A new perspective on mechanical characterisation of Arabidopsis stems through vibration tests

Zhdanov, O. , Blatt, M. R. , Cammarano, A. , Zare-Behtash, H. and Busse, A. (2020) A new perspective on mechanical characterisation of Arabidopsis stems through vibration tests. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 112, 104041. (doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2020.104041)

Abstract

The mechanical properties of plants are important for understanding plant biomechanics and for breeding new plants that can survive in challenging environments. Thus, accurate and reliable methods are required for the determination of mechanical properties such as stiffness and Young's modulus of elasticity. Much attention has been paid to the application of static methods to plants, while dynamic methods have received considerably less attention. In the present study, a dynamic forced vibration method for mechanical characterisation of Arabidopsis inflorescence stems was developed and validated against the conventional three-point bending test. Compared to dynamic tests based on free vibration, the current method allows to determine simultaneously more than one natural frequency, thus increasing the overall accuracy of the results. In addition, this method can be applied to the top parts of the stems that are more flexible, and where application of the three-point bending test is often limited. To demonstrate one of the potential applications of this method, it was applied to evaluate the influence of turgor pressure on the mechanical properties of Arabidopsis stems. Overall, the new dynamic testing approach has been shown to provide reliable data for the local mechanical properties along the Arabidopsis inflorescence stem.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Blatt, Professor Michael and Zhdanov, Dr Oleksandr and Zare-Behtash, Dr Hossein and Cammarano, Dr Andrea and Busse, Professor Angela

Creator Roles

Zhdanov, O.: Conceptualization, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing, Visualization
Blatt, M. R.: Conceptualization, Supervision, Resources
Cammarano, A.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources
Zare-Behtash, H.: Conceptualization, Supervision
Busse, A.: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Zhdanov, O., Blatt, M. R., Cammarano, A., Zare-Behtash, H., and Busse, A.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Molecular Biosciences; College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Autonomous Systems and Connectivity; College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1751-6161
• ISSN (Online): 1878-0180
• Published Online: 21 August 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd.
• First Published: First published in Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials 112:104041
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher
• Data DOI: 10.5525/gla.researchdata.988