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The Venfor project : wind and forest interactions from the tree scale to the landscape scale

Brunet Y., Fourcaud T., Achim A., Belcher R., Calmet I., Caltagirone J.P., Cleugh H.A., De Coligny F., et al.. 2003. In : Eds B. Ruck, C. Kottmeier, C. Mattheck, C. Quine, G. Wilhelm. Proceedings of the International Conference Wind Effect on Trees, Karlsruhe, September 16-18, 2003. Karlsruhe : Universität Karlsruhe, p. 3-8. International conference on the wind effects on trees, 2003-09-16/2003-09-18, Karlsruhe (Allemagne).

The Venfor project was set up in the aftermath of the December 1999 stroms that strongly affected European forests. Its ultimate goal is to provide tools for predicting tree motion in various turbulent fields representing the natural environment of a tree, relative to its position in a forested landscape (distance to the edge, edge shape, forest fragmentation...). The project is structured along four main directions: (1) development of a biomechanical model able to simulate instantaneous tree motion in a given turbulent environment; (2) simultaneous acquisition of mechanical and dynamical data in a homogeneous forest in order to analyse tree motion and provide a data basis for the validation of the biomechanical model; (3) experimental characterization and numerical modelling of turbulent flow in edge regions; (4) analysis of the influence of forest fragmentation on the atmospheric flow in three-dimensional landscapes, using information from wind-tunnel experiments, numerical modelling and analysis of observed damages. This international and multidisciplinary project combines in-situ measurements, wind-tunnel experiments and the development of numerical models.

Mots-clés : forêt; arbre; résistance au vent; projet de recherche; modèle mathématique; modèle de simulation; propriété mécanique; population végétale

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