Soil Physics, Erosion and Conservation
shamsollah ayoubi; zanyar feizi; Mohammad reza Mosaddeghi; Ali asghaar besaltpour
Abstract
Investigating the application of biochar, bentonite clay and polyvinyl acetate polymer on some mechanical properties of sand deposits IntroductionWind erosion seriously threatens bare soils and is recognized as a global environmental problem; however, little is known about this process in comparison ...
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Investigating the application of biochar, bentonite clay and polyvinyl acetate polymer on some mechanical properties of sand deposits IntroductionWind erosion seriously threatens bare soils and is recognized as a global environmental problem; however, little is known about this process in comparison to rainfall or tillage erosion. Due to the heavy costs of controlling wind erosion and the difficulty of detecting which control measure is the most effective, the correct selection of technical methods is indispensable for a suitable land management. Since the last decades, the methods of sand stabilization studied are diverse, but basically based on wind speed reduction by including chemical, mechanical and biological methods. One of the most important methods of stabilizing sandy soils is the use of mulches. In recent years, due to the disproportionate development of residential in peri-urban areas, humans use polymeric and oil mulches to stabilize sandy soils. Therefore, in this research, the effects of bentonite clay, polyvinyl acetate and palm biochar on reducing soil erosion by wind in peri-urban areas were investigated.Methods and Materials Three selected treatments were compared with a control plot without any treatment: palm biochar, polyvinyl acetate and bentonite clay. In order to prepare the palm biochar, palm remnants including the trunk, foliage and palm leaves were poured into the mill and turned into small pieces. The fragments were passed through a 2 mm sieve. The remnants transmitted from the sieve were poured into the trays of the discharger unit and placed inside a discharger at 350°C for 4 hours, and the biochemicals were prepared to the extent necessary for this research. Polyvinyl acetate treatment was provided by Isfahan Resin Co. and the bentonite clay by the Derin Kashan enterprise (both of them from Isfahan, Iran). To apply the treatments, each of them was mixed with a certain proportion of water per m2: i) 20 g l-1of palm biochar treatments; ii) 7 g l-1 of polyvinyl acetate treatment; and, iii) 20 g l-1 of bentonite clay.In order to apply the treatments, 36 galvanized trays with a same size (5×35×105 cm) were prepared and filled up from the air to the top edge with sand. After 1, 2, 4, 10 and 20 weeks some mechanical and physical properties were measured in laboratory. Results and Discussion A significant difference was observed among different treatments in terms of the impact on aggregates formations and stabilities at different moments. The application of bentonite clay treatment significantly increased the stability of formed aggregates compared to control treatment. The rest of treatments showed lower aggregability. The mean weigh diameter (MDW) for the control plot was 0.28 mm. The lowest MWD was obtained by the palm biochar treatment, which increased by 20.1, 14.9, 9, 2.5 and 1.6% after the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks of application, respectively. Polyvinyl acetate treatment increased MDW by 65.1, 61.6, 58.8, 41.9 and 31.5% after the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks, respectively. The highest MWD was obtained by bentonite clay treatment, which generated an increase by 77.8, 71, 65.1, 59.9 and 49.7% in the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks, respectively). The images from thin sections of bentonite clay and polyvinyl acetate treatments showed that soil particles were joined to form larger aggregates in all of cases.No significant differences was observed for hydraulic conductivity at different times were observed. There was a significant difference among different treatments at different monitoring periods. The application of bentonite clay significantly reduced the fractal dimension. On the contrary, the lowest effect was registered for the palm biochar treatment. The effect of bentonite clay treatment on soils was higher than other selected treatments showing a reduction by 10.6, 9.7, 8.7 6.7 and 6.3% in the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks, respectively. The impact of different treatments on shear resistance showed that the application of the selected treatments significantly increased the shear strength in all the cases. Among the selected treatments, the effect of bentonite clay treatment on shear resistance was higher than other treatments. The lowest and the highest shear resistance were registered for the palm biochar and bentointe clay, respectively. Palm biochar increased shear resistance by 9.3, 9.3, 8, 5.3 and 3.3% compared to the control plot in the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks after its application. On the other, bentonite clay registered the highest improvement in shear resistance by 44.7, 44.7, 42.7, 37.3 and 31.3% in the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks, respectively. Keywords: Mulches, Bentonite, Clay, Biochar, Palm, Mechanical properties
R. Montaghami Rad; E. Ahmadi; S. Zarif Neshat
Abstract
Introduction Storage conditions of product after harvest and during storage are important factors that affect the quality parameters of the products such as color and mechanical properties. The observance of effective issues on the fruit quality, ...
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Introduction Storage conditions of product after harvest and during storage are important factors that affect the quality parameters of the products such as color and mechanical properties. The observance of effective issues on the fruit quality, such as weather conditions, harvest methods, timing of harvesting, temperature of storage and time of storage in maintaining of olive quality and reduce waste, will be very effective. Performance of mechanical testing and mechanical and colorimetric properties of products has an important role in study of qualitative and quantitative properties during storage. Moreover, the study of color and mechanical properties of products, such as olive is necessary, for use in machine design for processing and recovery processing lines in order to reduce waste. Materials and Methods In this study, two types of olives, bitter and sweetened with 1.5% NaOH were harvested and tested to study the effect of storage time on their color and mechanical properties. Olive fruits were stored in two temperatures (environmental conditions with 25 and refrigerator with 4) for 3 months. During this period, experiments were carried out at the intervals of 10 days. Universal testing machine and color meter devices were used for determining the mechanical properties and the color of olives, respectively. By performing a factorial experiment under completely randomized design, the effects of independent factors including storage time, storage temperature and type of olive on the measured properties (shear modulus, shear force, shear energy, modulus of elasticity, penetration force, yield strain, L*, a*, b*, h and c*) were studied. Results and Discussion The results of analysis of variance for shear modulus showed that the main effect of olive type, temperature, time of storage and the dual effects of these parameters were significant at the level of one percent. Analysis of variance for shear force showed that the effect of type, temperature, time of storage and interaction effects of type× temperature and type× time of storage were significant at the level of one percent. The results of data analysis for shear energy showed that the independent parameters, including the type, temperature, time of storage and the effects of dual and triple of their were significant at the level of one percent. According to the graphical results, shear modulus and shear energy of any type of olive on the thirtieth day with the fast steep increased. Water surface evaporation, changes in the texture of olive and a sharp drop in humidity are reasons for the sudden increase of shear modulus and shear energy on the thirtieth day. With increasing time of storage, shear strength and other mechanical properties for bitter and sweet olive increased. This result conformed to the results of Lavassani et al and Nanos et al. Analysis of variance of mechanical properties for olive fruit in penetration test showed that the effect of type and interaction effects of type and time of storage on modulus of elasticity were not significant. Analysis of variance of yield strain showed that the only effect of type was significant at the level of one percent. The results of mean comparison with Duncan test showed that during storage, penetration force and modulus of elasticity for bitter and sweet olive increased. This result correlated with the results of De Castro et al. The penetration force, yield strain and modulus of elasticity of sweet olives during storage were higher in comparison to bitter olives. The penetration force and modulus of elasticity of bitter and sweet samples stored at 4 were higher in comparison to the same sample in temperature of 25. This result correlated with the results of Nanos et al. Analysis of variance of colorimetric properties showed that the interaction effects of type and time of storage on L* were not significant. The effects of type and time of storage on a* and all effects on b* and c* were significant at 1% probability level. The results of mean comparison showed that the brightness and yellow of bitter and sweet samples increased with increasing time of storage compared to the first, tenth and twentieth days. The increase in L* and b* color characteristics correlated with the results of Piga et al. Color characteristics L*, b* and c* of bitter samples in each of the temperatures and days of storage were higher in comparison to sweet samples. In addition, the values of L*, b* and c* of bitter and sweet samples stored at 25 were higher in comparison to the same samples in temperature of 4. Conclusion The results of mechanical and colorimetric tests showed that by increasing the storage time, stiffness, shear strength and other mechanical parameters increased in both types of olives, and the L* and b* values of the samples were higher in comparison to the first, tenth and twentieth days. Bitter and sweet samples stored at 4 temperature displayed higher stiffness, modulus of elasticity, shear modulus, shear force and shear energy values and lower L*, b* and c* in comparison with the same samples stored at 25 temperature.
Negin Sohrabi; Hekmat Rabbani; Rashid Gholami
Volume 36, Issue 2 , March 2014, , Pages 93-104
Abstract
Knowing physical and mechanical properties of the flowers is one of the important factors in designing, harvesting and post harvesting machines. A completely randomized design with factorial test was used in this research. Effect of shear speed, flower diameter, blade mode and shear angle on shear strength ...
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Knowing physical and mechanical properties of the flowers is one of the important factors in designing, harvesting and post harvesting machines. A completely randomized design with factorial test was used in this research. Effect of shear speed, flower diameter, blade mode and shear angle on shear strength and shear energy per stem area unit and effect of picking speed and petal diameter on petal and sepal on the tensile strength and energy consumed per unit of area were determined for Rosa damascena Mill. Shear strength was decreased by increasing shear angle from zero to 25 and 45 degree but it was not significant. Energy per unit of stem area and elastic modulus were decreased by increasing shear angle and it was significant at 5% probability level. Increasing shear speed from 150 to 250 mm/min was not significant on decreasing shear strength and elastic modulus but was significant at 5% probability level for 350 mm/min. Energy per unit of stem area was decreased by increasing shear speed. Shear strength, elastic modulus and shear energy per stem area unit were decreased by increasing flower diameter. Two treatments (Picking speed and flower diameter) were not significant on the tensile strength and picking energy per unit for both picking petal and sepal.
