Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Studies on tree biomechanical design usually focus on stem stiffness, resistance to breakage or uprooting, and elastic stability. Here we consider another biomechanical constraint related to the interaction between growth and gravity. Because stems are slender structures and are never perfectly symmetric, the increase in tree mass always causes bending movements. Given the current mechanical design of trees, integration of these movements over time would ultimately lead to a weeping habit unless some gravitropic correction occurs. This correction is achieved by asymmetric internal forces induced during the maturation of new wood. The long-term stability of a growing stem therefore depends on how the gravitropic correction that is generated by diameter growth balances the disturbance due to increasing self weight. General mechanical formulations based on beam theory are proposed to model these phenomena. The rates of disturbance and correction associated with a growth increment are deduced and expressed as a function of elementary traits of stem morphology, cross-section anatomy and wood properties. Evaluation of these traits using previously published data shows that the balance between the correction and the disturbance strongly depends on the efficiency of the gravitropic correction, which depends on the asymmetry of wood maturation strain, eccentric growth, and gradients in wood stiffness. By combining disturbance and correction rates, the gravitropic performance indicates the dynamics of stem bending during growth. It depends on stem biomechanical traits and dimensions. By analyzing dimensional effects, we show that the necessity for gravitropic correction might constrain stem allometric growth in the long-term. This constraint is compared to the requirement for elastic stability, showing that gravitropic performance limits the increase in height of tilted stem and branches. The performance of this function may thus limit the slenderness and lean of stems, and therefore the ability of the tree to capture light in a heterogeneous environment.
ISSN: 0022-5193

hal-00534316
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00534316
DOI : 10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.10.011

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
Extractives can affect vibrational properties tanδ (damping coefficient) and E'/ρ (specific Young's modulus) but this is highly dependent on species, compounds, and cellular locations. This paper investigates such effects for African Padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii Taub.), a tropical hardwood with high extractives content and a preferred material for xylophones. 5 groups of 26 heartwood specimens with large, yet comparable, ranges in vibrational properties were extracted in different solvents. Changes in vibrational properties were set against yields of extracts and evaluation of their cellular location. Methanol (ME) reached most of compounds (13%), located about half in lumen and half in cell-wall. Water solubility was extremely low. tanδ and E'/ρ were very strongly related (R2≥0.93), but native wood had abnormally low values of tanδ, while extraction shifted this relation towards higher tanδ values. ME extracted heartwood became in agreement with the average of many species, and close to sapwood. Extractions increased tanδ as much as 60%, irrespective of minute moisture changes or of initial properties. Apparent E'/ρ was barely changed (+2% to -4%) but, after correcting the mass contribution of extracts, was in fact slightly reduced (down to -10% for high E'/ρ), and increasingly so for specimens with low initial values of E'/ρ.
ISSN: 0043-7719

hal-00804236
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00804236
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00804236/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00804236/file/Effect_extractives_vibrational_properties_Bremaud_al.pdf
DOI : 10.1007/s00226-010-0337-3

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : International audience
We investigate a class of granular materials characterized by the possibility of interlocking between the particles. The interlocking is modeled by its effect through rolling resistance depending on relative rotation and normal force at the contact points and involving a single parameter analogous to the sliding friction coefficient. The model, which is introduced in the framework of the contact dynamics, method, is applied to simulate the simple shear of a large granular sample. We present a detailed analysis regarding the influence of rolling and sliding friction parameters on the macroscopic response in terms of shear strength, fabric properties, and force transmission. Interestingly, two distinct regimes can be distinguished in which the steady-state shear strength is controlled by either rolling resistance or sliding friction. The relative contributions of rolling and sliding contacts to the shear strength are consistent with the same two regimes. Interlocking strongly affects the force network by enhancing the arching effect and thus increasing the relative importance of weak contact forces and torques, which is reflected in a decreasing power-law probability distribution of the contact forces and torques below the mean. Due to the combined effect of friction and interlocking, the force-carrying backbone takes an increasingly columnar aspect involving a low fraction of particles. Our data suggest that the nature of the weak contact network is strongly affected by the formation of these columns of particles which do not need to be propped laterally. In particular, in the limit of high rolling resistance and sliding friction, the role of the weak network of contacts is no longer to prop the force chains, but, like the strong contact network, to actively sustain the deviatoric load imposed on the system.
ISSN: 1539-3755

hal-00412020
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412020
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevE.78.021301

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Résumé : International audience
Reaction wood produces very peculiar maturation stresses at the tree periphery i.e. compressive stress or very high tensile stress, for compression and tension wood respectively, as compared to moderately high tensile stress for normal wood. This means that both its mechanical state and its mechanical and physical properties differ from normal wood. Compression wood shows big differences from normal wood in conifers, for all physical and mechanical properties: higher density and axial crushing strength (MOR) but lower modulus of elasticity (MOE), far higher axial (longitudinal) shrinkage but lower radial and tangential shrinkage, sometimes even lower than the axial shrinkage. For tension wood things are less simple and can vary a lot from hardwood species to species. Globally there are no systematic differences in density and transverse shrinkage, MOE tends to be a little higher while MOR is slightly lower. However, axial shrinkage is much higher for tension wood with a gelatinous layer (G layer) than normal wood due to the specific gel like organization of cellulose microfibrils in the G layer. For tension wood without a G layer(which is rather frequent) axial shrinkage in the first drying operation is around two times higher than in normal wood mainly because of a kind of hygro-thermal release of locked in maturation stress. Overall the very high tensile stress and stored elastic energy in tension wood lead to problemsin wood processing (end splitting and board warping), which is far less the case for compression wood. But due to the large difference in properties relative to normal wood, compression wood occurrence is always a big problem for the in service behaviour of timber, which is seldom the case for tension wood.
The biology of reaction wood

ISBN : 978-3-642-10813-6
hal-01135273
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01135273

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : For their survival, plants need to grow in height to access light resource while ensuring their mechanical stability. Growth in height amplifies the mechanical constraints due to wind and gravity. Nevertheless these constraints represent morphogenetic signals that plants respond to by modifying their growth. There are two regulatory processes of growth by mechanical signals: thigmomorphogenesis and gravitropism. Thigmomorphogenesis expresses by a reduction of growth in height and an increase of growth in girth under the effect of mechanical signals. This is a way for plants to grow with controlling slenderness of their axes to avoid buckling (beating down). In some cases (storm, sudden exposure to a new mechanical environment) this process is not sufficient to prevent buckling, gravitropism then acts to restore axes orientation in case of no lethal buckling. With measuring several traits, we have demonstrated that these processes have a fundamental ecological role in the control of tree habit and the vertical structuration of ecosystems. As studies of climate changes seem to predict a higher frequency of storms it is important to study the diversity of their efficiency.
Colloque Adaptation au Changement Climatique de l'Agriculture et des Ecosystèmes

hal-00797377
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00797377

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Domestication can influence many functional traits in plants, from overall life-history and growth form to wood density and cell wall ultrastructure. Such changes can increase fitness of the domesticate in agricultural environments but may negatively affect survival in the wild. We studied effects of domestication on stem biomechanics in manioc by comparing domesticated and ancestral wild taxa from two different regions of greater Amazonia. We compared mechanical properties, tissue organisation and wood characteristics including microfibril angles in both wild and domesticated plants, each growing in two different habitats (forest or savannah) and varying in growth form (shrub or liana). Wild taxa grew as shrubs in open savannah but as lianas in overgrown and forested habitats. Growth form plasticity was retained in domesticated manioc. However, stems of the domesticate showed brittle failure. Wild plants differed in mechanical architecture between shrub and liana phenotypes, a difference that diminished between shrubs and lianas of the domesticate. Stems of wild plants were generally stiffer, failed at higher bending stresses and were less prone to brittle fracture compared with shrub and liana phenotypes of the domesticate. Biomechanical differences between stems of wild and domesticated plants were mainly due to changes in wood density and cellulose microfibril angle rather than changes in secondary growth or tissue geometry. Domestication did not significantly modify "large-scale" trait development or growth form plasticity, since both wild and domesticated manioc can develop as shrubs or lianas. However, "finer-scale" developmental traits crucial to mechanical stability and thus ecological success of the plant were significantly modified. This profoundly influenced the likelihood of brittle failure, particularly in long climbing stems, thereby also influencing the survival of the domesticate in natural situations vulnerable to mechanical perturbation. We discuss the different selective pressures that could explain evolutionary modifications of stem biomechanical properties under domestication in manioc.
PLoS ONE

halsde-00917926
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00917926
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00917926/document
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0074727

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : International audience
Using contact dynamics simulations, we compare the effect of rolling resistance at the contacts in granular systems composed of disks with the effect of angularity in granular systems composed of regular polygonal particles. In simple shear conditions, we consider four aspects of the mechanical behavior of these systems in the steady state: shear strength, solid fraction, force and fabric anisotropies, and probability distribution of contact forces. Our main finding is that, based on the energy dissipation associated with relative rotation between two particles in contact, the effect of rolling resistance can explicitly be identified with that of the number of sides in a regular polygonal particle. This finding supports the use of rolling resistance as a shape parameter accounting for particle angularity and shows unambiguously that one of the main influencing factors behind the mechanical behavior of granular systems composed of noncircular particles is the partial hindrance of rotations as a result of angular particle shape.
ISSN: 1539-3755

hal-00594891
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00594891
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00594891/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00594891/file/Estrada2010ReSubmitV2.pdf
ARXIV : 1105.4418

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
Transverse drying shrinkage was measured at microscopic and mesoscopic levels in poplar wood characterised by an increasing growth strain (GS), from normal to tension wood. Results show that: (a) The drying shrinkage, measured as a relative thickness decrease, was significantly higher for G-layer (GL) than the other layers (OL), GL shrinkage was not significantly correlated with GS and OL shrinkage was negatively correlated with GS. (b) In gelatinous fibre (G-fibre), lumen size increased during drying and this increase was positively related with GS, but in normal wood fibre lumen size decreased during drying. These findings suggest that GL shrank outwards, so that its shrinkage feebly affected the total cell shrinkage and the mesoscopic shrinkage was controlled by the OL shrinkage which shrank inwards. (c) Measurements done on 7×7 mm² thin sections evidenced a negative correlation between transverse shrinkage and GS, significant in T direction but weak in R direction. These observations at both levels allow to discuss the contribution of GL to the mesoscopic shrinkage of tension wood.
ISSN: 0043-7719

hal-00194930
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00194930
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00194930/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00194930/file/WST_FANG2006.pdf
DOI : 10.1007/s00226-007-0148-3

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Gravitropism is necessary for plants to control the orientation of their axes while they grow in height. In woody plants, stem re-orientations are costly because they are achieved through diameter growth. The functional diversity of gravitropism was studied to check if the mechanisms involved and their efficiency may contribute to the differentiation of height growth strategies between forest tree species at the seedling stage. Seedlings of eight tropical species were grown tilted in a greenhouse, and their up-righting movement and diameter growth were measured during three months. Morphological, anatomical and biomechanical traits were measured at the end of the survey. Curvature analysis was used to analyse the up-righting response along the stems. Variations in stem curvature depend on diameter growth, size effects, the increase in self-weight, and the efficiency of the gravitropic reaction. A biomechanical model was used to separate these contributions. Results showed that (1) gravitropic movements were based on a common mechanism associated to similar dynamic patterns, (2) clear differences in efficiency (defined as the change in curvature achieved during an elementary diameter increment for a given stem diameter) existed between species, (3) the equilibrium angle of the stem and the anatomical characters associated to the efficiency of the reaction also differed between species, (4) the differences in gravitropic reaction were related to the light requirements: heliophilic species, compared to more shade-tolerant species, had a larger efficiency and an equilibrium angle closer to vertical. This suggests that traits determining the gravitropic reaction are related to the strategy of light interception and may contribute to the differentiation of ecological strategies promoting the maintenance of biodiversity in tropical rain forests.
ISSN: 0022-0957

hal-00797023
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00797023
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00797023/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00797023/file/Functional_diversity_gravitropic_Almeras_al.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
COST E50 Workshop: Reaction wood formation at stand, tree and cellular level

hal-00797326
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00797326

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag/EDP Sciences
Résumé : International audience
The vibration damping coefficient (tanδ) of wood is an important property for acoustical uses, including musical instruments. Current difficulties in the availability of some of the preferred species call for diversification, but this comes up against the lack of systematic damping coefficient data. * Keeping in mind the possible factors affecting tanδ, could we predict its variations between species, by using indicators that are either easily measured and/or readily available for many species? * Vibrational properties, equilibrium moisture content and colorimetric parameters were assessed on 94 wood types belonging to 76 species. Experimental results were then related to data on chemical contents and physical properties from the CIRAD database. The "standard" relationship between tanδ and specific modulus of elasticity (E'/ρ) explained only half of the variations. Deviations from this trend were correlated to extractives content, yet effects were not directly quantitative. Damping deviations were also correlated to colour and moisture-related properties, especially so with fibre saturation point. * By taking into account a combination of moisture-related properties, colour - or extractives content, and the "standard" relationship between tanδ and E'/ρ, we could propose simple predictive models which explain up to 89% of observed variations in tanδ between 48 species.
ISSN: 1286-4560

hal-00808338
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00808338
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00808338/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00808338/file/Physico-chemical_indicators_Bremaud_al.pdf
DOI : 10.1051/forest/2010032

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Powders and Grains 2009
Golden, United States

hal-00760571
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00760571

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The anatomy of tension wood and opposite wood was compared in 21 tropical rain forest trees from 21 species belonging to 18 families from French Guyana. Wood specimens were taken from the upper and lower sides of naturally tilted trees. Measurement of the growth stress level ensured that the two samples were taken from wood tissues in a different mechanical state: highly tensile-stressed wood on the upper side, called tension wood and normally tensile-stressed wood on the lower side, called opposite wood. Quantitative parameters relating to fibres and vessels were measured on transverse sections of both tension and opposite wood to check if certain criteria can easily discriminate the two kinds of wood. We observed a decrease in the frequency of vessels in the tension wood in all the trees studied. Other criteria concerning shape and surface area of the vessels, fibre diameter or cell wall thickness did not reveal any general trend. At the ultrastructural level, we observed that the microfibril angle in the tension wood sample was lower than in opposite wood in all the trees except one (Licania membranacea).
IAWA Journal

hal-00194915
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00194915
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00194915/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00194915/file/IAWA2006_RuelleClairBeauchenePrevostFournier_ccsd.pdf
IRD : PAR00001321

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Gravitropism is a major process in vertical growth as it allows the positioning of plant in the gravity field and thus, for trees, it takes part in the light foraging strategies. Without any gravitropism, trees would adopt a weeping habit or fall on the ground due to the increasing with growth supported weight, especially at the advance regeneration stage (sapling stage) in the understorey, where tree are very slender and poorly stiff. Most of the gravitropic studies are made by physiologists in order to understand the process and thus are associated to complex laboratory methods (genetic engineering, anatomical studies, accurate 2D ou 3D measurements of form changes with time). In order to study the ecological relevance and the specific diversity of gravitropic performances in natural forests, we developed a framework that uses different kinds of datas. Synchronical analysis has been done i) at the population level in large sample of trees and ii) at the tree level from destructive measurement of the dissymmetry maturation strains known to be the main motor of the posture control reaction of trees. In both cases, biomechanical models allows to estimate some aspects of the dynamic gravitropic process. Diachronical analysis has been done in natural conditions on permanent plots, or in a more traditional way, by observing in greenhouse experiments the righting movements of plants artificially tilted. In the first case, the problem is the high variability of natural disturbances and the slowness of growth and movements in the dark understorey. The second choice allows a measurement of a capacity (i.e. the ability of the species to react in quite extreme conditions of verticality disturbance but good for growth light and nutrient conditions) that is more easy to analyse, but is maybe not so relevant for estimating the ecological strategy (some species could have developed a high efficience of gravitropic reaction in natural conditions by avoiding the mechanical disturbance or adapting the reaction to slow growth and changing environments in natural conditions). All approaches use the same basic biomechanical modelling, i) to analyse simultaneously the reaction and the disturbance (due to the weight increase) during growth, or ii) to combine different parameters (geometry, growth, weight, maturation strains) involved in shape changes and posture control. They give a classification of the species according to their gravitropic performances. Results on 15 species are discussed, with relation to shade-tolerance or avoidance.
6th Plant Biomechanics Conference
Cayenne, France

hal-00565956
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00565956

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag/EDP Sciences
Résumé : International audience
Background : This study examines the radial trend in wood stiffness of tropical rainforest trees. The objective was to determine if the type of growing environment (exposed plantation or dense primary forest) would have an effect on this radial trend. Methods : The axial elastic modulus of wood samples, representing a pith to bark cross-section, of six trees from several French Guianese species (two of Eperua falcata, one of Eperua grandiflora, two of Carapa procera and one of Symphonia gloubulifera) was measured using a dynamic "forced vibration" method. Results : Primary forest trees were observed to have a decrease in wood stiffness from pith to bark, whereas plantation trees, from the same genus or species, displayed a corresponding increase in wood stiffness. Juvenile wood stiffness appears to vary depending on the environment in which the tree had grown. Conclusion : We suggest that the growth strategy of primary forest trees is to produce wood resistant to selfbuckling so that the height of the canopy may be obtained with the maximum of efficiency. In contrast, the growth strategy of the trees growing in an exposed plantation is to produce low-stiffness wood, important to provide flexibility in wind. Further experiments to study the behaviour of more species, with more individuals per species, growing across a range of physical environments, are required.
ISSN: 1286-4560

hal-00644335
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00644335
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00644335/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00644335/file/McLean_al.pdf
DOI : 10.1007/s13595-011-0085-z

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Wood samples were taken from the upper and lower sides of 21 naturally tilted trees from 18 families of angiosperms in the tropical rainforest in French Guyana. The measurement of growth stresses ensured that the two samples were taken from wood tissues in a different mechanical state: highly tensile stressed wood on the upper side, called tension wood and lower tensile stressed wood on the lower side, called opposite wood. Eight species had tension wood fibres with a distinct gelatinous layer (G-layer). The distribution of gelatinous fibres varied from species to species. One of the species, Casearia javitensis (Flacourtiaceae), showed a peculiar multilayered secondary wall in its reaction wood. Comparison between the stress level and the occurrence of the G-layer indicates that the G-layer is not a key factor in the production of high tensile stressed wood.
IAWA Journal

hal-00112579
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00112579
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00112579/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00112579/file/IAWA2006_ClairRuelleBeauchenePrevostFournier_ccsd.pdf
IRD : PAR00001136

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD De Gruyter
Résumé : International audience
A comparative study of 9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole (norharmane) and 1-methyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole (harmane) as inhibitors for C38 steel corrosion in 1 M HCl solution at 25 °C was carried out. Potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques were applied to study the metal corrosion behavior in the absence and presence of different concentrations of these inhibitors. The OCP as a function of time were also established. Cathodic and anodic polarization curves show that norharmane and harmane are a mixed-type inhibitors. Adsorption of indole derivatives on the C38 steel surface, in 1 M HCl solution, follows the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The ΔGads values were calculated and discussed. The potential of zero charge (PZC) of the C38 steel in inhibited solution was studied by the EIS method, and a mechanism for the adsorption process was proposed. Raman spectroscopy confirmed that indole molecules strongly adsorbed onto the steel surface. The electronic properties of indole derivates, obtained using the AM1 semi-empirical quantum chemical approach, were correlated with their experimental efficiencies using the linear resistance model (LR).
ISSN: 0018-3830

hal-01093227
https://hal-agroparistech.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01093227
DOI : 10.1515/HF.2010.034