Biomechanical Replication of Salt Marsh Vegetation using Resin 3D Printing

authored by: Kara Keimer, Viktoria Kosmalla, Oliver Lojek, Nils Goseberg
Abstract: Climate change and sea-level rise have increased the scientific and societal interest in ecosystem services. Salt marshes, dunes and oyster reefs are prominent examples of ecosystems, where research groups systematically assess processes and aim to utilize system related characteristics, e.g. hydrodynamic resistance, for coastal protection measures. To investigate wave-current-vegetation interaction processes in salt marsh meadows under controlled conditions, biomechanical behavior of live vegetation needs to be replicated and scaled for laboratory experiments. Surrogate vegetation has been used before in a broad spectrum of investigations, while in regards to modeling biomechanical properties and transferring the results onto vegetated foreshores, shortcomings-like dynamical scaling-have been identified. Therefore, this study investigates the possibility of using resin 3D printing as a highly customizable option for salt marsh vegetation modeling. To compare the Young’s modulus of both, the resin model and live vegetation, three-point bending tests are performed. This approach to model salt marsh vegetation shows high potential to realistically model and represent salt marsh vegetation’s biomechanical characteristics, while further research needs to be conducted to fully comprehend the influencing parameters and optimal materials for each vegetation species, seasonality and scaling.
Organisation(s): Coastal Research Centre
External Organisation(s): Technische Universität Braunschweig
Type: Conference contribution
Publication date: 2022
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Engineering (miscellaneous), Civil and Structural Engineering, Ocean Engineering, Water Science and Technology
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 13 - Climate Action
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.3850/IAHR-39WC252171192022SS2087 (Access: Closed)