Table 1 Glossary of terms
From: The effect of plant weight on estimations of stalk lodging resistance
Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Bending Moment | The result of multiplying a force by the perpendicular distance from the force to the axis about which the bending moment is being calculated. Conceptually can be thought of as a torque |
Bending Stress | A measure of the force experienced by the plant tissues that is normalized to size and geometry |
Body Forces | Forces acting on the plant due to the gravity |
Contact Forces | Forces that occur when other solid materials contact the plant |
External Forces | Forces that are applied to the plant from an external source (e.g. Contact Forces or Surface Forces). Body Forces are not an External Force |
Stalk Flexural Stiffness | Flexural stiffness is a standard structural engineering quantity for measuring the flexural (i.e., bending) deformability of objects. It is equal to the elastic modulus of the material multiplied by the moment of inertia (a geometric term which quantifies the distribution of mass about the object’s centroid). During mechanical phenotyping tests of plant stalks flexural stiffness is typically calculated by applying a force, measuring deflection and using Castigliano’s energy method to indirectly solve for flexural stiffness |
Stalk Bending Strength | The maximum bending moment the plant can support before structural failure occurs (i.e., before breaking) |
Surface Forces | Forces that are distributed across the plant’s surface |