Modelling soil physical behaviour with particular reference to soil science

Soil is a very complex material. It consists of three interacting phases, namely solid, liquid and gas phase, which participate in a number of different processes controlling physical soil behaviour. These include water, solute and heat flow, mechanical stress–strain displacement and failure under shear and tensile forces. Often physical soil behaviour is investigated by treating either process in isolation rather than accounting for their interdependency. This is probably related to the multiplicity and complexity of interactions that need to be combined to fully represent the physical response of soils to variable environmental conditions. This paper describes a computer model that can analyze hydraulic and mechanical processes interactively. However, the computer model by itself is not sufficient, as the accuracy of modelling depends on the sampling, testing and verification of the soils analyzed in the soil problem. Some applications of modelling soil physical behaviour in soil science are presented.