Penetrometers are used to quantify soil bearing capacity in civil engineering and to evaluate mechanical resistance of agricultural soils, which is an indicator of soil compaction and of root growth. This paper reports the development, components and functionality of a constant-rate cone penetrometer, as well as its application to measure soil compaction. The force is measured by a load cell, the distance is measured by a potentiometer, and data acquisition and storage are performed by an electronic board. The equipment was tested in agricultural field transects with profile variability and experimental plots with compaction variability, generating soil penetration resistance information with a resolution of 5 mm, from the soil surface down to a depth of 0.8 m. The equipment showed good performance in its usage and data acquisition and storage of soil resistance. The data clearly show how the soil penetration resistance changes in depth and with soil compaction state, paving the way to study soil horizons distribution and immediate and residual compaction.
penetrometer; mechanical resistance; soil compaction
