Experimental study on nucleation process of stick-slip instability on homogeneous and non-homogeneous faults

The nucleation process of stick-slip instability was analyzed based on the experimental measurements of strain and fault slip on homogeneous and non-homogeneous faults. The results show that the nucleation process of stick-slip on the homogeneous fault is of weak slip-weakening behavior under constant loading point velocity. The existence of a short “weak segment” on the fault makes slip-weakening phenomenon in nucleation process more obvious, while the existence of a long “weak segment” on the fault makes the nucleation process changed. The nucleation is characterized by accelerating slip in a local region and rapid increase of shear stress along the fault in this case, which is more coincident with the rate and state friction law. During the period when fault is locked, increasing of shear stress causes lateral elastic dilation near the fault, and the rebound of the dilation at the time of instability causes an instantaneous increase of normal stress in the fault plane, which is an important factor making fault be rapidly locked and its strength recovered.     

Experimental study on nucleation process of stick-slip instability on homogeneous and non-homogeneous faults

The nucleation process of stick-slip instability was analyzed based on the experimental measurements of strain and fault slip on homogeneous and non-homogeneous faults. The results show that the nucleation process of stick-slip on the homogeneous fault is of weak slip-weakening behavior under constant loading point velocity. The existence of a short "weak segment" on the fault makes slip-weakening phenomenon in nucleation process more obvious, while the existence of a long "weak segment" on the fault makes the nucleation process changed. The nucleation is characterized by accelerating slip in a local region and rapid increase of shear stress along the fault in this case, which is more coincident with the rate and state friction law. During the period when fault is locked, increasing of shear stress causes lateral elastic dilation near the fault, and the rebound of the dilation at the time of instability causes an instantaneous increase of normal stress in the fault plane, which is an important factor making fault be rapidly locked and its strength recovered.     

Construction of an Intraplate Fault System Model of South Australia, and Simulation Tool for the iSERVO Institute Seed Project

To foster ongoing international cooperation beyond ACES (APEC Cooperation for Earthquake Simulation) on the simulation of solid earth phenomena, agreement was reached to work towards establishment of a frontier international research institute for simulating the solid earth: iSERVO = International Solid Earth Research Virtual Observatory institute (http://www.iservo.edu.au). This paper outlines a key Australian contribution towards the iSERVO institute seed project, this is the construction of: (1) a typical intraplate fault system model using practical fault system data of South Australia (i.e., SA interacting fault model), which includes data management and editing, geometrical modeling and mesh generation; and (2) a finite-element based software tool, which is built on our long-term and ongoing effort to develop the R-minimum strategy based finite-element computational algorithm and software tool for modelling three-dimensional nonlinear frictional contact behavior between multiple deformable bodies with the arbitrarily-shaped contact element strategy. A numerical simulation of the SA fault system is carried out using this software tool to demonstrate its capability and our efforts towards seeding the iSERVO Institute.     

Finite Element Analysis of a Sandwich Friction Experiment Model of Rocks

-- Sandwich friction experiments are one of the most widely used standard methods for measuring the frictional behavior between rocks. A finite element code for modeling the nonlinear friction contact between elastoplastic bodies has been developed and extended to analyze the sandwich friction experiment model with a rate- and state-dependent friction law. The influences of prescribed slip velocity and variation of movement direction and state on the friction coefficient, the relative slip velocity, the normal contact force, the frictional force, the critical frictional force and the transition of stick-slip state between the deformable rocks are thoroughly investigated, respectively. The calculated results demonstrate the usefulness of this code for simulating the friction behavior between rocks.     

正应力扰动对断层滑动失稳影响的实验研究

利用双轴伺服控制加载装置,采用三块花岗闪长岩标本组成的含有两个滑动面的直剪结构,开展了摩擦滑动实验.实验中通过在垂直滑动面的载荷上叠加正弦波状和方波状的扰动,研究了正应力扰动对断层黏滑失稳的影响.研究表明,在恒定的正应力和位移速率下,标本表现为规则的黏滑,叠加正应力扰动后,随扰动振幅的增加黏滑发生时间与扰动的相关性增大,黏滑应力降和时间间隔的分布趋于离散.黏滑应力降和时间间隔的平均值随平均正应力的增加呈线性增长,扰动叠加后黏滑应力降的离散度随平均正应力的增加而增大;黏滑应力降和时间间隔主要受应力变化幅度的影响,而与应力变化的速率关系不大.剪应力和正应力扰动都会对断层黏滑失稳产生影响,而正应力扰动的影响更明显.这两种扰动对断层黏滑失稳影响的机制存在差异,剪应力扰动只是改变断层滑动的推动力,而正应力扰动则改变了断层面上凹凸体的接触状态.     

Effect of fault jogs on frictional behavior: An experimental study

Studying the effect of geometrically irregular bodies on the mechanical behavior of fault activity is of significance in understanding the seismic activity along a fault zone. By using rock mechanics ex- periment with medium-scale samples, we have studied the effect of fault jogs, the most common irregularity along fault zones, on frictional behavior. The research indicates that extensional fault jog can be easily fractured because of its low strength and the fractured jog has no obvious resistance to fault sliding, and the micro-fractures occurring in the jog are indicative of stick-slip along the faults. The fault zone containing extensional jogs is characterized by velocity weakening and can be described by rate and state friction law. Compressional fault jog makes fault sliding more difficult because of its high fracturing strength, but the micro-fractures occurring in the tensile areas around fault ends at higher stress level can provide necessary condition for occurrence of stick-slip along the faults before the jog is fractured and thus act as precursors of fault instability. Compression jog can be taken as a stable indicator of fault segmentation until the jog is completely fractured and two faults are linked.     

THE GEOLOGICAL AND ROCK MECHANICAL DISTINCTION EVIDENCE BETWEEN STICK-SLIP AND CREEP IN HOST ROCK SEGMENTS OF FAULT

Paleo-seismic and fault activity are hard to distinguish in host rock areas compared with soft sedimentary segments of fault. However, fault frictional experiments could obtain the conditions of stable and unstable slide, as well as the microstructures of fault gouge, which offer some identification marks between stick-slip and creep of fault. We summarized geological and rock mechanical distinction evidence between stick-slip and creep in host rock segments of fault, and analyzed the physical mechanisms which controlled the behavior of stick-slip and creep. The chemical composition of fault gouge is most important to control stick-slip and creep. Gouge composed by weak minerals, such as clay mineral, has velocity weakening behavior, which causes stable slide of fault. Gouge with rock-forming minerals, such as calcite, quartz, feldspar, pyroxene, has stick-slip behavior under condition of focal depth. To the gouge with same chemical composition, the deformation mechanism controls the frictional slip. It is essential condition to stick slip for brittle fracture companied by dilatation, but creep is controlled by compaction and cataclasis as well as ductile shear with foliation and small fold. However, under fluid conditions, pressure solution which healed the fractures and caused strength recovery of fault, is the original reason of unstable slide, and also resulted in locking of fault with high pore pressure in core of fault zone. Contrast with that, rock-forming minerals altered to phyllosilicates in the gouges by fluid flow through degenerative reaction and hydrolysis reaction, which produced low friction fault and transformations to creep. The creep process progressively developed several wide shear zones including of R, Y, T, P shear plane that comprise gouge zones embedded into wide damage zones, which caused small earthquake distributed along wide fault zones with focal mechanism covered by normal fault, strike-slip fault and reverse fault. However, the stick-slip produced mirror-like slide surfaces with very narrow gouges along R shear plane and Y shear plane, which caused small earthquake distributed along narrow fault zones with single kind of focal mechanism.     

Analysis of stick-slip and earthquake mechanism

A mathematical model of a sliding system that contains a frictional surface embedded in an elastic specimen and machine is proposed to analyze the frictional behavior observed in laboratory and field. It is shown that stick-slip occurs if the slope of the velocity-stress relation on the sliding surface exceeds a critical value at a certain point between static and kinetic frictions. This condition, coupled with Amontons' law and other subsidiary relations, predicts the effects of normal stress, gouge thickness, temperature, and loading rate etc. on the stick-slip instability, consistent with known experimental evidence. The elastic-wave radiation associated with stick-slip is governed by Brune's source time function, in which rise time and effective stress are proportional to fault dimension and stress drop, respectively.     

利用模板匹配技术检测米尺度岩石断层黏滑实验中的声发射事件

声发射观测是岩石摩擦实验中研究强震孕育机制的重要观测手段之一.传统的声发射观测以触发记录为主,难以捕捉并提取微弱的声发射信号.近年来天然地震学中发展的模板匹配技术可以在连续波形记录中识别出微弱的事件,大大提升事件检测能力.本文发展了适用于多通道连续记录的声发射信号的模板匹配技术,并将该技术应用于分析米尺度岩石断层黏滑失稳过程.研究结果显示:模板匹配技术识别出的声发射数量约为传统方法识别的5倍,相对完备震级降低约0.3.临近失稳,检测目录完备震级以上声发射率表现出幂律增加的特征,且声发射事件聚集在失稳破裂起始点附近.失稳后,检测目录完备震级以上声发射率表现出幂律衰减,其中失稳后早期表现出较慢的衰减速度.另外,失稳后早期声发射事件表现出随对数时间沿断层迁移的趋势.最后,通过与天然地震学观测的结果对比表明,声发射模板匹配识别技术是研究大尺度岩石摩擦滑动失稳过程中前震和余震时空演化规律的有效手段,该技术助于在方法上为室内实验和野外观测进行融合研究提供思路.     

摩擦生热对断层演化过程的影响:Ruina-和Chester-Higgs-模型的对比分析

利用速率-状态摩擦定律(Rate-and State-Dependent Friction Law:简称RSF定律),结合McKenzie-Brune摩擦生热模型,本文分别从Ruina提出的RSF定律和Chester-Higgs提出的RSF定律出发,通过一维弹簧-滑块模型,采用四阶变步长的Dormand-Prince算法,对断层演化过程进行了数值模拟,探讨了摩擦生热对断层演化进程的影响.模拟结果显示,与Ruina-模型相比,Chester-Higgs-模型在断层高速滑动时存有更大的摩擦强度,表明摩擦生热对断层具有一定的强化作用,且同临界滑移距离的取值相关.而且,Chester-Higgs-模型在失稳时的断层面温度远远低于Ruina-模型,表明摩擦生热在断层演化过程中能抑制断层面温度的剧烈升高,且正应力和临界滑移距离越大,两种模型的温差越为明显,而断层的刚度和尺度则对温度的影响很小.模拟两种模型周期演化过程的结果表明,在相同的初始条件下,Chester-Higgs-模型给出的断层失稳周期明显比Ruina-模型更短,说明摩擦生热对断层自身演化最显著的影响是较大地缩短了地震重复发生周期.当断层进入周期性演化后,Chester-Higgs-模型给出的摩擦强度大于Ruina-模型,且对第一次非周期性失稳的摩擦强度和剩余应力的继承性更好.另外,由ChesterHiggs-模型给出的静态应力降远小于Ruina-模型给出的结果,所对应的单个事件的滑移量也小于Ruina-模型.     

Period Doubling Bifurcation of Stress Drop for Stick-slip and Its Physical Implication

It is revealed in frictional experiments on medium-scale samples that period doubling bifurcation of stress drop for stick-slip occurs due to macroscopic heterogeneity of the sliding surface under conditions for typical stick-slip.The observed data show that the period doubling bifurcation of stress drop results from the alternate occurrence of strain release along the whole fault and along part of fault.This implies that complicated nonlinear behavior corresponds to clear physical implication in some cases.     

Fault interaction and seismicity: Laboratory investigation and its seismotectonic interpretation

Systems of two parallel linear faults of the same length with the angle of inclination =45° were investigated under uniaxial linearly increasing load. Perspex plates were used as models. For each treated fault configuration the morphology of tensile cracks and the sequence of seismoacoustic events of shear and tensile origin were studied.It is shown that the seismic regime of a fault system is strongly influenced by the contact conditions on a fault plane; it is different in the faults with the aseismic contact, represented by open slits, and in the faults with the seismoactive contact, represented by filled slits, respectively.The experiments proved the dominating role of a fast shear displacement of the stick-slip type in the regime of seismic energy release of a fault system. The tensile crack generation seems to be only of little—if not negligible—importance. On the other hand, the existence of tensile cracks in a fault system can play an important role in the course of subsequent loading cycles because the stick-slip displacements can take place not only along the primary faults but also along the planes of tensile cracks.A comparison of some results of model experiments and the already published results of geological and seismological investigations indicated that the way of seismic energy relase on faults in nature and in the laboratory could be of the same character. Several analogies between the seismic regime of a fault model and of real seismic regions were found concerning the morphology of faults, off-fault fore- and aftershocks, and earthquake doublets, respectively.     

Slip Sequences in Laboratory Experiments Resulting from Inhomogeneous Shear as Analogs of Earthquakes Associated with a Fault Edge

Faults are intrinsically heterogeneous with common occurrences of jogs, edges and steps. We therefore explore experimentally and theoretically how fault edges may affect earthquake and slip dynamics. In the presented experiments and accompanying theoretical model, shear loads are applied to the edge of one of two flat blocks in frictional contact that form a fault analog. We show that slip occurs via a sequence of rapid rupture events that initiate from the loading edge and are arrested after propagating a finite distance. Each successive event extends the slip size, transfers the applied shear across the block, and causes progressively larger changes of the contact area along the contact surface. Resulting from this sequence of events, a hard asperity is dynamically formed near the loaded edge. The contact area beyond this asperity is largely reduced. These sequences of rapid events culminate in slow slip events that precede a major, unarrested slip event along the entire contact surface. We suggest that the 1998 M5.0 Sendai and 1995 off-Etorofu earthquake sequences may correspond to this scenario. Our work demonstrates, qualitatively, how the simplest deviation from uniform shear loading may significantly affect both earthquake nucleation processes and how fault complexity develops.     

剪切破裂与粘滑——浅源强震发震机制的研究

周口店花岗闪长岩的高温高压三轴实验和理论分析表明,剪切破裂和摩擦滑移具有类似的孕育过程和发生机制。剪切破裂贯通强度就是一种摩擦强度。剪切破裂和摩擦滑移各自都有渐进式和突发式之分。突发式摩擦滑移是已有断层的粘滑滑移。突发式剪切破裂则是完整岩石的初始粘滑滑移。考虑到地壳温度随深度增加,完整岩石剪裂强震要求较高的围压,因此,多数浅源强震的发震方式很可能是已有断层的粘滑     

Simulation of the Influence of Rate- and State-dependent Friction on the Macroscopic Behavior of Complex Fault Zones with the Lattice Solid Model

-- In order to understand the earthquake nucleation process, we need to understand the effective frictional behavior of faults with complex geometry and fault gouge zones. One important aspect of this is the interaction between the friction law governing the behavior of the fault on the microscopic level and the resulting macroscopic behavior of the fault zone. Numerical simulations offer a possibility to investigate the behavior of faults on many different scales and thus provide a means to gain insight into fault zone dynamics on scales which are not accessible to laboratory experiments. Numerical experiments have been performed to investigate the influence of the geometric configuration of faults with a rate- and state-dependent friction at the particle contacts on the effective frictional behavior of these faults. The numerical experiments are designed to be similar to laboratory experiments by Dieterich and Kilgore (1994) in which a slide-hold-slide cycle was performed between two blocks of material and the resulting peak friction was plotted vs. holding time. Simulations with a flat fault without a fault gouge have been performed to verify the implementation. These have shown close agreement with comparable laboratory experiments. The simulations performed with a fault containing fault gouge have demonstrated a strong dependence of the critical slip distance D_c on the roughness of the fault surfaces and are in qualitative agreement with laboratory experiments.     

Monitoring Contact State of Laboratory Fault with Coda Transmission Waves

We monitored the amplitude changes of coda transmission waves around 500kHz across the frictional interface of a simulated 1.5-meter-long fault during normal stress holding test. We find that the amplitude of coda transmission waves increases with the logarithm of stationary contact time. Localized increase amounted to a level ranging from 4% to 16% along the fault is observed during the 1-hour experiment. We discuss that the frictional strength at mesoscopic scale, which is related to the amplitude of coda transmission waves, is responsible for the phenomenon. Combining the reported method with other complementary approaches will enhance the understanding of fault mechanism either at laboratory or on-site applications.     

Characteristics of the AE Distribution and Triggering Mechanism of a Simulated Meter-Scale Fault after Stick-Slip Events

With the more complete acoustic emission (AE) catalog improved by the multi-channel AE matched-filter technique (MFT), we study the spatiotemporal evolution of the AE activities after laboratory stick-slip events incorporate with the slip data recorded by displacement transducers on an ~1.5 m granite fault. The results show that the number of the AE events identified by MFT is about 9 times larger than that of the traditional method. A logarithmic expansion of early AE events along the fault strike is observed as a function of time, whereas the fault does not slip in the same manner. Thus, we related the expansion of the early AE events along the fault to the stress transfer caused by the adjacent AE events. Moreover, there is a good correlation between the cumulative number of the later AE events and the amount of fault slip. It suggests that the stress change caused by the continuous slip of the simulated fault after the stick-slip events response for the later AE events near or on the simulated fault.     

硬石膏断层带摩擦稳定性转换与微破裂特征的实验研究

断层带摩擦稳定性转换及其对应的微破裂特征对于地震成核条件和慢地震机理研究具有重要的意义.本文利用双轴实验装置研究了硬石膏断层带摩擦稳定性的转换及其对应的应变变化、微破裂特征,并分析了实验标本的微观结构.实验结果表明,σ₂和加载点速度对断层滑动稳定性具有显著影响.在低σ₂条件下,硬石膏断层带出现不稳定滑动,变形以局部化的脆性破裂和摩擦为主;随σ₂的增加,断层由不稳定滑动向稳定滑动转换,断层带变形方式逐渐转变为分布式的破裂.在低σ₂条件下,硬石膏断层带在较低加载点速度下表现为速度强化且滑动稳定,在中等加载点速度下表现为速度弱化并伴有准周期性的黏滑,在较高加载点速度下又有转向速度强化的趋势,σ₂的提高使得速度弱化的范围逐渐减少,滑动趋于稳定.上述两次转换对应不同的微破裂特征,在较高速度下从速度弱化转换为速度强化时,断层滑动伴有能量较小但频度很高的微破裂活动,而在较低速度下从速度弱化转换为速度强化时,断层滑动伴有间歇性的微破裂,这与断层带的微观结构特征有较好的对应关系,表明其转换机制是不同的.     

应力途径与岩石的摩擦滑动

用双剪法对济南辉长岩和点苍山大理岩进行了摩擦滑动实验.实验中的应力变化方式有两种.A 型实验:先使断层面上的正应力增加到一定值,然后保持正应力不变,并增加剪应力使断层发生粘滑;B 型实验:先使断层面上的正应力增加到一定的值,保持正应力不变,并增加剪应力到断层发生粘滑前的某一应力状态,再保持剪应力不变,减小正应力直到粘滑发生.实验表明,B 型实验中岩石的摩擦强度高于 A 型实验.A 型实验中粘滑发生前有声发射率增加的前兆,B 型实验中粘滑发生前看不到声发射率的明显增加.由实验得到一个启示,即闭锁断层的开锁可能采取两种形式:一种是冲开闭锁,即以剪应力的增加使断层发生错动;另一种是解开闭锁,即以正应力的减小使断层发生错动.断层的粘滑采取哪种形式,由断层带的应力变化途径决定.      

三维地震断层动力破裂的显式并行有限元解法

本文在近场波动有限元的基础上,根据断层动力破裂的摩擦模型,详细地推导出了断层面节点在破裂的不同时刻的计算公式,提出了一种模拟断层动力破裂的显式并行有限元方法,利用此方法,可以模拟断层的破裂过程、地表破裂及由此产生的地面运动。