Doherty, Hayden (2024) Laboratory Simulation of Agricultural Soil Density Reduction and Pore Increase by Lifting and Raising Field Soil Elevation. [USQ Project]
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Abstract
Water, retained or stored in the soil between rainfalls, is vital for all plants to ensure adequate and ongoing supply of water provided to the demand of their roots. Soil water retention curves, a curve of soil moisture as a function of matric potential or root suction, are constructed to characterise the amount of pressure and energy required to hold water within the voids of a soil at different moisture contents. The retention curve is influenced by a wide variety of soil factors, including shrinkage, swelling, density, compaction, porosity and tillage, which all have an impact on the energy required to hold water within the void structure of the soil. This curve has the potential to determine a range of agricultural soil properties such as field, water retention and plant available water capacities. However, little success has been achieved when trying to develop such curves in the field.
This study will look to create soil water retention curves in a laboratory setting based on such soil parameters as void ratio, moisture content and density, using results of soil consolidation tests. The methodology comprises of two stages, experimental and analytical. Experimentally, soil mechanic tests were performed on two types of soil to determine soil particle size distribution, classification, specific gravity, permeability, compaction and consolidation. Analytically, these experimental results were used to determine the soil water retention function mainly based on the hypothesis that the soil void-ratio as a function of consolidation pressure can be correlated to the soil volumetric moisture content as a function of the soil matric pressure potential or suction. The early results achieved in this study are promising rendering further research and development in this field.
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| Item Type: | USQ Project |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Agriculture and Environmental Science (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Alehossein, Habib |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Agricultural) |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Oct 2025 04:04 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Oct 2025 04:04 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | soil water retention curves |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/53034 |
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