94-2 Non-Invasive Acoustic-Seismic Sensing of Soils.

See more from this Division: S01 Soil Physics
See more from this Session: Innovation: Novel Measurement Methods: I
Monday, November 1, 2010: 1:30 PM
Hyatt Regency Long Beach, Shoreline B, First Floor
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William Whalley1, Dick Jenkins2, Keith Attenborough3, Shahram Taherzadeh3 and Bruce Grieve4, (1)Soil Science, Rothamsted Research, St Albans, United Kingdom
(2)Delta-T Devices, Cambridge, United Kingdom
(3)Department of Design, Development, Environment and Materials, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
(4)Syngenta Sensors University Innovation Centre, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new collaborative project between Open University, Rothamsted Research, University of Manchester and Delta-T Devices. A method for non-invasive sensing of soil structure and the mechanical strength of soil would permit better decisions about appropriate soil management practices. The lack of suitable methods to measure soil physical characteristics directly that are relevant to crop growth and soil environmental function (e.g. absorption of high intensity rainfall) are barriers to the development of approaches for sustainable soil management.

The paper describes the initial soil characterisation, including the effects of deformation on soil hydraulic properties. The elastic properties of the soils will be determined under tri-axial testing incorporating compression (P) and shear (S) wave transmission measurements. We present initial results.

See more from this Division: S01 Soil Physics
See more from this Session: Innovation: Novel Measurement Methods: I