J. agric. Engng Res.

(1980) 25, 99-104

RESEARCH NOTES

The Design and Operation of a Simple Low Cost Soil Bin

R. J. GODWIN; G. SPOOR; J. KILGOUR*

Design details and operational characteristics are given for a simple, versatile, adjustable
width soil bin suitable for studying and testing both full scale and model agricultural implements.

1. Introduction
The soil bin described was designed to meet the following requirements.
(i) To provide consistent homogenous and isotropic soil conditions for studies concerned
with the testing of model and full scale soil engaging implements and the validation of
force prediction models.
(ii) To utilize wherever possible commercially available equipment and instrumentation
minimizing the need for specialist equipment.
(iii) To minimize capital costs and moderate the hand labour requirement.
Existing designs of soil bin range from the large scale bins of the National Tillage Machinery
Laboratory’ where full scale implement testing is carried out, to small automated soil bins
similar to that described by Siemens and Weber. * These bins do not meet all the design require-
ments in that they either require high investment in specialist machinery or, where this is not the
case, they do not permit the testing of full size equipment. It was, therefore, necessary to design
the new bin from first principles.

2. Design concept
The soil bin, Figs 1 and 2, consists of two floor-located side walls whose spacing and length can
be adjusted to suit the requirements of the test being conducted (Table I). Each wall is fabricated
from a frame of 50 mm x 50 mm x 3 mm hollow section steel and clad on both sides with 1.5 mm
galvanized steel sheet. The walls are pinned to 100 mm x 75 mm channel sections set into the
floor of the building at 1 m intervals. Access is provided at the end of the soil bin for the equip-
ment used for soil preparation.
Test implements and wheels are mounted on carriages (Fig. 3) which run on the two side walls
and the carriages are winched along by a single cable running via a pulley system from the power
unit (Fig. 2). The carriage width is adjusted for different soil bin widths by allowing the wheel
units of the carriage to slide laterally on cross beams. (The exception is the carriage shown in
Fig. 1 for wheel testing which was constructed for one width of operation only.) The carriages
run either on deep groove wheels on angle sections on top of the walls or on wheel assemblies that
mount around a channel section on the side of the walls. A lift hoist suspended from an overhead
gantry is available for lifting the carriage and bin walls when required.
Strain gauge dynanometers are used for all force measurements and the following systems are
employed to suit different requirements.

??National College of Agricultural Engineering, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4DT

Accepted 16 March 1979; accepted in revised form 30 June 1979
99
0021-8634/80/010099 +06 $02.00/O Q 1980 The British Society for Research in Agricultural Engineering
100 SIMPLE LOW COST SOIL BIN

Fig. I. General view of soil bin. with cam’age fi>v tJ,re testing in the fi~reglourtcf

u II 11

Overhead
1 1 I
gantry

Sliding doors

Lifting door

Fig. 2. Plan qf the general layout of the soil bin

R. J. GODWIN; G. SPOOR; J. KILGOUR 101

TABLE 1
Specification

Bin dimensions length 5.0 m to 13.0 m

Power unit and transmission
Control mechanism
Speed range
depth 0.5 m; max. soil depth 0.4 m
width 0.8 m to 2.0 m
30 kW tractor
Solenoid controlled pneumatic rams
0.1 m/s to 2.5 m/s

Fig. 3. A simple symmetrical tine mounted on an extended octcrgonal ring transducer (labelled A)

(0 Symmetrical implements are attached to the carriage via an extended octagonal ring
transducer, shown in Fig. 3. This dynamometer measures simultaneously the draught
and vertical force components and the resulting couple of the soil reaction on the imple-
ment. The dynamometer shown in Fig. 3 was designed to measure couples of up to
1260 Nm and exhibited cross sensitivity errors between the outputs of the horizontal
and vertical force measuring channels of 2.3 “/, and 1.1 y/, respectively. Full details of this
device are given by Godwin.
(ii) Non-symmetrical implements, e.g. mouldboard plough bodies, are mounted in a dynamo-
meter suspension system, similar to that described by Rogers4 and shown in Fig. 4. This
system allows the draught, vertical and side forces and the resulting couples to be com-
puted from the outputs from the 6 individual tension/compression dynamometers.
The system shown in Fig. 4 was designed to measure draught forces up to 3.5 kN and
vertical and side forces up to 1.5 kN. The largest cross-sensitivity error found during
calibration with this device was due to the effect of the draught force on the vertical force
sensing dynamometers. This resulted in a 6”,< difference between the vertical force
computed from the dynamometer outputs and the applied vertical force.
(iii) Tyres and wheels can also be mounted on a carriage as shown in Fig. I. The thrust and
side reaction of steered wheels and the couple in the horizontal plane are measured using
the extended octagonal ring transducer described in (i) above, mounted in the horizontal
plane.
102 SIMPLE LOW (‘OS I’ SOIL BIN

Fig. 4. Static calibration of the 6 dynamometer suspension system

The power unit is a standard 30 kw tractor supported on 3 anti-vibration mountings, a winch

drum replacing one of the drive wheels. A shear bolt mechanism located in the wheel centre of the
winch drum protects the system from overloads. Clutch, brake and differential lock control is
achieved using solenoid activated pneumatic cylinders. The solenoid valves are activated from a
smgle switch in the control room and de-activated by micro-switches on the side walls of the soil
bin. This power unit offers the following advantages.
(i) Sufficient power reserve and inertia to prevent excessive speed fluctuation as the imple-
ment engages the soil.
(ii) Through the use of a large diameter drum, changes in effective diameter as the cable is
wound in can be avoided without the need for a purpose built sheathing mechanism.
(iii) A readily matched power unit and transmission.
(iv) Use of the tractor external hydraulic system for secondary activities within the soil bin.
(v) The potential for using a used tractor and therefore reducing the capital cost.
The speed of the carriage is monitored using a magnetic impulse tachometer mounted adjacent
to a notched pulley in the winch system. Typical speed fluctuations are i 1.5 “o from the mean
when a mouldboard plough body with a draught force of 2 kN is operated at I.6 m/s. For this
particular case, it took 1 s for the carriage to attain its constant working speed when accelerated
from rest,

3. Soil handling and preparation

A standard self-propelled pavement roller with a vibratory attachment is used to compact the
soil to required densities. This offers advantages over surface vibrators, Osmar? and drop
hammers, Boyd and Nalezny“ when preparing large areas of soils which have cohesive as well as
frictional properties. Uniform densities up to 1.75 Mg m3 can be achieved by compacting a sandy
loam soil in 50 mm deep layers by subjecting them to a given number of passes of the roller with
or without vibration. To ensure a satisfactory bond between successive soil layers, the surface
of each freshly compacted layer is scored to a depth of 10 mm using narrow tines before placing
the next layer.
R. J. GODWIN; G. SPOOR; J. KILGOUR 103

TABLE II
Methods of soil preparation and the resulting soil bulk densities

Treatment 1 No compaction, light digging of disturbed soil and levelling

Treatment 2 Compaction of the soil in 50 mm layers by 4 passes of the roller
Treatment 3 Compaction of the soil in 50 mm layers by 4 passes of the roller, the last 2 passes with the vibration
engaged

Uniformity of soil bulk densities

(a) With depth and position along soil bin for soil preparation
Treatment 2

Mean dry bulk density, Mg/m3

Depth, mm Section

1 2 3
_
100 1.48 (0.02) 1.5 1 (0.02) I ,49 (0.02)
150 1.49 (0.02) 1.50 (0.02) I ,47 (0.02)

(b) With depth for soil preparation Treatments 1

and 3

Mean dry bulk density. A4g/m3

Depth, mm
Treatment I Treatment 2
_____ -____ --.__--
100 1.10 (0.02) 1.64 (904)
150 1.10 (0.02) 1.64 (0.05)
I
Figures in brackets indicate standard deviation

Following a test, the soil is removed from the test section of the soil bin into the holding
section, using a winched blade (see Fig. 2). The method of replacement in 50 mm deep layers is
dependent upon the labour available and the volume and workability of soil involved. Manual
placement is used with friable soil. This is then levelled to the required 50 mm depth using a
blade. The final compaction operation produces a sufficiently level finish for no additional
levelling to be required.
For mouldboard plough tests, the soil is prepared with a wooden box placed along one side of
the bin. This box is removed after soil processing to leave an open furrow of the desired depth.
An inclined wooden board is placed at the edge of the open furrow to simulate the previous
furrow slice.

4. Soil bin performance

Soil bulk densities and their distribution with depth and distance along the soil bin are given
in Table II for a sandy loam soil. These densities were obtained using a hand held gamma-ray
meter, similar to that described by Soane et ~1.~which was calibrated against gravimetric measure-
ments for the same soil. It can be seen that the soil bulk density conditions produced by the 3
treatments are uniform.
104 SIMPLE LOW C‘OST SOIL I%tY

The minimum length of processed soil for each test is dependent upon the forward speed.
A length of between 2.5 and 3.0 m has been found satisfactory for speeds up to I .6 m/s. Addi-
tional lengths of bin wall are required for running the carriage up to speed and as a holding
section for the soil prior to re-processing. The former need only be rails as they do not contain
soil..
Using a bin width of 0.8 m and manually preparing a 2.5 m section of sandy loam to a depth of
0.3 m, one man can perform 30 tests/day with soil in the uncompacted state, treatment I (Table
II). For more compact conditions, treatments 2 and 3 (Table II) a 2-man team can conduct tests
and reprocess soil four times in an 8-h working day.
With wider spacings between the bin walls, multiple tests can be conducted for each soil
preparation, e.g. two 300 mm wide plough body tests may be achieved with a 1.4 m spacing
between the walls.

5. Discussion and conclusion

The soil bin described has utilized, wherever possible, commercially available equipment and.
in its initial form, required, in addition to the building, cnly the soil retaining walls, carriage,
roller and tractor. It was, therefore, relatively inexpensive. The first tractor used was removed
from normal agricultural duties and controlled manually. As demand for the facility increased,
it has been necessary to have a tractor permanently mounted with the remote controls described
earlier.
The soil uniformity produced using th.e techniques described has been very satisfactory
providing that there is adequate labour for soil preparation.
In the 6 years of use, the soil bin has provided very reliable data for studies on individual tines,
multiple tines and coulters, mouldboard plough bodies, model subsoilers and tyres.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank D. W. M. Pullen, G. C. Johnson, C. Watts and C. de1 Rosario for the
development that they have made to the soil bin during various research programmes. The assistance
given by D. G. Harris and his staff who constructed the soil bin is gratefully acknowledged.

REFERENC‘ES

’ U.S.D.A. The National Tillage Machinery Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural
Research Service. July 1974
2 Siemens, J. C.; Weber, J. A. Soil bin and model studies on tillage tests and traction devices. J. Terra-
mech., 1964 1 (2) 56-67
’ Godwin, R. J. An extended octagonal ring transducerfbr use in tillage studies. J. agric. Engng Res.. I975
20 (4) 347-352
’ Rogers, 0. J. J. Soil loads on plough bodies. Part I. Methods of measurement. Tech. Memo. 105,
N.I.A.E., Silsoe, 1955
’ &man, M. S. The mechanics ofsoil catting blades. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Durham,
1964
6 Boyd, R. J.; Nalezny, C. L. A model of vibratory soil cuttitlg. Society of Automotive Engineers, Paper
No. 670750. Presented at the Farm Construction and Industrial Machinery Meeting. Milwaukee,
1967
’ Soane, B. D.; Campbell, D. J.; Herkes, S. M. Hand-held gamma-ray transmission equipment ./br the
measurement of bulk densities offield soils, J. agric. Engng Res., 1971 16 (2) 146-156