Evaluación de la probabilidad de falla de árboles urbanos usando tecnologías no destructivas

Urban trees provide ecosystem services of great importance to the city. To take advantage of these services, it is important that the trees are in good condition, minimizing the risk to people, goods, and essential activities due to the fall of branches or entire trees. Therefore, their condition must be duly evaluated to favor their presence in the city with acceptable levels of risk. The main goal of this research was to compare assessments of likelihood of failure of urban trees using three levels of risk assessment, as well as to study the combination of visual assessment with results obtained from non-destructive technologies. Thirty-two trees of the genera Eucalyptus and Tipuana, located in an urban park in Montevideo, Uruguay, were evaluated. Two assessors with experience in visual assessment and non-destructive equipment used three levels of assessment according to ANSI A300. For levels 1 and 2, descriptors based on the ISA/BMP method were used. For level 3, evaluations were performed with a drilling resistance equipment and an acoustic tomograph. The basic visual assessments and non-destructive analyses could be linked, especially in trees that had some evidence of structural problems in stems.