a s b e e n defined as Young's
m o d u l u s of e l a s t i c i t y , E. Hence,
Hooke's l a w h a s t a k e n t h e following
form
= form
a Ee (uniaxial stress) . . . . [ 1 ]
a n d a b o d y w h i c h obeys this e q u a t i o n
is sometimes referred to as a " H o o k e a n "
body.
E q u a t i o n [ 1 ] is a special case of t h e
m o r e generalized form of Hooke's law
Paper prepared for publication in the TRANS-
ACTIONS of the ASAE. Approved as journal
article No. 3776 of the Michigan Agricultural Ex-
periment Station. This paper is based on research
conducted by the senior author while serving as
a graduate research assistant at Michigan State
University.
The authors—E. E. FINNEY, JR. and C. W.
HALL—are respectively, agricultural engineer,
Instrumentation Research Laboratory, MQRD,
ARS, USD A, Beitsviiie, Md.; and head of agri-
cultural engineering, Michigan State University.
* Numbers in parentheses refer to the ap-
pended references.
Acknowledgement: The authors acknowledge
the assistance of Dr. Norman Thompson, crop
science department, and Dr. George Mase and
Dr. L. E. Malvern, mechanics department, of
Michigan State University.
4 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASAE
M E M B E R ASAE M E M B E R ASAE
FIG. 1 Apparatus for removing cylindri-
cal sections of tissue (note inset at upper
left) from a potato tuber.
(sometimes referred to as t h e constitu-
tive e q u a t i o n of elasticity)
=
^ij Cijrs € r s . . . [2]
w h e r e cry a n d e r s (i,j,r,s = 1, 2, 3 ) d e -
note t h e c o m p o n e n t s of t h e tensors of
stress a n d strain w i t h respect to a sys-
t e m of r e c t a n g u l a r axes, xx ( 1 1 ) . T h e
r e p e a t e d subscript is u s e d to indicate
t h e s u m m a t i o n c o n v e n t i o n , t h a t is,
w h e n e v e r t h e same letter subscript oc-
curs twice in a term, t h a t subscript is
to b e given all possible values a n d t h e
results a d d e d together. If ut represents
t h e c o m p o n e n t s of t h e d i s p l a c e m e n t
vector, t h e n .
%(t/u + UU) [3]
w h e r e t h e index after t h e c o m m a d e -
notes differentiation w i t h r e s p e c t to t h e
c o r r e s p o n d i n g x coordinate, i.e., u{j =
Siii/dXj. C i j r s a r e t h e elements of a
fourth order s y m m e t r i c coefficient m a t -
rix w h i c h for a n isotropic, h o m o g e n e o u s
material takes t h e following simplified
Cijrs = ^Sij SY8 + ft
[ 8 i r 8js + 8is 8 j r ] . . . . . . . . [4]
w h e r e X a n d fju a r e arbitrary scalars,
a n d 8 m n is t h e Kronecker delta. F o r a n
isotropic, h o m o g e n e o u s material, t h e r e -
fore, Hooke's l a w takes t h e general form
"JJ = Ae kk Sij + 2/xe.i . . . . [ 5 ]
or
o-y = Xe0 By + 2fL&l} . . . . . [ 6 ]
v/here e0 = e k k = e 1 3 + e22 + e33
T h e p a r a m e t e r s X a n d ju, ( L a m e ' s con-
stants) are t w o elastic constants w h i c h
completely d e t e r m i n e t h e elastic p r o p -
erties of t h e material, a n d algebraic
relations m a y b e d e r i v e d a m o n g t h e
m o s t c o m m o n l y u s e d elastic constants
A, JUL; shear m o d u l u s , G; Poisson's ratio,
y; Young's m o d u l u s , E, a n d t h e bulk
modulus, K
K = tL [ 7 ]
3(1 - 2y)
since only t w o of t h e m m a y b e inde-
p e n d e n t l y specified for a h o m o g e n e o u s
isotropic material.
Irrespective of t h e m e c h a n i c a l p r o p -
erties of t h e material, t h e state of stress
in a n elastic b o d y m u s t satisfy, in addi-
tion to t h e constitutive equations, t h e
equilibrium conditions:
*ik,k + X{ = 0 [8]
assuming t h a t t h e c o m p o n e n t s of a c -
celeration m a y b e n e g l e c t e d (quasi-
static loading) a n d w h e r e Xt represents
t h e b o d y force c o m p o n e n t s . Similarly,
t h e strain c o m p o n e n t s m u s t satisfy t h e
conditions of compatibility
€ik,lm "•" e lm,ik = e
il,km ' ^km,il
[9]
w h i c h represents six compatibility e q u -
ations. T h e solution of a n y given p r o b -
lem in elasticity requires t h e d e t e r m i n a -
tion of t h e stress c o m p o n e n t s , or dis-
p l a c e m e n t s , w h i c h satisfy t h e differen-
tial equations [ 6 ] , [ 8 ] , [ 9 ] along
w i t h t h e a p p r o p r i a t e specified b o u n d a r y
conditions. Special m a t h e m a t i c a l tech-
n i q u e s h a v e b e e n u s e d to solve t h e
above e q u a t i o n s for certain given b o u n -
d a r y conditions a n d m a n y of these so-
lutions h a v e b e e n p r e s e n t e d a n d dis-
cussed b y T i m o s h e n k o a n d Goodier
( 1 2 ) . Some of these solutions h a v e
b e e n useful in t h e interpretation a n d
evaluation of m e c h a n i c a l d a m a g e t o
potatoes (2, 3 ) .
EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES
I n t h e p r e c e d i n g section, it w a s
stated t h a t w h e n e v e r t w o of t h e elastic
constants of a h o m o g e n e o u s isotropic
m a t e r i a l w e r e k n o w n , t h e n other elastic
constants could b e calculated directly
from k n o w n algebraic relations. I n -
strumentation was developed, there-
fore, for m e a s u r i n g Young's m o d u l u s ,
E, a n d t h e bulk m o d u l u s , K. Young's
m o d u l u s w a s m e a s u r e d t h r o u g h uni-
axial compression tests using cylindrical
sections of tissue r e m o v e d from t h e
t u b e r a n d t h e bulk m o d u l u s , K, w a s
d e t e r m i n e d t h r o u g h three-dimensional
compression of t h e w h o l e p o t a t o t u b e r
u n d e r hydrostatic pressure.
T h e testing m a c h i n e u s e d for t h e
uniaxial compression tests h a s b e e n d e -
scribed previously ( 2 , 3 ) a n d is simi-
lar t o t h e device described b y Mohsenin
• 1967
(7). The machine used for these tests RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
was calibrated to provide a rate of de- Modulus of Elasticity
formation of one inch per minute (ipm)
within ± 1 0 percent up to a maximum Modulus of elasticity was defined
load of 200 lb. A 50-lb-capacity load earlier as the proportionality constant
cell with an accuracy of ± 0.25 per- relating stress to strain within an elastic
cent and a maximum nonlinearity of material. Strain is defined as the change
± 0.10 percent was used for force in length of a uniaxial specimen divided
measurements. Displacements could be by its current length, or in differential
determined within 1 percent accuracy. notation
For the uniaxial tests, a specimen of
tissue was removed from the potato de = — [10]
tuber using a cork-boring machine and L
cylindrically shaped cutting tools (Fig. where de is the differential element of
1) whose cutting edge was chamfered strain due to the change in length dL
to a 20-deg included angle. This cylin- of a specimen having a current length
drical specimen was then cut to a L. Integrating this expression,
length of 1 in. and loaded between d = In (L) + C [11]
parallel compression plates. The plates
were coated with a thin film of lubri- where C is an arbitrary constant de-
cating oil to reduce the effects of shear pending on the boundary conditions.
stresses due to contact between the When the specimen is in the unstrained
load plates and the flat ends of the state, for example, the strain is zero
specimen. Force-deformation (nominal and the length is the original length of
stress-strain) curves were plotted di- the specimen L 0 . Thus C is evaluated to
rectly, as reproduced in Fig. 3, using be — In (L 0 ) and the strain as ex-
an X-Y recorder. FIG. 2 Hydrostatic pressure device for pressed in equation [11] becomes
bulk modulus tests.
A second elastic property of the po- € l = ln(L/L0) [12]
tato tuber, the elastic bulk modulus, K, was very large and Poisson's ratio ap- The length L at any time is equal to
was determined by means of hydro- proached 0.50. On this basis, there- the original length L 0 plus the change
static pressure tests. The objective was fore, the bulk modulus apparatus was in the original length AL. Hence equa-
to measure the change in volume of the redesigned to operate with increased tion [12] may be given as
tuber (or volumetric strain) as a func- sensitivity within the pressure range
~L„ + AL"
tion of the applied hydrostatic stress from 0 to 60 psi. In In 1 +
(or volumetric stress). Hence, analo- The low-pressure, bulk-modulus ap-
gous to the uniaxial stress-strain curve, paratus is shown in Fig. 2. The potato AL
[13]
one obtains a three-dimensional or vol- tuber in this case was immersed in a
umetric stress-strain curve. cylinder of water. Extreme care was
The original volume of the tuber was exercised to drain air from pockets in Expanding equation [13] in terms of
measured to within 1 percent by weigh- the assembly through an air drain plug the appropriate series, it becomes
ing the water displaced by the sub- in the top of the cylinder and at the pAL" pA^I •2

+%
merged tuber. For preliminary studies top of the glass gage assembly. Pressure €l = — Vi
of the behavior of the potato tuber un- was applied to the liquid from a 60-psi 3
AJ _!•» J
der hydrostatic stresses w i t h i n the air line through a filter, pressure regu-
-AL- [14]
range from 15 to 500 lb per square lating valve, and gage indicator. Pres-
inch (psi), the tuber was submerged sures above 10 psi could be regulated Assuming that the change in the orig-
in a steel cylinder containing 20-weight within ± 1 psi of the pressure-gage in- inal length of the specimen is small
oil. The cylinder was then closed, dication. The glass tube was used to compared to the original length, the
sealed, and a dead weight tester, de- measure changes in volume of the po- first term on the right hand side of
signed to calibrate pressure gages, was tato tuber under pressure. By measur- equation [14]
then connected to the cylinder con- ing the rise and fall of the liquid level
taining the tuber. Air was forced from in the glass tube, it was possible to de- « = ~ [15]
the system through an air-drain plug. tect volume changes of ± 0.048 cu L0
As weights, calibrated to give 50 psi cm. becomes a first-order approximation of
pressure increments, were added to the Potatoes used for these tests were the strain defined by equation [ 1 2 ] .
weight tester platform, the volume of grown in a sandy loam soil at the Mich- The strain defined by equation [12] is
the tuber changed by an amount equal igan Lake City Experiment Station. The usually referred to as logarithmic strain
to the volume of the fluid displaced by potatoes were planted May 22, 1962, and that in equation [15] is called
the piston of the weight platform minus harvested on September 25, placed in engineering or c o n v e n t i o n a l strain.
the expansion of the cylinder contain- a 55-60 F curing room until October Throughout this paper the term "strain"
ing the stressed-fluid. The effect of 19, after which they were removed to refers to conventional or engineering
cylinder expansion was first evaluated a 40 F storage room. Tubers were strain. For the case of uniaxial com-
by means of tests conducted without stored in bushel containers to avoid the pression, it can be shown that logarith-
the potato in the cylinder ( 2 ) . prestressing effects experienced under mic strain is related to conventional
Results of preliminary tests indicated bulk storage conditions. At least 24 strain by the expression
pressures within the 0 to 100 psi range hr prior to any tests, the tubers were 1
were of the greatest significance from removed from the 40 F storage room = In [16]
the standpoint of volume changes un- and placed in a neutral atmosphere at .l-e_
der hydrostatic stress. As stresses ap- a room temperature between 68 to where e± refers to logarithmic strain
proached 500 psi, the tuber became in- 78 F. All tests were conducted at room and e refers to conventional strain and
compressible; i.e., the bulk modulus temperature. both are positive in compression. Note
1967 • TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASAE 5
that as the length of the specimen ap- RUSSET RURAL POTATO TABLE 2. HYSTERESIS LOSS IN POTATO
(10/17/ 62) TISSUE LOADED AND UNLOADED BELOW
proaches zero under compression, log- Rate of deformation: I in./min THE RUPTURE POINT
arithmic strain approaches infinity and Variety, Russet Rural; test date: October 17, 1962
conventional strain approaches unity.
E
S n g d Dissipated Hysteresis,
In addition to using the conventional energy, in -lb ener
Sy- l n ' " l b percent
strain definition, modulus of elasticity
5.80 4.20 72
values were computed based on nomi- 11.45 9.42 82
nal stress observations. That is, the 14.35 10.90 76
18.42 15.68 85
stress was based on the original cross- 8.35 7.05 84
sectional area A 0 of the compression 5.12 3.80 74
7.12 6.35 89
specimen. The increase in cross-sec- 7.35 6.65 90
tional area due to lateral expansion un- Mean.. 81.5
Coefficient of variation.. 8.4 percent
der axial compression was neglected 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50

in comparison with the original area. STRAIN (in./in.)

The use of both conventional strain
and nominal stress approximations is
satisfactory for small strains such as
those encountered for these modulus
of elasticity investigations.
The stress-strain curve for cylindri-
cal sections of tissue removed from
potato tubers gave an approximately
linear relationship such as that shown
in Fig. 3. The potato, however, falls
short of meeting the other criteria of
an elastic material. For example, as
shown in Fig. 3, during the unloading
cycle of the stress-strain curve, the re-
lationship between stress and strain was
noticeably nonlinear and deviated con-
siderably from the loading stress-strain
relationship. In addition, the unre-
covered deformation and loading en-
ergy were by no means negligible in
comparison with the total deformation
and the total energy expended during
the loading process. There are two
terms which are very useful in explain-
ing this anelastic behavior of materials,
namely, "degree of elasticity" and "elas-
tic hysteresis."
Frey-Wyssling (4) defined degree of
elasticity as being the ratio of elastic
(recovered) deformation to total de-
formation when a material is loaded to
a certain stress and then unloaded to
zero stress. A perfectly elastic material
has a degree of elasticity of unity, and
a viscous or perfectly plastic material
has a degree of elasticity of zero. Table
1 shows some values for the degree of
elasticity of mature potato tissue under
uniaxial compression. On the average,
only 46 percent of the total deforma-
tion of the product was recovered dur-
ing the unloading cycle. Hence, potato
tissue is considerably anelastic during
the unloading of stressed tissue.
The elastic hysteresis of a material
is defined as the amount of energy dis-
sipated internally within the specimen
during a cycle of loading and unload-
ing. This was measured by recording
the stress-strain curve through a cycle
of loading and unloading as shown in
Fig. 3. The larger the area enclosed
by the stress-strain loading and unload-
ing loop, the greater the energy dissi-
pated internally within the loaded ma-
terial. For an ideally elastic body, the
paths followed during loading and un-
FIG. 3 Conventional stress-strain curves
for potato tissue loaded both below (A, B)
and beyond (C) the point of rupture.
TABLE 1. DEGREE OF ELASTICITY OF
POTATO TISSUE UNDER UNIAXIAL
COMPRESSION BELOW RUPTURE POINT
Variety, Russet Rural; test date, 10/17/62
Total strain, Recovered
€ strain, c
(in./in.) (in./in.)
0.10 0.06
0.12 0.06
0.21 0.10
0.23 0.09
0.25 0.12
0.25 0.10
0.28 0.09
0.28 0.13
Mean.
Coefficient oJ variation.
loading coincide and there is no hys-
teresis loop. For steel, the loop is
small; for high polymers, the hysteresis
effect is much more pronounced. The
hysteresis loss for potato tissue is also
very pronounced (Fig. 3 ) . As shown
in Table 2, the energy dissipated within
potato tissue varied from 72 to 90 per-
cent of the total energy expended dur-
ing the loading process. Therefore, po-
tato tissue exhibited a very satisfactory
stress-strain relationship during load-
ing, but had a pronounced anelastic
behavior during the unloading phase.
The stress-strain relationship in Fig.
3 also approximates the behavior of a
linear strain-hardening incompressible
plastic material having a negligible ini-
tial elastic range. Under uniaxial load-
ing the slope of the stress-strain curve,
instead of representing the elastic mod-
ulus E, is related to the strain-harden-
ing coefficient H' as defined by Hill
(5) in the expression
- ^ - = H>
TABLE 3. MODULUS OF ELASTICITY FOR CYLINDRICAL SECTIONS OF POTATO TISSUE
HAVING VARIOUS CROSS-SECTIONAL AREAS AND A LENGTH OF ONE INCH
Variety, Russet Rural; test date, October 17, 1962; rate of! deformation, 1 ipm
Replication
number Q.20
1 467
2 450
3 560
4 490
5 560
Mean 505
Grand mean — ..543 psi
Coefficient of variation
where a is the generalized equivalent
stress and dev is the generalized plas-
tic strain-increment. Again, however,
it would be necessary to limit the use
of the strain-hardening coefficient Hf
to the initial loading condition with no
unloading; and, if no unloading is con-
Degree of sidered, the distinction between linear
elasticity,
(ee/e) strain-hardening plasticity with no elas-
tic range and linear elasticity is not
0.60
0.50 very meaningful.
0.48
0.39 The stress-strain behavior of potato
0.48 tissue was further influenced by its
0.40
0.32 previous loading history (Fig. 4 ) . Tis-
0.46
sue which was loaded, unloaded, and
0.46
16.5 percent then reloaded, displayed a noticeable
change in the slope of the subsequent
loading stress-strain curve. This indi-
cated that the modulus of elasticity
(ratio of stress to strain) was influ-
enced by previous loading of the tissue.
For example, during the initial loading
along O-A (Fig. 4 ) , the elastic modu-
lus was approximately 500 psi. Sub-
sequent loading from zero stress to 100
psi resulted in modulus of elasticity
values which varied from approximately
100 to 1,000 p s i . U p o n r e a c h i n g
point "B" during the subsequent load-
ing, the stress-strain curve reassumed
the slope exhibited during the maiden
loading cycle with an apparently un-
changed elastic modulus for stresses
above that attained during the initial
loading. On the basis of the preced-
ing discussion, therefore, the values
reported for modulus of elasticity as-
sume that the tissue taken from the
central p o r t i o n of the potato tuber
had no previous loading history. In
addition, the reported modulus of elas-
ticity values do not account for the
[17] changes in the ratio of stress to strain
during the unloading process.
Cross-sectional area, square inches
0.50 1.00 2.00
Pounds per square inch
570 550 500
510 550 480
620 540 560
650 590 510
620 530 550
594 552 520
9.7 percent

TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASAE • 1967

 RUSSET RURAL POTATO
TABLE 4. HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE VERSUS VOLUMETRIC STRAIN AND OTHER DATA
SUMMARIZED FROM ELASTIC BULK MODULUS TESTS
(10/17/62 )
Rate of deformation: I in./min Hydrostatic Volumetric strain (in. 3 /in 3) X 10-*
" A " & " B " : loading before rupture Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5 Test 6 Test 7 Test 8 Test 9
psi Test 1
" R": loading beyond rupture
-_-subsequent loading of previously 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
200 loaded tissue 5 1.10 1.26 1.63 1.55 2.29 1.22 1.88 1.23 1.71
R 10 1.30 1.83 2.52 2.21 2.71 1.62 2.10 1.44 2.35
15 2.00 2.40 3.11 3.10 3.54 2.43 2.85 1.85 2.99
20 2.40 2.86 3.56 3.65 4.16 3.04 3.28 2.05 3.42
100
30 3.59 3.88 5.04 4.76 5.41 3.85 4.16 2.88 4.28
40 4.39 4.80 5.93 5.53 6.04 4.66 5.03 3.70 4.91
50 5.29 5.37 6.67 6.31 6.45 5.27 5.48 4.11 5.56
60 5.99 5.83 7.41 6.76 7.07 5.88 5.91 4.52 5.77
50 5.79 5.71 7.12 6.64 6.87 5.47 5.69 4.11 5.56
40 5.49 5.48 6.52 6.42 6.54 5.07 5.48 3.99 5.35
0 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 30 5.09 5.26 6.08 5.98 6.51 4.66 5.25 3.97 5.13
STRAIN (in./in.) 20 4.19 4.80 5.19 5.53 6.04 3.85 4.38 3.70 4.91
10 3.29 4.00 4.15 4.43 5.20 3.04 3.72 3.29 4.49
0 0.50 1.14 1.48 1.88 3.33 1.62 2.25 2.05 3.20
FIG. 4 Influence of previous loading on
stress-strain response of potato tissue. Summarized data
Specific
Values for the modulus of elasticity gravity 1.079 1.075 1.072 1.064 1.078 1.080 1.060 1.068 1.074
Weight (gm) 513.6 446.9 343.6 456.7 246.0 253.0 229.8 247.0 238.6
of potato tissue are presented in Table Volume (cc) 476 416 320 429 228 234 217 231 222
3. Individual indications varied from Elastic bulk
450 to 650 psi with an average value modulus*
(psi) 10,000 11,300 9,650 9,750 10,700 11,000 11,800 15,000 12,500
of 543 psi and a coefficient of varia-
tion of 9.7 percent. The effects of tem- * Elastic bulk modulus values were calculated based on the change in volumetric strain corre-
sponding to a change in hydrostatic pressure from 10 to 50 psi.
perature, turgor pressure of the cells,
geometrical configuration of the cells, equation also related stress to strain, to 15,000 psi (Table 4 ) . These values
and cross-sectional area of loading as but in this case a specialized three- were calculated based on the change
related to changes in the modulus of dimensional state of stress is consid- in volumetric strain of the tuber within
elasticity of potato tissue are discussed ered. The volumetric strain (some- the finite difference range of applied
in references 1, 2, 8, 9, and 13. times referred to as cubical dilatation) pressure from 10 to 50 psi. A statistical
term in equation [18] is an approxi- analysis indicated that the average bulk
Elastic Bulk Modulus mation similar to that made for con- modulus for the series of nine tests
If a hydrostatic pressure is applied ventional uniaxial strain equation [15] . was 11,300 psi with a coefficient of
to the exterior surface of a compressi- Again t h e c o n v e n t i o n a l volumetric variation of 15 percent.
ble body, its volume V will be reduced strain notation is a good first-order ap-
and its density increased. Let V0 be proximation of the logarithmic volu- Poisson's Ratio
the volume of a body under a corre- metric strain since the change in vol-
ume is small compared to the original Values have been presented for the
sponding hydrostatic pressure p = 0. uniaxial elastic modulus E and the elas-
Now if AV is the change in volume of volume. During these studies, the vol-
umetric strains were always less than tic bulk modulus K of potatoes. Most
the body produced by a compressive of the theoretical relations in elasticity,
isotropic (hydrostatic) pressure, p, then 0.01.
however, are presented in terms of the
the elastic bulk modulus K is usually Results of the hydrostatic elastic bulk uniaxial elastic modulus and Poisson's
defined (10) by the relationship modulus tests are presented in Table 4 ratio y. Equation [ 7 ] gives the rela-
along with certain other physical prop- tionship between the uniaxial elastic
p = K . [18] erties of the tubers tested. The typical modulus, the elastic bulk modulus, and
shape of the volumetric stress-strain Poisson's ratio, i.e.,
Note the analogy between the above curve is illustrated in Fig. 5. During
E
equation and the uniaxial or one-dimen- the tests, a small amount of creep and K [7]
sional form of Hooke's law. The above retarded elasticity was exhibited by 3 ( 1 - 2y)
the tubers. Hence, a certain percentage
of the deviations in the recorded val- Solving equation [ 7 ] explicitedly for
ues of volumetric strain was due to Poisson's ratio, one obtains
these time-effects and the judgment of
the observer. The volumetric stress-
strain curve (Fig, 5) was convex to- 6K 6K
ward the stress axis. Thus, for equal [19]
increments of increasing stress, the cor- On the basis of previously established
responding increments of strain de- values of £ = 543 ± 52 psif and K =
creased. This indicated that the po- 11,300 ± 1,680 psif, the average value
tato tuber becomes relatively incom- of Poisson's ratio was calculated to be
pressible under large hydrostatic pres- 0.492. Considering the deviation speci-
sure and confirmed preliminary obser- fied for the uniaxial and bulk elastic
vations obtained using the high-pres- modulus values, what deviations might
sure, bulk modulus apparatus as de- be expected for the calculated Pois-
scribed earlier in this paper. This type son's ratio? The absolute value of the
of behavior might be expected since a standard deviation in Poisson's ratio
very large portion of the potato tuber Ay corresponding to the above specified
; (85 percent by weight) is composed standard deviations in the measured
1.5 3.0 4.5 6.0xl0"
VOLUMETRIC STRAIN (in. 3 /in?) of water which has an elastic bulk parameters was calculated from the
modulus of 300,000 psi. following expression:
FIG. 5 A representative volumetric stress-
strain curve for a potato tuber under hy- The elastic bulk modulus for the
t Plus or minus values in this case refer to
drostatic pressure. mature potato tuber varied from 9,650 standard deviations.
1967 • TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASAE 7

Ay AE
+ AK
dE dK
The probable standard deviation in the value given for Poisson's ratio is given
by the expression
AE
+ dK
Substituting the appropriate values in
equation [20] and [ 2 1 ] , it was found
that the maximum absolute value for
the standard deviation in Poisson's ratio
was 0.0019 and the probable standard
deviation was 0.0014.
Hence it was estimated that the
value of Poisson's ratio for potatoes was
0.492 with a probable standard devia-
tion of 0.0014. For many of the solu-
tions in elasticity, it may very well
suffice to assume the incompressibility
condition and use a Poisson's ratio of
0.50 for mathematical calculations.
SUMMARY
Some apparent elastic constants of
the potato were estimated based on the
elastic modulus under uniaxial com-
pression and the bulk elastic modulus
under hydrostatic stress.
The stress-strain relationship for cyl-
indrical sections for potato tissue was
linear during the maiden loading cycle.
Only one-half of the original deforma-
SUMMER-FALLOW
TILLAGE METHODS
(Continued from page 3)
3 The use of atrazine for chemical
fallowing resulted in stand reduction
due to the toxicity of the chemical. The
tillage-energy requirement for the two
tillage operations used with this method
(CFFT) was nearly equal to the en-
ergy requirement for methods BF and
SM. However, during seasons with rel-
atively low precipitation, this method
was more effective, based on soil-mois-
ture conservation, than the other meth-
ods studied.
8 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASAE
[20]
AK [21]
tion was recovered during the unload-
ing cycle, and 72 to 90 percent of the
energy expended during loading was
dissipated due to a pronounced hys-
teresis effect. As a result, the ratio of
stress to strain (elastic modulus) of
potato tissue was significantly influ-
enced by its previous load history. Tis-
sue which had an elastic modulus of
500 psi during the maiden loading
cycle, indicated an elastic modulus
varying from 100 to 1,000 psi during
subsequent loading. The average elas-
tic modulus for mature potato tissue
during the initial loading cycle was
543 psi with a coefficient of variation
of 9.7 percent. The elastic bulk modu-
lus was 11,300 psi with a coefficient of
TABLE 5. SOME APPARENT ELASTIC CO-
EFFICIENTS FOR MATURE POTATO TISSUE
Mean Standard
Parameter value deviation
Uniaxial elastic modulus 543 psi 52 psi
Bulk elastic modulus 11,300 psi 1,680 psi
Poisson's ratio 0.492 0.0014
4 Under the conditions studied, fall
tillage with chisels resulted in loss of
soil moisture during the winter months.
5 When precipitation was near nor-
mal, moisture conservation for method
SMFT was lower that for the other
methods of summer fallowing studied.
6 Crop yields were not significantly
different among the four methods stud-
ied in either year, 1964 (relatively dry)
or 1965 (near normal precipitation).
References
1 Agricultural Engineers Yearbook. American
Society of Agricultural Engineers, St. Joseph,
Mich., 1965.
2 Ferguson, James, Dowding, Edwin, Becker,
C. F. and Burman, R. D. The effect of summer
fallow tillage methods on the vertical energy
variation of 15 percent. From the uni-
axial elastic modulus and the bulk elas-
tic modulus, Poisson's ratio was calcu-
lated to be 0.492 with a probable
standard deviation of 0.0014 (Table 5 ) .
References
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• 1967