• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.30 no.2 s.109
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• pp.127-133
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• 2005

Precision tillage is designed to till lands variably according to their firmness. Therefore, it is necessary to measure soil firmness in fields and present it in a form with which the variable tillage on be performed. Such forms may be classified into two categories: sensor-based and map-based forms. The map-based approach appears to be inevitable until the technology develops high enough to secure the sensor-based approaches. The first step for map-based precision tillage may be to develop a tillage recommendation map. In this study, a tractor-mountable automatic soil firmness measurement system was developed to construct a cone index map. The system is comprised of three ASAE Standard cone penetrometers and a hydraulic unit for controlling operation of the penetrometers. The system is designed to conduct stop-and-go measurements in fields. The measurements from the three penetrometers are transferred to a microcomputer and the average cone index was calculated. This average cone index was taken as soil firmness of the location where the measurement was made. The cone indices thus determined were used to construct a cone index map using the ArcView software. The system also displays the soil penetration resistance, cone index and soil depth as the cone penetrates into the soil. The field performance of the system was evaluated and the cone index maps at different depths were also presented.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.9-18
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the soil cone index (CI) on the tractor work load. A load measurement system was constructed for measuring the field data. The field sites were divided into grids (3×3 m), and the cone index was measured at the center of each grid. The work load measured through the plow tillage was matched with the soil cone index. The matched data were grouped at 600 kPa intervals based on the cone index. The work load according to the cone index was analyzed for engine, axle, and traction load, respectively. The results showed that when the cone index increased, engine torque decreased by up to 9%, and the engine rotational speed and brake-specific fuel consumption increased by up to 5% and 3%, respectively. As the cone index increased, the traction and tillage depth were inversely proportional to the cone index, decreasing 7% and 18%, respectively and the traction and tillage depth were directly proportional to the cone index, increasing 13% and 12%, respectively. Thus, it was found that the cone index had a major influence on the engine, axle, and traction loads of the tractor.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.205-210
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• 2009

It has been known from Willoughby's empirical equation that rating cone index can be determined if wheel sinkage and slip of a vehicle can be measured on soil surface. A field data of wheel sinkage and slip was collected from two tractors of different sizes on gravelly sand and gravelly loamy sand. Using the data, rating cone index of the soil was estimated. The estimated rating cone index demonstrated that it could be determined in real time by measuring wheel sinkage and slip. It was also demonstrated statistically that the same soil strength could be obtained under the same soil conditions regardless of the vehicle platforms used for the wheel sinkage and slip measurements.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.195-202
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• 2000

This study was conducted to recognize a possibility that cone index can be used as a means of evaluating the tillage workability. Cone indexes were measured every 24 hours after rainfall at the experimental plots, and the rotary and plowing operations were conducted at the same time. The workability was evaluated on a basis of three categories of good, fair and poor depending on the quality of the performed works. Although the workability was affected by many factors such as soil type, moisture content ground slope and weather condition, the duration and amount of rainfall were of most influence. Results of the study showed that a good workability was resulted from the cone indexes greater than an average of 552 kPa for rotary operations and 671 kPa for plowing operations. Fair work was obtained with cone indexes greater than an average of 331 kPa for rotary operations and 459 kPa for plowing operations. The cone indexes less than an average of 171 kPa and 149 kPa resulted in poor workabilities for rotary and plowing operations, respectively. The experimental results may provide a general guideline for evaluating the tillage workability by cone index.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 1987

The objective of this study is to develop a soil hardness tester which can estimate tillage resistance with tae travelling cone-penetrometer. For the study, a series of tests was performed using the cone penetrating in the horizontal direction. Based on the tests above, soil hardness was represented by travelling cone-index vs depth of cone penetration, travelling speed and moisture contents of the soil Resistance characteristics obtained from the experiments were compared with those by a vertical cone-penetrometer and the Yamanaka's soil hardness tester. Following conclusions were made from the study. 1. 8 to 9 peaks per one meter were detected in the resistance curve of cone penetration regardless of the travelling speed of cone-penetrometer when it penetrated the soil in the horizontal direction. This phenomenon seemed to be a similar one noticed in shearing pitch of plowing. 2. Cone index increased as travelling speed increased from 0.08m/sec to 0.5m/sec. 3. Linear relationship was found between the cone indices measured by the travelling coe-penetrometer and Yamanaka's hardness tester. 4. Increasing rate of the cone indices measured by vertical cone-penetrometer decreased as the depth of soil increased while the cone indices by the travelling cone-pentrometer increased linearly.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.344-346
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• 2011

This study was conducted in order to compare between Yamanaka hardness (YA), hand-push type, and penetrometer cone index (PE), on 16 upland sites. Yamanaka hardness had significant correlation with penetrometer cone index. The regression equation was $PE=1.80^*YA+0.16$ ($R^2=0.91^{***}$, N=16) with the applicative YA range of 0.1-1.3 MPa.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.2234-2241
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• 2015

This study has been undertaken to develop a relationship between the shear strength coefficients and the cone index. The theoretic mathematical equations for the relationship were rigorously investigated, and then a Artificial Neural Network(ANN) analysis was adapted to enhance the reliability of the investigation. The theoretical investigation involved various assumptions resulting in the significant error involvement of geotechnical behaviors of ground. Therefore, a model using the ANN has been learned to enhance the prediction of the cone index form the shear strength parameters. Site investigation reports from various construction fields were used for ANN model learning. The results of the study show that the model predicts the cone index from the shear strength parameters of soils very well. The further study that is undertaking has a potential promise of the generalized prediction technique for the cone index from the soil parameters.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.387-392
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• 2010

This study was performed to design and to construct a digital soil cone index(CI) measuring device replacing conventional analog type devices. The device developed in the study consisted of a load cell, a rotary encoder and a motor with a decelerator as its main parts. The cone speed was controlled lower than 3.0 m/s which keeps the standard suggested by the ASABE S313.3 specification. The experiment was conducted in a soil bin system as well as in various fields. The CI data measured by the developed device were compared with those by an existing measurement device(SC900, Spectrum, USA). Based on the experiments at various field conditions, the CI measuring characteristic of the device was quite similar to that of the conventional device within a acceptable $R^2$ range of more than 0.5(mean=0.76). It was concluded that the digital cone index measuring device was an effective and comprehensive sensor for measuring soil strength.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1085-1101
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• 2015

Changes in substructure conditions, such as ballast fouling and subgrade settlement may cause the railway quality deterioration, including the differential geometry of the rails. The objective of this study is to develop and apply a hybrid cone penetrometer (HCP) to characterize the railway substructure. The HCP consists of an outer rod and an inner mini cone, which can dynamically and statically penetrate the ballast and the subgrade, respectively. An accelerometer and four strain gauges are installed at the head of the outer rod and four strain gauges are attached at the tip of the inner mini cone. In the ballast, the outer rod provides a dynamic cone penetration index (DCPI) and the corrected DCPI (CDCPI) with the energy transferred into the rod head. Then, the inner mini cone is pushed to estimate the strength of the subgrade from the cone tip resistance. Laboratory application tests are performed on the specimen, which is prepared with gravel and sandy soil. In addition, the HCP is applied in the field and compared with the standard dynamic cone penetration test. The results from the laboratory and the field tests show that the cone tip resistance is inversely proportional to the CDCPI. Furthermore, in the subgrade, the HCP produces a high-resolution profile of the cone tip resistance and a profile of the CDCPI in the ballast. This study suggests that the dynamic and static penetration tests using the HCP may be useful for characterizing the railway substructure.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.207-214
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• 2007

Based on the profiles of cone index with depth, physical properties of hardpan in selected rice fields were measured and analyzed in the study. An error correction algorithm removing a random measurement error from raw CI profile data was introduced in the study. The properties of hardpan included the shape, the thickness and the rice root growing layer. The analysis of physical properties of hardpan in the rice fields showed that the type of hardpan could be classified into 6 categories. The thickness of hardpan ranged from 6 cm up to 41 cm and the average hardness of hardpan was analyzed to be from 1.1 MPa through 3.2 MPa in Cone index.