A Guide for Tree-stability Analysis

A Guide for Tree-stability Analysis

Cited by PHD thesis, publishing researchers and authors in the field, public authorities of the United Kingdom, the Outdoor Council of Australia, reknowned experts and consulting arborists,..

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A basis for your daily tree-work and a guidance for your expertises: a new and accesible, scientifically proved (Arboricultural Journal 2006), method for the visual assessment of trees.

The book solves part of the controverse between the two big-business, openly opposed VTA versus SIM/SIA, methods.

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Download this book for free in the i-net and enhance it with the 2006-2008 publications*, to finetune its content.

Abstract

This guide offers a deeper understanding of how a tree fails and how to prevent it. A profound and intuitive knowledge of the inherent perversity of materials and structures, mathematics and trees, is one of the most precious qualities an arborist can have.

It is not necessary here to chew again on all types of symptoms of structural defects that can be found of a tree. The current offer of literature that deals with visual assessment is huge, and these works are good references as far as common symptoms are concerned.

This small book briefly describes the principles upon which the author’s protocol is based: mycology, biology, mathematics, wind engineering, mechanical behaviours and visual assessment. But above all pleads for the integration of current methods, criteria, knowledge and common sense....

Peter Sterken

Foreword by Wim Peeters

Ever since Prof. A. L. Shigo presented his CODIT model to the world, knowledge on trees improved enormously. In stead of trying to heal a tree, a case what seemed to be rather difficult, improvement of growing conditions and preventing a tree to weaken and get infected by pathogens of any kind became the new starting point for arboriculture.

A lot of problems have been solved in the past, but still a lot of questions are to be answered, and maybe have not been asked yet. One of the main questions to be worked on is a question on the stability and safety of trees, especially in an urban environment.

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This book does not claim to give all the answers. It even will give no answers that have not been given in other publications. The advantage of this book is that it will bring together the answers that are given on different aspects of tree-diagnosis.

A lot of research on different aspects of tree-stability is done, each starting from one specific point of view. Trees have been researched, on their dynamic, static and biological aspects. To get to results, it was necessary to see a tree as just a static, dynamic or living mass. All starting points to gather knowledge on trees were definitely good ones, just because there was still a lot of knowledge to be gathered and brought together.

So this book can in no way be seen as an attack to anybody who ever did any kind of research on any aspect of trees, or on any of the results they got.

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But as a tree is not just a static, dynamic or biological mass, all the knowledge gathered in these different scientific fields one day should be brought together.

That is what this book tries to do: bring together all existing knowledge on tree-stability, what should lead to a better diagnosis of tree-problems. But as there is still a lot of knowledge on trees still waiting to be discovered, this book can not claim to be complete, nor to give all the answers. It is just what it claims to be: one small step upwards the knowledge and understanding of trees. Tree-diagnosis does not start with this book, neither does it stops here, it is just one step upwards, hopefully in the right direction.

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“Prognosis of the development of decay and the ...