CONE RESISTANCE MEASURING SYSTEM FOR GENERATING CONE RESISTANCE DISTRIBUTION MAP

To investigate soil physical conditions affected by soil compaction or tillage. a computer controlled cone resistance measuring system and v isualization software for generating cone resistance distribution maps were developed. A cone resistance measuring system was developed so t hat the coordinates of the measuring point were chosen at any location in a 1.5 x 2 m horizontal x-y plane. Then, using this system, a serie s of cone resistances with x, y, z coordinates was measured. A portabl e computer was selected to measure and acquire the series of cone resi stances. This computer was used to set the location of the cone, to op erate a strain amplifier for measuring cone resistance and to measure the location of data. The visualization software generates two- and th ree-dimensional maps. x-z, y-z and x-y cross section are generated in two-dimensional maps. Plane and view point may be selected from a thre e-dimensional map. Using this system, cone resistance of 1.5 m width x 2.0 m length x 0.6 m depth in several fields was measured. Cone resis tance distribution maps of two and three dimensions were generated by the visualization software. It was concluded that two- and three-dimen sional distribution maps gave us information that we could not obtain from a map of one cross section.