Tillage of soil is very ancient practise. It accompanies the human beings throughout the history. With primitive tools, the human kind started soil cultivation to provide the food necessary for his existence. Stone and Gulvin (1957) reported that forked-stick ploughs were used in Egypt about 6000 B.C. Another resources indicate that simple lightweight wooden ploughs, for instance, were employed extensively in the valleys of the Euphrates and Nile Rivers by the year 3000 B.C. (McKyes, 1985). Since that ancient stage, all developments in tillage tools have been depending on the experiment, practise and human experiences. Recent studies started to carry out tillage researches based upon different mathematical modelling techniques, namely, conventional analytical methods, the discrete element method (DEM) and the finite element method (FEM). Experimental studies are costly, while those employing mathematical methods can be lower, if it can be established that the models give realistic results where they are to be applied. Furthermore, the mathematical modelling can provide results that could not be obtained by the experiment. Computer animation of a tool movement in the soil showing soil displacement and soil stress distribution of different types throughout tool progress in the soil give very worth reason for the development in mathematical models as a very powerful educational and research tool. This study introduces the fundamental reasons for the utilisation of the FEM for the investigation of soil tillage. Results obtained from the FEM modelling of tool forces, soil loosening and stress distribution are presented. A FEM animation of soil deformation by medium deep subsoiler is shown.
