Author(s): Jiangtao Yang; Frank Seidel; Mario J. Franca

Linked Author(s): Frank Seidel

Keywords: Large wood; Wood motion; Wood degradation; Wood-shaped sensor; Wood budget

Abstract: When transported in rivers, large wood elements interact among themselves and with flow, sediments, riverbed and riverbanks, leading to its physical debarking. This debarking process in rivers is mainly dominated by the motion and impact of the large wood, but the relationship between these is still unclear. Here, we introduce an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) based motion sensor, enclosed in a 3D wood-shaped casing, to monitor the motion and impact of large wood during fluvial transport. The motion sensor enables us to monitor accelerations and motion direction through a gyroscope, along three axes in a Cartesian Coordinate system. The 3D printed casing is made with controlled geometry, inertia and density to represent the motion of large wood during fluvial transport. Two tests, including a pendulum test, and a rotation test, were conducted to investigate the accuracy the accelerometer and gyroscope signals. Results show that the sensor can well capture the accelerometer and gyroscope in the pendulum and rotation tests. Additionally, preliminary results of the sensor when transported in a flume flow will be presented. Future work will focus on monitoring complex motion in flume and field experiments, interpreting wood movement using IMU signals, and ultimately linking motion characteristics to physical debarking processes during fluvial transport.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64697/iahr.proc.ise2026.abs.200

Year: 2026