Mechanical response of young canes of wind-blown kiwifruit vines
Kiwifruit vines with broad leaves are easily torn or shed by high-speed wind. In this study, the threshold wind speed at which a cane is broken was investigated experimentally with varying physical parameters of a kiwifruit vine under two different ABL (atmospheric boundary layer) conditions. In addition, the temporal variation of wind-blown young canes was visualized using a high-speed camera. The average threshold wind speeds for ABL types A and B are about 20.5 m/s and 18.9 m/s, respectively. A wind-blown young cane takes periodic up-and-down motion when it is broken off. The mean fluttering frequency of young canes of the kiwifruit vines was found to be about 4.5 Hz.
threshold wind speed temporal variation fluttering frequency kiwifruit cane wind damage