Modelling stem breakage caused by typhoons in plantation Cryptomeria japonica forests

Abstract Typhoon damaged plantation sugi ( Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) forests were studied to mechanistically understand the stem breakage in relation to stand structure. In the study sites where most trees had been blown down, the tree dimensions of tree height, diameter at breast height, height and diameter at the point of stem breakage were measured for all trees in the plots. An expanded allometric relationship of tree height over DBH and a constant height to crown base for each tree were found at each site. Employing the Sawada model to simulate physical stresses in tree stems caused by outside forces, the predicted heights of maximum compression stress exhibited good agreement with the actual heights of stem breakage. It was suggested, however, from the distribution of the bending stress in a stem, that the height of stem breakage may oscillate around the predictions due to physical defects in wood, and that compression failure may occur along the stem even for the standing trees which survived the typhoon. The present simulation model can well describe the effects of tree form which directly affect the height at stem breakage.

[1]  Harold E. Burkhart,et al.  Variable-form stem profile models for loblolly pine , 1986 .

[2]  R. M. Newnham.  A variable-form taper function , 1988 .

[3]  J. A. Petty,et al.  Factors influencing stem breakage of conifers in high winds , 1985 .

[4]  太田 貞明,et al.  Studies on mechanical properties of juvenile wood, especially of Sugi-wood and Hinoki-wood , 1972 .

[5]  D. Peart,et al.  Effects of hurricane damage on individual growth and stand structure in a hardwood forest in New Hampshire, USA , 1992 .

[6]  Jeff S. Glitzenstein,et al.  Effects of the December 1983 tornado on forest vegetation of the Big Thicket, southeast Texas, U.S.A. , 1988 .

[7]  A. Kozak,et al.  A variable-exponent taper equation , 1988 .

[8]  A. Koizumi.  Studies on the Estimation of the Mechanical Properties of Standing Trees by Non-destructive Bending Test , 1987 .

[9]  H. Peltola,et al.  Model computations on the critical combination of snow loading and windspeed for snow damage of scots pine, Norway spruce and Birch sp. at stand edge , 1997 .

[10]  D. A. King,et al.  Tree form, height growth, and susceptibility to wind damage in Acer saccharum , 1986 .

[11]  H. R. Oliver,et al.  Wind Measurements in a Pine Forest During a Destructive Gale , 1974 .

[12]  A. Akachuku.  Recovery and morphology of Pinus resinosa Ait. trees 50 years after they were displaced by a hurricane , 1993 .

[13]  Emery R. Boose,et al.  Patterns of forest damage resulting from catastrophic wind in central New England, USA , 1992 .

[14]  Francis E. Putz,et al.  Hurricane damage to old growth forest in Congaree Swamp National Monument, South Carolina, USA , 1991 .

[15]  H. Peltola,et al.  A mechanistic model for assessing the risk of wind and snow damage to single trees and stands of Scots pine, Norway spruce, and birch , 1999 .

[16]  P. West,et al.  Stresses in, and the shape of, tree stems in forest monoculture , 1989 .

[17]  F. Smith,et al.  The role of Douglas-fir stem sapwood and heartwood in the mechanical and physiological support of crowns and development of stem form , 1981 .

[18]  S. Webb.  Windstorm damage and microsite colonization in two Minnesota forests , 1988 .

[19]  H. Madgwick.  Methods of Estimating Forest Biomass , 1982 .

[20]  Yukihiro Chiba,et al.  A quantitative analysis of stem form and crown structure: the S-curve and its application. , 1990, Tree physiology.