scholarly journals Preferential Root Tropisms in 2D Wet Granular Media with Structural Inhomogeneities

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesare M. Cejas ◽  
Lawrence A. Hough ◽  
Raphaël Beaufret ◽  
Jean-Christophe Castaing ◽  
Christian Frétigny ◽  
...  

Abstract We investigate certain aspects of the physical mechanisms of root growth in a granular medium and how these roots adapt to changes in water distribution induced by the presence of structural inhomogeneities in the form of solid intrusions. Physical intrusions such as a square rod added into the 2D granular medium maintain robust capillary action, pumping water from the more saturated areas at the bottom of the cell towards the less saturated areas near the top of the cell while the rest of the medium is slowly devoid of water via evaporation. The intrusion induces “preferential tropism” of roots by first generating a humidity gradient that attracts the root to grow towards it. Then it guides the roots and permits them to grow deeper into more saturated regions in the soil. This further allows more efficient access to available water in the deeper sections of the medium thereby resulting to increased plant lifetime.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. eabd2711
Author(s):  
Jean-François Louf ◽  
Nancy B. Lu ◽  
Margaret G. O’Connell ◽  
H. Jeremy Cho ◽  
Sujit S. Datta

Hydrogels hold promise in agriculture as reservoirs of water in dry soil, potentially alleviating the burden of irrigation. However, confinement in soil can markedly reduce the ability of hydrogels to absorb water and swell, limiting their widespread adoption. Unfortunately, the underlying reason remains unknown. By directly visualizing the swelling of hydrogels confined in three-dimensional granular media, we demonstrate that the extent of hydrogel swelling is determined by the competition between the force exerted by the hydrogel due to osmotic swelling and the confining force transmitted by the surrounding grains. Furthermore, the medium can itself be restructured by hydrogel swelling, as set by the balance between the osmotic swelling force, the confining force, and intergrain friction. Together, our results provide quantitative principles to predict how hydrogels behave in confinement, potentially improving their use in agriculture as well as informing other applications such as oil recovery, construction, mechanobiology, and filtration.


1993 ◽  
Vol 07 (09n10) ◽  
pp. 1779-1788 ◽  
Author(s):  
JASON A.C. GALLAS ◽  
HANS J. HERRMANN ◽  
STEFAN SOKOLOWSKI

When sand or other granular materials are shaken, poured or sheared many intriguing phenomena can be observed. We will model the granular medium by a packing of elastic spheres and simulate it via Molecular Dynamics. Dissipation of energy and shear friction at collisions are included. The onset of fluidization can be determined and is in good agreement with experiments. On a vibrating plate we observe the formation of convection cells due to walls or amplitude modulations. Density and velocity profiles on conveyor belts are measured and the influence of an obstacle discussed. We mention various types of rheology for flow down an inclined chute or through a pipe and outflowing containers.


2000 ◽  
Vol 627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Fraysse ◽  
Luc Petit

ABSTRACTExperiments were performed under accurately-controlled humidity conditions in order to quantify effects induced by humidity on granular materials. Measurements of the maximal stability angle of a pile made of small glass beads are reported as a function of the relative vapor pressure in the cell, up to close to saturation. The comparison of the results obtained with fluids differing in their molecular interactions with glass, namely water and heptane, shows that the wetting properties of the interstitial liquid on the grains have a strong influence on the cohesion of the non-saturated granular medium. This suggests that gravimetric experiments which could indirectly give information on the size of the capillary bridges that form between grains should be useful to understand the close connection that exists, through interparticle forces, between microscopic properties such as wetting properties and surface roughness of the grains, and global-scale properties of the pile, as its stability and flowability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 11004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei P. Khomenko ◽  
Sergey K. Kargapoltsev ◽  
Andrey V. Eliseev

The article deals with the development of mathematical models and evaluation criteria of the vibration field in the dynamic interactions of the elements of the vibrational technological machines for the processes of vibrational strengthening of long-length parts with help of a steel balls working medium. The study forms a theoretical understanding of the modes of motions of material particles in interaction with a vibrating surface of the working body of the vibration machine. The generalized approach to the assessment of the dynamic quality of the work of vibrating machines in multiple modes of tossing, when the period of free flight of particles is a multiple of the period of the surface oscillations of the working body, is developed in the article. For the correction of vibration field of the working body, the characteristics of dynamic interactions of granular elements of the medium are taken into account using original sensors. The sensors that can detect different particularities of interaction of the granular medium elements at different points of the working body are proposed to evaluate the deviation from a homogeneous and one-dimensional mode of vibration field. Specially developed sensors are able to register interactions between a single granule, a system of granules in filamentous structures, and multipoint interactions of the elements in a close-spaced cylindrical structure. The system of regularization of the structure of vibration fields based on the introduction of motion translation devices is proposed using the multi-point sensor locations on the working body. The article refers to analytical approaches of the theory of vibration displacements. For the experimental data assessment, the methods of statistical analysis are applied. It is shown that the peculiar features of the motion of granular medium registered by the sensors can be used to build active control systems of field vibration.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 807-814
Author(s):  
Xiaolin Song ◽  
Xiaodong Gao ◽  
Paul Reese Weckler ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Jie Yao ◽  
...  

HighlightsAn in-situ rainwater collection and infiltration (RWCI) method is a rainwater catchment utilization techniqueRWCI is advantageous for increasing sustainable plant-avaibale water to increase drought resistanceRWCI significantly increased the amount of water and nutrients in the rhizosphere for uptake by apple tree rootsABSTRACT. A two-year field experiment was undertaken to determine the spatial distribution of plant-available water and roots in soil profiles under two rainfall control systems—an in-situ rainwater collection and infiltration (RWCI) method and a semi-circular basin (SCB)—in apple orchards in the Loess Plateau of China. The results showed that the RWCI treatments with a soil depth of 40 cm (RWCI40), 60 cm (RWCI60), and 80 cm (RWCI80) significantly increased plant-available water in different seasons and depths and increased root growth of apple trees in the experimental soil profile (0–200 cm). At 0–200 cm soil depth, then RWCI treatments had significantly higher (91.86%-110.01%) mean plant-available water storage (PAWS) than the SCB treatment in both study years (2015 and 2016). From 0–120 cm soil depth, the RWCI60 treatment had significantly higher growing season mean PAWS than RWCI40 and RWCI80; however, RWCI80 had the highest from 120–200 cm. From 0–60 cm, the RWCI treatments had 25.84%-36.86% a smaller proportion of root system than the SCB treatment. However, from 60–120 cm, the proportion of root system increased by 131.53% (RWCI40), 157.95% (RWCI60) and 129.98% (RWCI80), relative to SCB. From 0–200 cm, the RWCI treatments had 1.49–1.94 times more root dry weight density than the SCB treatment. The highest concentration of fine roots occurred in the RWCI treatments. Thus, RWCI enabled roots to absorb more water and nutrients from a wider wetted area and improved drought resistance. Keywords: Drought resistance, Fine roots, Loess Plateau, Plant-available water, Spatial distribution.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1083 ◽  
pp. 75-79
Author(s):  
Alexander Sandulyak ◽  
Anna Sandulyak ◽  
Vera Ershova ◽  
Petr Shkatov

We analyze previously not studied issue on the value, nature and manifestation f a demagnetizing factor of effective channels-magnets formed in magnetized granular media by the chains of contacting granules. We provide the factor values for conditionally defined quasi-solid cores of the channels varying in length and diameter, as well as a corresponding consolidating expression which turned out to be exponential with such an argument as the radical of the core relative size. We emphasize full agreement of this expression with the one for a granular medium, i.e. the medium consisting, basically, of the effective channels bundle according to the developed theory of channel-by-channel (selective) magnetization of granular ferro-magnetic media used, e.g. as operating elements in versatile magnetic separators.


1998 ◽  
Vol 543 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Restagno ◽  
H. Gayvallet ◽  
L. Bocquet ◽  
E. Charlaix

AbstractWe present a study of humidity effects on the maximum stability angle in granular media. We show that a granular medium of small glass beads exhibits aging properties: the first avalanche angle increases logarithmically with the resting time of the pile. This aging behavior is found to depend on the relative humidity of the surrounding atmosphere. A short interpretation of this effect, based on a model of activated capillary condensation, is proposed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
I Wayan Aditya Putra Pratama ◽  
I Wayan Tika ◽  
I Putu Gede Budisanjaya

ABSTRAK Berkurangnya ketersediaan air irigasi dapat disebabkan oleh debit air sungai yang turun pada musim kemarau, hilangnya air pada saluran irigasi, dan evaporasi. Dengan demikian, upaya-upaya penghematan perlu dilakukan seperti sistem pergiliran dalam pemberian air irigasi dan proposi dalam ditribusi air irigasi pada setiap subak. Penelitian dilakukan untuk mengetahui persentase pengehematan air irigasi yang ada pada suatu subak dan proposi pemberian air irigasi pada saat kurangnya ketersediaan air. Perolehan data primer dilakukan dengan metode wawancara, pengamatan, dan pengukuran sedangkan data sekunder diperoleh dari BMKG Wilayah III Denpasar. Data yang dikumpulkan selanjutnya akann dianalisis untuk mencari persentase pengehematan yang terjadi pada saat kekurangan air dan proposi distribusi air irigasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukan metode pergiliran dilakukan pada saat debit air tersedia tidak bisa memenuhi kebutuhan air irigasi. Metode pergiliran dilakukan pada subak bagian tengah dan subak bagian hulu pada bulan April sampai Mei. Metode pergiliran dilakukan dengan menurunkan jumlah kebutuhan air irigasi dan memberikan air irigasi sesuai dengan debit tersedia dengan rentang waktu setiap dua hari. Subak bagian hulu tidak terjadi penghematan karena proses pergiliran tidak berjalan, penghematan air irigasi pada subak bagian tengah rata-rata sebesar 28,3 persen dan subak bagian hilir sebesar 24 persen. Dengan penerapan metode pergiliran pada saat kekurangan air irigasi kebutuhan air irigasi bisa terpenuhi oleh debit air yang tersedia. Untuk mencapai proposional penghemtan air irigasi pada bulan April sampai Mei, pada subak bagian hulu air irigasi diturunkan sebesar 17,46 persen, subak tengah dinaikan 13,37 persen, dan subak hilir dinaikan 9,84 persen. ABSTRACT Availability of irrigation water can be influenced by the discharge of river water that drops in the dry season, loss of water in irrigation channels and evaporation. Thus, austerity measures need to be made such as a system of turns in irrigation water and balanced in the attribution of irrigation water on each subak. Research was conducted to determine the percentage of irrigation water storage present in a subak and the proportion of irrigation water at a time of lack of water availability. The acquisition of primary data is done by interviewing, observation, and measurement methods while secondary data is obtained from BMKG Region III Denpasar. The data collected will then be analyzed to look for the percentage of storage that occurs during water shortages and the balanced of irrigation water distribution. The results showed the method of turns was carried out when the discharge of available water could not meet the needs of irrigation water. The turns method occurs in the middle and upper subak from April to May. The method of turns is carried out by lowering the amount of irrigation water needs and providing irrigation water according to the discharge available with a time span every two days. The upstream subak does not have any savings because the rotating process is not running, irrigation water savings in the central subak averaged 28,3 percent and downstream subak by 24 percent. Water rotational method can be used when there is a shortage of irrigation water, therefor water needs can be met by the discharge of available water. To achieve the proportional irrigation water supply in April to May, the upper subak of irrigation water was lowered by 17,46 percent, the central subak was increased by 13,37 percent, and the downstream subak was increased by 9,84.


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