Shear strength of compacted soil: effects on splash erosion by single water drops

Abstract The persistence of soil compaction, caused by farmers' vehicles (tractors wheelings) during the dry season, can affect splash distribution and soil erosion so that surface flow starts at an earlier stage than between the wheelings. To investigate the effects of soil compaction on splash distribution, a dry clayey agricultural soil was compacted in steel cups with a hydraulic piston, and the shear strength was measured with a fall‐cone penetrometer. Two cups were compacted in the same manner, using one to measure the shear strength and the second for splash erosion measurements. A laboratory splash board of 1 m radius, divided into 13 concentric compartments, was used to collect the splashed particles. The water drop diameter used was 4·9 mm falling onto a soil splash cup of 50·2 cm2 area from 8 m height with a terminal velocity of 8·8 m s−1. The spatial distribution of the splashed particles, for different soil compactions, fitted the fundamental splash distribution function (FSDF) model better than the exponential function. The shapes of the curves of this function demonstrated the importance of the source area size; the smaller the cup diameter the better the spatial distribution is expressed by an exponential function. In addition, variability in soil surface conditions contributes to variation in splash characteristics. Detachment rates and average radial distance followed second degree relationships in terms of shear strength. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.