Thesis (M.S. in civil engineering)--Washington State University, December 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. / Dr. J. David Frost, Committee Chair ; Dr. G. Wayne Clough, Committee Co-Chair ; Dr. William F. Marcuson III, Committee Member ; Dr. Paul W. Mayne, Committee Member ; Dr. Susan Burns, Committee Member.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The soil management systems involve changes in soil physico-hydrical properties. The objective of this study was (i) characterize the soil physico-hydrical properties in the layer 0-5 cm for different soil management systems in the Cândido Brum watershed, (ii) build a map with the spatial variability of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), (iii) estimate the Ks from other soil physico-hydrical properties and (iv) test the reliability of others pedotransfer functions for Ks found in the literature. The study was conducted in the watershed Cândido Brum, Brazil, which predominate the soil management systems native pasture, native forest, conventional tillage, minimum tillage and no-tillage. Orthogonal contrasts were performed between groups of soil management systems, which compared the effect of soil cultivation, the type of vegetation and bovine trampling, conservation practice and permanent soil cover. Determinations of soil bulk density, porosity, size particles, organic carbon, degree of flocculation, aggregate stability, Ks, air permeability, retention and availability of water and shear stress of the soil were made. Besides being used for the comparison of management systems, the water-physical properties used as input variables for the development of pedotransfer functions for Ks, which used the stepwise method in the selection of variables, and to test the reliability of pedotransfer functions found in the literature. The map of spatial variability of Ks was constructed from data interpolation using kriging. The soils of the watershed under crops had degraded structure, with low organic matter and low aggregates stability. Soil with native pasture had reduced the macroporosity, the Ks and air permeability in relation to other soil management systems. Conservation practices were effective in increasing the retention and vailability of soil water in relation to conventional tillage. The variables that represent the structure of the soil were more accurate in estimating the Ks that the size particle variables. The pedotransfer functions found in the literature, usually developed for soils of temperate climate, were not reliable in the estimation of Ks of soils watershed. The range of spatial dependence of the values of Ks was 141 m. The map of spatial variability allowed the visualization of areas that need management practices and conservation of soil and water. / Os sistemas de manejo do solo implicam em mudanças nas suas propriedades físico-hídricas. O objetivo do estudo foi (i) caracterizar as propriedades físico-hídricas do solo na camada 0-5 cm para diferentes sistemas de manejo da microbacia hidrográfica Cândido Brum, (ii) construir um mapa com a variabilidade espacial da condutividade hidráulica do solo saturado (Ks), (iii) estimar a Ks a partir de outras propriedades físicohídricas do solo e (iv) testar a confiabilidade de funções de pedotransferência para a Ks encontradas na literatura. O estudo foi conduzido na microbacia Cândido Brum, em Arvorezinha-RS, em que predominam os sistemas de manejo campo nativo, mata nativa, preparo convencional, plantio direto e preparo mínimo. Foram realizados contrastes ortogonais entre grupos de sistemas de manejo do solo, em que se comparou o efeito do cultivo, do tipo de vegetação natural e pisoteio animal, das práticas conservacionistas e da cobertura permanente do solo. Foram realizadas determinações de densidade do solo, porosidade, granulometria, carbono orgânico, grau de floculação, estabilidade de agregados, Ks, permeabilidade ao ar, retenção e disponibilidade de água e tensão de cisalhamento do solo. As propriedades físico-hídricas serviram também como variáveis de entrada para a elaboração de funções de pedotransferência para a Ks e para testes de confiabilidade de funções de pedotransferência encontradas na literatura. O mapa de variabilidade espacial da Ks foi construído a partir da interpolação dos dados com o método da krigagem. Os solos cultivados da microbacia apresentaram estrutura degradada, com pouca matéria orgânica e baixa estabilidade de agregados. O uso com campo nativo reduziu a macroporosidade, a Ks e a permeabilidade ao ar em relação aos outros sistemas de manejo do solo. As práticas conservacionistas foram eficientes em aumentar a retenção e a disponibilidade de água no solo em relação ao preparo convencional. As variáveis que representam a estrutura do solo foram mais precisas em estimar a Ks que as variáveis granulométricas. As funções de pedotransferência encontradas na literatura, geralmente elaboradas para solos de clima temperado, não foram confiáveis na estimativa da Ks da microbacia. O alcance da dependência espacial dos valores de Ks foi de 141 m. O mapa de variabilidade espacial possibilitou a visualização de áreas que necessitam de práticas de manejo e conservação do solo e da água.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-06-15Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:21:01Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 calonego_jc_dr_botfca.pdf: 1279707 bytes, checksum: 1470e316359a508e4083ebbde08de70c (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Objetivou-se com este trabalho avaliar as alterações na estrutura do solo e nas qualidades físicas e físico-hídricas com a utilização de espécies de cobertura com sistema radicular agressivo e volumoso, em esquemas de rotação de culturas em sistema semeadura direta, com o intuito de avaliar a possibilidade desse manejo ser indicado para substituir operações onerosas como a utilização de escarificadores mecânicos. As rotações de culturas utilizadas e repetidas por três anos consecutivos, em sistema semeadura direta, envolveram o cultivo de triticale e girassol no outono-inverno, associados com o cultivo de milheto, sorgo forrageiro e crotalária júncea, como plantas de cobertura, antecedendo a soja. Além disso, comparou-se o efeito dessas seqüências de culturas com o tratamento envolvendo a escarificação mecânica do solo. O experimento foi conduzido na Fazenda Experimental Lageado (Botucatu-SP), nos anos agrícolas de 2003/2004, 2004/2005 e 2005/2006. O delineamento experimental foi o de blocos ao acaso com quatro repetições em esquema de parcelas subdivididas. Foram consideradas parcelas aquelas cultivadas com triticale e girassol, e subparcelas as cultivadas com milheto, sorgo e crotalária júncea, e também as manejadas com escarificador. A escarificação do solo foi realizada apenas em uma ocasião, ou seja, logo após a colheita das culturas de inverno do primeiro ano (Setembro de 2003), mantendo a área escarificada sempre em pousio entre os cultivos de inverno e verão. Foram coletadas amostras de raízes, tanto das espécies de cobertura como da soja, nas profundidades de 0-5, 5-10, 10-20, 20-40 e 40-60 cm. As raízes das plantas de cobertura foram amostradas antes da dessecação química. Já as raízes de soja foram amostradas na linha e na entrelinha de semeadura, quando a cultura apresentava-se no estádio R2 de desenvolvimento... / The objective of this study was to evaluate the alterations in soil structure and physical and physical-hydraulic properties with the use of different cover crop species with aggressive root system, in crop rotation under no-tillage, to evaluate the possibility of this management as an alternative to mechanical operations with chiseling, that are very expensive. The crop rotations used and replicated for three consecutive years, under no-tillage, had triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack) and sunflower (Helianthus annus) as Autumn-Winter crops. Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) were used in Spring, before the soybean. These management systems were compared with the mechanical chiseling. The research was carried out during three croping seasons (2003/2004, 2004/2005 and 2005/2006), in Botucatu, State of São Paulo, Brazil. The experiment was a complete randomized block with subdivided plots and four replications. The plots consisted of triticale and sunflower crops. The subplots consisted of pearl millet, forage sorghum and sunn hemp, besides of the mechanical chiseling management. The chiseling was carried out only, after the harvest of the Autumn-Winter crops in the first year (September of 2003), keeping the chiseling area without crops between the Autumn-Winter crops and the Summer crops. Cover crop roots and soybean roots were sampled in depths of 0-5, 5-10, 10-20, 20-40 and 40-60 cm. The cover crop roots were sampled before chemical desiccation. The soybean roots were sampled in the rows and in the spacing row of the tillage, in R2 stage of development. Soil bulk density, macro and micro porosity, total porosity and the curve of soil water retention were determined using undisturbed samples collected at depths of 0-5, 7.5-12.5, 15-20, 27.5-32.5 and 47.5-52.5 cm. The least limit water range (LLWR)... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

The tallgrass prairie has been severely reduced in size, making restoration important to maintain communities and functions of this ecosystem. A chronosequence approach was used to determine recovery of physical and biological soil properties. The recovery models of soil properties provided information to explain the variation in total C stock of the whole soil. Recovery models also provided information to design a competition experiment based on variation in whole soil conditions with land use history. The filter framework hypothesis is a useful concept for examining tallgrass prairie restoration; the theory states only a subset of species in the region will be able to establish in a specific location due to abiotic and biotic filters. With this theory in mind, I explored the influence of whole soil conditions as affected by land use history (cultivation/restoration) and how these conditions altered plant-plant competition dynamics of a dominant grass was studied. Belowground plant biomass recovers with cessation of tillage and restoration back to prairie, providing an organic matter source for microbial populations to recover and soil macroaggregates to form. This has potential to increase C sequestration in soils and decrease nitrous oxide efflux from soils. Intact 5.5 cm dia cores were collected to a depth of 10 cm in each field to determine physical and biological soil properties. Belowground plant, microbial community, and soil structure properties were modeled to recover coinciding with an increase in total C stock of the whole soil. Structural equation modeling revealed that soil structure physically protecting organic matter explained the most variation in soil carbon sequestration with restoration. Most of the total C was contained within the macroaggregate size fraction; within this fraction most of that C is within the microaggregates within macroaggregates fraction. Soil structure is critical for recovery of soil carbon stocks and the microaggregate within macroaggregate fraction is the best diagnostic of sequestered C. ANCOVA results indicate that while the slopes of nitrous oxide efflux rates did not differ, cumulative efflux differed, though this was not related to time since restoration. Dominant grasses, such as Andropogon gerardii, can exclude subordinate species from grassland restorations. Thus, understanding changes in competition dynamics of dominant grasses could help maintain richness in grassland restorations. There may be changes in competition dynamics with whole soil conditions affected by land use history (cultivation/restoration) as plant available nutrients will decrease, microbial populations will increase, and soil structure will improve with restoration from cultivation to prairie. Using 4 soil treatments of varying land use history with four species treatments, to determine if effects are general or species specific, pairwise substitution competition experiments were conducted. Relative A. gerardii response to competition was compared among soil and species treatments using competition intensity and competition importance indices utilizing final plant biomass, relative growth rate based on maximum height, and net absolute tiller appearance rate. The experiment was conducted over 18 weeks, allowing A. gerardii to flower. A significant intensity result and significant importance results utilizing biomass measurements indicated that the 16 year restored prairie soil cause A. gerardii to be a relatively better competitor against forbs than in all other soils except for cultivated soil, likely due to positive plant-soil feedbacks. Significant importance results utilizing tiller appearance rate indicated that the cultivated and 3 year restored prairie soil caused A. gerardii to be a relatively better competitor than in the 16 year restored and never cultivated native prairie soils, likely due to changes in whole soil conditions related to land use history. There were only general soil effects, as soil treatments did not interact with species treatments. A. gerardii was a relatively better competitor against non-leguminous forbs, indicating that legumes are a better competitor for a limiting nutrient than A. gerardii or that this species is not in direct competition with legumes.

Urbanisation will require significant expansion of underground infrastructure, which results in unavoidable ground displacements that affect the built environment. Predicting the interaction between a tunnel, the soil and existing structures remains an engineering challenge due to the highly non-linear behaviour of both the soil and the building. This thesis investigates the interaction between a surface structure and tunnelling-induced ground displacements. Specifically, novel three-dimensionally printed building models with brittle material behaviour, similar to masonry, were developed and tested in a geotechnical centrifuge. This enabled replication of building models with representative global stiffness values and realistic building features including strip footings, intermediate walls, a rough soil-structure interface, building layouts and façade openings. By varying building characteristics, the impact of structural features on both the soil and building response to tunnelling in dense sand was investigated. Results illustrate that the presence of surface structures considerably altered the tunnelling-induced soil response. The building-to-tunnel position notably influences the magnitude of soil displacements and causes localised phenomena such as embedment of building corners. An increase of the façade opening area and building length reduces the alteration of the theoretical greenfield settlements, in particular the trough width. Moreover, the impact of varying the building layout is discussed in detail. For several building-tunnel scenarios, building distortions are quantified and the crucial role of building features is demonstrated. Structures spanning the greenfield inflection point experienced more deformation than identical structures positioned in either sagging or hogging, and partitioning a structure either side of the greenfield inflection point is shown to lead to unconservative damage assessments. Results also quantify the significant extent to which structural distortions increase as façade openings and building length increases. Observed building damage and cracking patterns confirm the reported trends. The experimental results are used to evaluate the performance of available methods to assess the behaviour of buildings to tunnelling. Predictions ignoring soil-structure interaction are usually overly conservative, while approaches based on the relative stiffness of a structure and the soil result in inconsistent predictions, though some methods performed better than others. Practical improvements to consider structural details when assessing this tunnel-soil-structure system are finally proposed.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The tillage system, widely used in Rio Grande do Sul, provides improvements in plant soil environment. However, due to the traffic of machines in areas not have upturn the formation of subsurface layers with higher compaction states. To adapt the soil to crops is necessary practices of tillage. The implements used for these practices beyond breaking compacted layers end up breaking the soil aggregates, disrupting it. In lime and gypsum is added to the soil ions that can influence the approximation of soil particles and consequently the aggregation of this. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of liming and gypsum application practices in the area of tillage subjected to soil management operations, the physical properties. In June 2009 the establishment of the experiment was conducted, in Oxisol cultivated over ten years under no-tillage, was adopted split-split plot design, with different tillage operations of the allocated land in main plots (tillage + plowing, tillage + scarification and continuous tillage), lime rates in subplots (0, 2, 4 e 6 Mg ha-1) and rates of gypsum in subsubplots (0, 2, 4 e 6 Mg ha-1). Three years after the implementation of the trial trenches soil samples were collected and opened. Samples were collected at different layers (0 a 5, 5 a 10, 10 a 15, 15 a 20, 20 a 30 e 30 a 40 cm) in order to diagnose the effect of product in the soil profile. Soil core soil samples were collected to determine soil density, microporosity and macroporosity and total porosity of soil penetration resistance. Blocks with preserved structure were collected and manually defragmented in aggregate. With the aid of sieves were separated aggregates with diameters between 8 a 4,75 mm for analysis of aggregate stability in water and aggregates with diameters between 1 e 2 mm for laser diffraction analysis of microaggregates. Liming and gypsum altered the physical properties, without a decrease in macroporosity and total porosity, increased resistance to penetration, which decreased the area under the scarification. The aggregation of the soil was influenced by management practices and lime and gypsum. Smaller fractions of aggregates are more sensitive in diagnosing changes in soil structure, broken down by the Stability Aggregate Index for laser diffraction. / O sistema de plantio direto, amplamente utilizado no Rio Grande do Sul, proporciona melhorias no ambiente solo planta. Contudo, devido ao tráfego de máquinas em áreas não revolvidas, têm-se a formação de camadas subsuperficiais com maiores estados de compactação. Os implementos utilizados para romper as camadas compactadas acabam rompendo os agregados do solo, desestruturando-o. Na calagem e gessagem são introduzidos ao solo íons que podem influenciar na aproximação de suas partículas e, consequentemente, na agregação deste. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar os efeitos das práticas de calagem e gessagem nas propriedades físicas do solo em área de plantio direto submetida a diferentes operações de manejo de solo. Em junho de 2009, foi realizado a implantação do experimento em Latossolo Vermelho cultivado há mais de dez anos sob sistema de plantio direto. Foi adotado delineamento de parcelas subsubdivididas, com diferentes operações de preparo do solo alocadas nas parcelas principais (plantio direto + aração; plantio direto + escarificação; plantio direto contínuo), doses de calcário em subparcelas (0, 2, 4 e 6 Mg ha-1) e doses de gesso em subsubparcelas (0, 2, 4 e 6 Mg ha-1). Três anos após a implantação do experimento foram abertas trincheiras e coletadas amostras de solo em diferentes camadas (0 a 5, 5 a 10, 10 a 15, 15 a 20, 20 a 30 e 30 a 40 cm), a fim de diagnosticar o efeito dos tratamentos no perfil do solo. Com anéis volumétricos, foram coletadas amostras de solo para determinação da densidade do solo, microporosidade, macroporosidade e porosidade total do solo e resistência à penetração. Blocos com estrutura preservada foram coletados e desfragmentados manualmente em agregados. Com auxílio de peneiras, foram separados agregados com diâmetro entre 8 a 4,75 mm para análise de estabilidade de agregados em água e com diâmetro entre 1 e 2 mm para análise de difração a laser de microagregados. A calagem e a gessagem alteraram as propriedades físicas, ocorrendo a diminuição da macroporosidade e porosidade total, aumento da resistência à penetração e, consequentemente, a diminuição na área submetida à escarificação. A agregação do solo foi influenciada pelas práticas de manejo e doses de calcário e gesso. As menores frações de agregados são mais sensíveis em diagnosticar alterações na estrutura do solo, discriminado pelo Índice de Estabilidade de Agregados para a difração a laser.

Les travaux effectués dans le cadre de cette thèse portent sur la modélisation physique etnumérique du comportement des fondations superficielles sous sollicitations transverses dynamiques.Deux nouveaux modèles physiques sont développés.Le premier, en chambre d’étalonnage permet de réaliser des expériences sur modèle réduitd’une fondation superficielle encastrée dans un sable sec en respectant les conditions de confinementréelles. Des adaptations prototypes sont spécialement conçues pour permettre unchargement horizontal rapide, le couplage chargement vertical-horizontal, ainsi qu’un libremouvement de la fondation. L’influence des différents paramètres (densité du sable, amplitudedu déplacement horizontal et de la charge verticale, pressurisation du massif) est miseen évidence sur le comportement de la fondation.Le second porte sur l’interaction sol renforcé-fondation superficielle dans une " VisuCuve "de visualisation latérale du comportement. Il est mené sur une argile molle renforcée soit parun système de Colonnes à Module Mixte (CMM) soit par un système d’Inclusions Rigides etmatelas granulaire (IR). Ces modèles physiques en 2D sont soumis à des chargements horizontauxcycliques en quasi-statique et en dynamique pour l’étude de l’effet inertiel. L’efficacitécomparée des systèmes en termes de dissipation d’énergie est présentée.Une modélisation numérique des systèmes CMM et IR correspondant à la configuration expérimentaleet en vraie grandeur est développée à l’aide du logiciel FLAC3D. Les résultatsnumériques nous permettent de confirmer partiellement des tendances constatées lors des expériences.Les calculs des ouvrages en vraie grandeur permettent d’étudier plus précisémentla dissipation d’énergie par le calcul des coefficients d’amortissement dans les différents systèmes.L’effet inertiel et l’effet de la hauteur de la partie supérieure en gravier sont égalementdémontrés par les efforts internes calculés dans les inclusions. / The main issues of this work concern the physical and numerical modeling of the response ofa shallow foundation under dynamic horizontal loadings.Two novative physical modeling were performed.The first one uses a calibration chamber to carry out tests on a model of shallow foundationembedded in a dry sand, simulating the field confining conditions. A new experimental setup isbuilt up in order to allow the foundation movement under the coupling of vertical and dynamichorizontal loading. The effect of the different parameters on the foundation behavior (sanddensity, horizontal and vertical loading amplitude, pressure on the sand bulk) is presented.The second one concerns the interaction between a shallow foundation and a reinforced soil,consisting in soft clay reinforced either by a Mixed Module Columns (MMC) system or aRigid Inclusions (RI) system. The 2D physical models subjected to quasi-static and dynamichorizontal cyclic loadings are set up in the "VisuCuve" of the laboratory to study the inertialeffect by lateral visualization of the behavior. The energy dissipation efficiency between theMMC system and the RI system is compared.The numerical modeling of the experiments and the full scale MMC and RI systems areperformed with FLAC3D. In spite of some differences, the 2D numerical results show generallythe same tendencies with the experimental ones. The damping ratios calculated in the fullscale modeling lead to the more accurate energy dissipation analyses. The inertial effect andthe influence of the upper gravel part height are also displayed in terms of the internal forces.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:23:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-01-22Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:50:06Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 sebenjunior_gf_me_jabo.pdf: 1433895 bytes, checksum: 3bd18a6005759cd753a0fcaa16863fd5 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / A avaliação da estrutura do solo pode ser realizada por um conjunto de atributos específicos e suas inter-relações. Assim, os objetivos foram: i) quantificar a resistência tênsil de agregados (RT), friabilidade do solo (FR), e teor de carbono (C), diâmetro médio ponderado (DMP), índice de estabilidade de agregados (IEA) e a densidade do solo (DS) e verificar a influência dos demais atributos na RT e FR; ii) avaliar a influência do formato dos agregados na RT e FR. O delineamento foi em blocos casualizados, em faixas, com três repetições. Os tratamentos foram constituídos de três seqüências de culturas de verão (milho, soja e rotação soja/milho) e sete culturas de inverno (milho, girassol, nabo forrageiro, milheto, guandu, sorgo e crotalária). Em cada parcela foram coletados quatro blocos de solo com dimensões de 10x20x15 cm de altura, comprimento e largura, respectivamente; destes blocos selecionaram-se agregados com diâmetro entre 19,0 e 12,5 mm. Foram avaliados a influência do formato dos agregados na determinação da RT e FR e a influência das seqüências de culturas na RT, FR, teor de água e de C, IEA, DMP e DS. Os dados foram submetidos à análise de variância e as médias dos tratamentos comparadas pelo teste de Tukey. Realizou-se correlação de Pearson entre a RT e FR com os demais atributos. Foi constatado que os agregados com base plana proporcionaram uma menor variabilidade em comparação aos esféricos, conferindo maior acurácia a medida da RT e que as seqüências de culturas não influenciaram o teor de C e a FR, mas afetaram a RT, o IEA, o DMP e a DS. Também foi constatado que a RT correlacionou-se positivamente com o IEA, DMP e C / Soil structure can be evaluated by a set of specific attributes and their correlations. The objectives of this study were to: i) quantify aggregate tensile strength (TS), soil friability (SF), carbon content (C), mean pondered diameter (MPD), aggregate stability index (ASI) and bulk density (BD) as well as evaluate the effects of the other attributes on TS and SF; ii) determine the influence of aggregate shape on TS and SF. The experimental design was the completely randomized block arranged in strip plots with three replications. Treatments consisted of three sequences of summer crops (corn, soybean and the rotation soybean/corn) combined with seven winter crops (corn, sunflower, forage turnip, millet, pigeon pea, sorghum and sunnhemp). Four blocks of soil measuring 10x20x15 cm of height, length and width, respectively, were taken from each plot. Then, aggregates with diameters of 19.0 and 12.5 mm were taken from them. The effects of aggregate shape on TS and SF were evaluated. Also, the influence of the crop rotations on TS, SF, C content, ASI, MPD and BD was determined. The results were submitted to variance analysis (F test) and means were compared by the Tukey test (p < 0.10). Pearson linear test was applied to evaluate the correlation between TS/SF and the other soil attributes. Filed aggregates provide lower variability compared to the spherical ones, resulting in higher accuracy to measure TS. The crop rotations did not affect C content and SF, but positively influenced TS, ASI, MPD and BD. Also, TS showed positive correlation with ASI, MPD and C content

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-10-05Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:20:58Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 nakamura_r_me_botfca.pdf: 1191350 bytes, checksum: c857d3ce046b72aa8f05bd00e792d618 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / A falta de informações (qualitativa e quantitativa) detalhadas da microestrutura do solo, especificamente dos constituintes do solo (massa e volume) e sua associação com índices físicos e mecânicos relacionados, em função do seu uso ou manejo tem levado a inferências e conclusões que nem sempre podem representar a verdadeira história de tensão, uso e manejo do solo. Uma alternativa que tem sido apresentada à ciência do solo e com resultados significativos, especialmente para as áreas de física e conservação do solo é o uso de técnicas de micromorfologia de solos aliada ao processamento de imagens. Estes estudos tem melhorado a caracterização desse problema, podendo facultar desta maneira, uma melhor interpretação e compreensão humana, não apenas dos fatores internos (características e propriedades) responsáveis pela compacidade do solo, mas também a relação com os fatores externos (manejo, tráfego agrícola, pressão de contato e distribuição de tensão no solo, uso/manejo). Estes, muitas vezes por limitação técnica e ou metodológica em suas determinações tem dificultado a compreensão e o estabelecimento de relações/inter-relações como comportamento da microestrutura do solo. Portanto, qualquer intervenção neste sentido significa estreitar os benefícios de duas importantes áreas (micromorfologia e a... / The lack of information (qualitative and quantitative) of the detailed microstructure of the soil, particularly soil constituents (weight and volume) and its association with related mechanical and physical indexes, depending on its use or handling have led to inferences or conclusions and can always represent the true history of tension, use and soil management. One alternative that has been submitted to soil science and with significant results, especially in the areas of physical and soil conservation is the use of soil micromorphology techniques combined with image processing. These studies have improved the characterization of this problem, and can thus provide a better interpretation and human understanding, not only of internal factors (characteristics and qualities) responsible for the compactness of the soil, but also the relationship with the external factors (management, agricultural traffic , contact pressure and stress distribution in soil, use/handling). These often limited by technical and methodological or in its determinations has hindered understanding and build relationships/interrelationships and behavior of soil microstructure. Therefore, any intervention in this narrow sense means the benefits of two major areas (micromorphology and soil mechanics) that increasingly prove important results for soil science. This study aimed to evaluate the physical and mechanical behavior of sample undisturbed from two soil types under different loads (contact pressures), water contents and use... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)