Authors : Radon Dhelika, Wahyu Nirbito and Anantama Karis
Abstract: Tree is an important part of urban ecology. Therefore, the condition of trees from time to time should be routinely monitored in order to avoid the case of falling trees that often take casualties. There have been several methods to detect such defects as an early indicator of tree’s condition for example by acoustic tomography intrusive indentation, etc. This study proposes a new detection method by assessing changes in natural frequency of a tree when a defect is present. The selected tree is Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Bahasa Indonesia: Sengon Buto) and the defect in the form of cavities is set to be the focal point. Natural frequencies are obtained with the help of an FEM Software. Several simulations are conducted under different geometrical parameters of a cylindrical-shaped cavity in the tree model. With diameter at breast height of 240 mm and height of 7 m, the natural frequency obtained is 3.19 Hz and the maximum change that occurs with the presence of cavities recorded in this study is 3.9%. The results show a potential for the use of natural frequency as a way for tree’s condition monitoring.
Radon Dhelika, Wahyu Nirbito and Anantama Karis, 2019. Simulation Studies of the Effect of Cavity on the Natural Frequency of an Enterolobium Cyclocarpum Tree. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 14: 5084-5090.