Assessment of wheel traffic effect on soil compaction using a soil core sampler

Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate the relative physical properties of soil samples collected with a manual sampling method and a tractor‐mounted portable soil core sampler under uncompacted and compacted soil conditions, and to determine the compaction depth resulting from successive passes of a tractor wheel. The compaction of soils was induced by one, three and five successive passes of the tractor wheel. The physical properties of soil samples obtained by both methods were similar at 10–15 cm soil depth. However, the methods produced significantly different results (P < 0.01) at 30–35 cm soil depth. Traffic applications resulted in a significant effect on both soil bulk density and hydraulic conductivity at both depths. The increasing number of passes resulted in increasing penetration resistance values at the depth of ploughing. In contrast, below the 25 cm depth, passes did not affect soil compaction compared to that at shallow depths. The results revealed that the portable sampler device could safely be used to collect soil cores. However, in clay soils having a high potential for compaction, the device needs to be supplemented by extra weight.