Comparison of four prewetting techniques in wet aggregate stability determination

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Abstract
Variabilities in measured values of wet aggregate stability (WAS) of replicate samples of treatment exceeding that between treatments can create problems in interpreting treatment effects. The variabilities in WAS of replicate samples of treatment can be minimized by subjecting soil aggregates to a high vacuum fast prewetting technique. However, this technique is laborious and time consuming. In this paper the effect of four prewetting techniques: (1) and (2) high vacuum fast (HVFW) and slow (HVSW) wetting; (3) and (4) no vacuum (atmospheric) fast (NVFW) and slow wetting (NVSW) on the variations in WAS and coefficient of variation (CV) of WAS are reported. The measured values in WAS and CV of WAS for each soil varied with wetting rate and/or gas pressure used. The highest variation in WAS was found with NVFW, HVFW, NVSW and HVSW, respectively. For three out of four soils, the CV of WAS for NVSW technique was less than 2%, which was similar to that obtained under HVFW technique. Compared to HVFW technique, NVSW technique is simple, less laborious and less time consuming. Key words: Wet aggregate stability, prewetting techniques, vacuum wetting.

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