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Strains inside xylem and inner bark of a stem submitted to a change in hydrostatic pressure

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Abstract

Tangential strains were measured with strain gauges at the surface of xylem and inner bark of saplings of Cryptomeria japonica D. Don. and Fagus silvatica L. during a pressurization test. The test consists in submitting the whole sapling to an artificially imposed hydrostatic pressure of increasing magnitude. The elastic response of the stems was found linear both at the surface of xylem and inner bark. A simple geometric model allows to compute radial strains in each tissue from tangential strain data. Inside inner bark, radial strains are much larger than tangential strains, because tangential strains are restrained by the core of wood. The material compliance of each tissue was computed as the ratio between the radial strain and the pressure that caused it. The material compliance of xylem is much lower than that of inner bark, but, as its thickness is much larger, its contribution to the apparent behavior of the stem is not negligible. Computation of material compliances by this pressurization test provides information about the specific behavior of each tissue in response to hydrostatic pressure. This can be used to estimate and interpret the calibration factor linking the water status of the plant to the apparent strain measured at its surface.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the grant-in-aid for scientific research no. 15.03742 from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). First author received post-doctoral fellowship from the JSPS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Bio-Material Physics, Graduate School of Bio-Agricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan

    Tancrède Alméras, Masato Yoshida & Takashi Okuyama

Authors
  1. Tancrède Alméras
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  2. Masato Yoshida
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  3. Takashi Okuyama
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Correspondence to Tancrède Alméras.

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Communicated by T. Speck

T. Okuyama: deceased

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Alméras, T., Yoshida, M. & Okuyama, T. Strains inside xylem and inner bark of a stem submitted to a change in hydrostatic pressure. Trees 20, 460–467 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-006-0061-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-006-0061-7

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