ULTRASONIC WAVES THROUGH AGRICULTURAL SOILS TO DETERMINE THEIR COMPACTION AND POROSITY LEVEL

Compaction is one of the major causes of the physical degradation of agricultural soils. The traffic of more and more heavy machines leads to a decrease of the porosity at both the topsoil and subsoil levels. This has negative impacts in agricultural and environmental contexts such as the reduction of soil fertility and water infiltration. This project aims at characterizing in a fast and non-destructive way the state of compaction of an agricultural soil at a local scale using ultrasonic wave propagation. Acoustic signatures of soil samples will be correlated to their compaction level and their porosity distribution. This should allow a better comprehension of the compaction process and help to define critical threshold. As a result, this methodology could assist in taking restrictive measures such as load limitation of agricultural engines and implementing remedial methods. This poster presents the experimental protocol implement for this research.