We regret to inform you that the SAG workshop in Amsterdam unfortunately cannot take place at the beginning of November as announced. The trees that are to be stressed to the point of failure by pulling tests were not permitted for felling by the administration at the scheduled time. As extensive measurements beforehand have already taken place, it is not possible to switch to other trees. The workshop must therefore be postponed and is expected to take place in March / April 2025. Further information will follow in time! We hope for your understanding.
We are currently working on offering an additional SAG workshop, either online or as a hybrid event. Topics of this event could be: Current research results, also from SAG-funded projects. In addition, the SAG working groups could be given space to exchange ideas and present the status of their work.
On 4th June 2024, the SAG-Baumstatik invited participants for the 22nd time to a workshop, this time on the topic of acoustic tomography. In Bad Vöslau, Austria, 77 participants from various countries met in person and online. The agenda included various specialist presentations as well as a practical session.
The event started with a presentation by Lothar Göcke, who has played a key role in the development of the equipment. Göcke gave the audience an insight into the physical basics of sonic tomography and the functionality of tomogram compilation. Finally, he gave an outlook on which innovations appear worthwhile: On the one hand, this is the use of camera technology and 3D simulators to determine the geometry of trunk cross-sections. Furthermore, current research is investigating how other properties of the sound waves can be recorded and interpreted. This could allow even more precise statements on the condition of trunk cross-sections in future.
In the palace gardens in Bad Vöslau, divided into groups, sonic tomographies were carried out with two different devices on three trees. Participants took the opportunity to literally look over the shoulders of colleagues and exchange practical experience as well as personal tricks of the trade.
In the afternoon, Sämi Prosenz (SV Prosenz & Novak GmbH, Austria) illustrated how sonic tomograms on the same level differ when different measuring positions are selected. Prosenz emphasised that the choice of measurement point position is crucial for a meaningful result. At the end of the workshop, various methods of assessing the safety against rupture of an analysed stem section using an acoustic tomogram were discussed in plenary.
Conclusion of the workshop: an acoustic tomogram is only of limited use without an expert, intensive visual inspection of the tree. Furthermore, an understanding of the underlying physical principles and the algorithms used to generate the images is important for the quality and evaluation of the tomogram. The inclusion of all ascertainable load components in the final safety assessment is also essential for a meaningful result.
Messungen am Stammfuß einer Platane (Foto: T. André)
Im Schlosspark von Bad Vöslau führten die Teilnehmenden gemeinsam Schalltomografien an drei verschiedenen Bäumen durch. (Foto: D. de Goederen)
Fachlicher Austausch über die Ergebnisse der Schalltomografie (Foto: D. de Goederen)
The 23 rd workshop will take place in Amsterdam on 7th and 8th November!
The workshop is about tree stability, quay wall stability and possible interactions: the case of Ulmus in Amsterdam. The two go back a long way (Unesco world heritage). In recent years trees are assumed to be a possible threat to the old quay wall constructions because quay walls have collapsed in several places. But is this the case? What can we learn from natural tree movements in wind, normal pulling tests and destructive pulling tests of trees along canals? For this workshop we try to combine sensor data on both trees and quay walls. The first day would be an introduction explaining the problem, visit the site and executing destructive pull test of 5 elms, followed by a day of the preliminary results including analyses of ‘natural movements’ of what could be recorded in strong winds in July-October on site, and presentations of related topics.
Final program and registration form will follow in September
The 22nd SAG Workshop on 4 June 2024 will be simultaneously translated between German and English via Zoom. The short presentations in the afternoon will be held partly in German and partly in English. Persons who require translation into the other language must join the Zoom meeting via a laptop or mobile phone (only with headphones if present in the lecture room) in order to use the language channels.
Please download the programme and registration form in English and register if you are interested. After registration, we will send you the access data for the Zoom meeting.
Please note again: Only those who subscribe to our newsletter list will continue to receive regular information about the SAG Baumstatik workshops! Please register!
The 22nd SAG workshop will take place in Bad Vöslau near Vienna on 4 June 2024 and will deal with the topic of ‘Sonic tomography – comparative measurements’. The effect of different measuring points on the image produced will be compared and the creation of the images, their interpretation and the path from the image to the assessment of safety against fracture will be discussed.
After the lively discussion about root detection in the SAG WhatsApp group, we would like to invite you to a workshop on the topic.
Date
Thursday, May11th, 2023, 09:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. CEST
Where
Landessportbund Hessen e.V.
Otto-Fleck-Schneise 4
60528 Frankfurt / Germany
Registration
please sent an e-mail to
Fee
Free for members, non-members: 220,- Euro
For all those who would like to become a member of the SAG: The participation fee will be credited to the annual membership fee if the membership in the SAG starts in the same year.
In the course of the SAG Summer School 2022 in Trieste, a public conference will take place on Thursday, 21st of July 2022. There, lectures on some topics of the Summer School will be held. SAG members and the well-known experts invited to the Summer School will present important results of their research and practical work to a greater international public.
Language of the conference: English – Italian (simultaneous translation from English) Admission: € 100,- per person
Venue: MIB Trieste School of Management Largo Caduti di Nassiriya 1, Trieste
Programme
08:30 opening
SECTION 1: Research
09.00 – 9.15 welcome, introduction
09.15 – 10.00 Prof. Dr. Francesco Ferrini, University of Florence: Urban forestry
10.00 – 10.45 Prof. Dr. Steffen Rust, HAWK Göttingen, Germany: Recent results from research on the pulling test method
10.45 – 11.00 Questions & Answers
11.00 – 11.30 Coffee break and networking
11.30 – 12.15 Prof. Dr. Karl Niklas, Cornell University: What we still do not know about Tree Biomechanics
12.15 – 12.30 Questions & Answers
12.30 – 14.00 Break – Lunchtime
SECTION 2: Applications
14.00 – 14.30 Philip van Wassenaer, consultant at Urban Forest Innovations, member of SAG: Tomography on Redwoods in the Western USA
14.30 – 15.00 Andreas Wüstenhagen, board member of SAG Baumstatik & consultant: Supporting habitat trees with Carbon exoskeletons
15.00 – 15.30 Andreas Detter, Chairman of SAG Baumstatik, consultant at TreeConsult, Brudi and Partner: Lessons learnt from pulling tests for visual tree assessment
15.30 – 16.00 Coffee break and networking
16.00 – 16.30 Case studies from SAG members (names to be confirmed)
16.30 – 17.00 Paul Muir, consultant at Treework Environmental Practice, UK, member of SAG: The new SAG Pulling Test Standards
17.00 – 17.30 Questions & Answers, closure and goodbye
From July 17th to 22nd, SAG is holding a workshop on the subject of pulling tests.
Experts and users want to gather and expand their experiences in small groups in an idyllic environment and also discuss them critically, e.g. new results from science and research on the subjects
– Tree morphology
– case studies of pulling special trees
– Material properties of different trees
– Wind and tree interaction
– and much more.
During the week renowned scientists will join us, such as Karl Niklas, Steffen Rust, Francesco Ferrini and many others in an informal and friendly atmosphere.
Current studies and models for the dynamic response of trees in natural winds
Program and speakers (all times CET/MEZ = UTC + 1/Berlin)
8:30 Introduction
8:45 Damien Sellier
Tree sway frequency and damping – finite element modelling and age effects
Damien Sellier is computational modeller at Scion – the New Zealand Forest Research Institute – in Rotorua. His research focuses on developing physics-based models to study tree physiology, wood formation and wood mechanics. He is particularly interested in digital models capturing the real-life complexity of tree organisms. He has a PhD in mechanical engineering; his thesis was the numerical analysis of tree aerodynamic behaviour under wind turbulence in a forest canopy.
9:15 discussion
9:45 coffee break
10:15 Daniel Burcham
Changes in the dynamic properties of trees in natural winds after pruning
Daniel Burcham is the Deputy Director for Urban Trees at the National Parks Board in Singapore. In his research he is studying the behaviour of trees in natural winds.
11:00 discussion
11:30 coffee break
12:00 Toby Jackson
The motion of trees in the wind. A data synthesis
Toby Jackson is currently a postdoc in Cambridge supervised by Prof David Coomes. He is working on the effects of wind on tropical forests. This 4 year NERC funded project uses LiDAR to map forest structure and so model wind flow over a complex forest landscape. He will also be measuring wind speeds and the bending response of tall trees in situ.
12:30 discussion
1:00 lunch break
2:00 Ebba Dellwik
The SingleTree Experiment: An experimental characterization of the wind-tree interaction of an open-grown oak tree
Ebba Dellwik is senior researcher in the Meteorology and Remote Sensing Section in the Wind Energy Department of the Technical University of Denmark. Ebba leads DTU’s research on forest and tree aerodynamics and the study of their impact on the wind conditions. Her focus is on both full-scale and wind tunnel experimental studies with a scope of improving the parameterization of trees in weather and flow models.
2:30 Nikolas Angelou
Mean drag estimation on a full-scale tree using tree-mounted sensors and scanning wind LiDAR measurements
Nikolas Angelou is a postdoctoral researcher in the Meteorology and Remote Sensing Section in the Wind Energy Department of the Technical University of Denmark. His scientific interest is on the investigation of the wind conditions in the atmospheric boundary layer, experimental flow studies using scanning wind LiDAR, wind-tree interactions and in general flow characterization for wind engineering applications.
3:00 discussion
3:30 afternoon coffee break
4:00 Dirk Schindler
Modelling tree responses to turbulent wind from in-situ measurements
Dirk Schindler is the professor for environmental meteorology at the university of Freiburg. From in-situ measurements on trees he derives new models to describe wind and tree interaction.
4:30 discussion
5:00 closing remarks, goodbye
language English, German (simultaneous translation provided)
