Modelling surface roughness by a Boolean approach

Summary A model for simulating surface roughness of an agricultural bare soil is described. The model used a random Boolean function. The primary function was a sphere with radius r lying on a plane. The intensity function, a(r), of the distribution of the sphere radius was described by a(r) =αrβexp(λr) Microtopography data were collected during two sets of field experiments. The distribution of experimental heights was used for fitting the three parameters, (α, β, λ) of the intensity function a(r) with a pseudo‐likelihood method. Comparisons between experimental and simulated soil surfaces indicated that the simulated roughness was not unrealistic. However, they also showed that the model is currently limited by the primary function and the intensity function that were chosen.