Mechanics of a Plant in Fluid Flow

TL;DR

This review explores the mechanics of how plants interact with fluid flows, emphasizing large deformations and dynamic phenomena, to enhance understanding in biology, ecology, and engineering applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of fluid-structure interactions in plants, integrating fluid mechanics, plant biomechanics, and ecological implications, with future research directions.

Findings

Characterization of plant-fluid interactions using dimensionless numbers

Analysis of reconfiguration, flutter, and vortex-induced vibrations in plants

Implications for biomass production and ecological adaptation

Abstract

Plants live in constantly moving fluid, whether air or water. In response to the loads associated with fluid motion, plants bend and twist, often with great amplitude. These large deformations are not found in traditional engineering application and thus necessitate new specialised scientific developments. Studying Fluid-Structure Interactions (FSI) in botany, forestry and agricultural science is crucial to the optimisation of biomass production for food, energy, and construction materials. FSI are also central in the study of the ecological adaptation of plants to their environment. This review paper surveys the mechanics of FSI on individual plants. We present a short refresher on fluids mechanics then dive in the statics and dynamics of plant-fluid interactions. For every phenomenon considered, we present the appropriate dimensionless numbers to characterise the problem, discuss the implications of these phenomena on biological processes, and propose future research avenues. We cover the concept of reconfiguration while considering poroelasticity, torsion, chirality, buoyancy, and skin friction. We also cover the dynamical phenomena of wave action, flutter, and vortex-induced vibrations.