LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS INTO SOIL FAILURE UNDER VIBRATORY TILLAGE TOOLS

Experiments were conducted to study the soil failure and soil disturba nce of sandy loam soil under vibratory tillage tools in a soil bin. Th e experimental results showed a brittle failure characteristic with a crescent shaped soil failure area. There were cracks in radial and tra nsverse directions in the cresent shaped failure area. Two main zones (deep layer and near surface) of soil disturbance were observed due to the action of the vibratory tool. It was observed that the size of so il fragment decreased with increase in velocity ratio.