Numerical Observation of Three-Dimensional Wing Cracking of Cracked Chevron Notched Brazilian Disc Rock Specimen Subjected to Mixed Mode Loading

The cracked chevron notched Brazilian disc (CCNBD) specimen has been suggested by International Society for Rock Mechanics for measuring mode I fracture toughness of rocks. Subsequently, this specimen geometry has been widely extended to conduct mixed mode fracture tests on rocks as well. A straight through crack front during the fracturing process upon the root of the chevron notch is assumed in the testing principle, but has never been thoroughly evaluated before. In this study, for the first time, the progressive rock fracture mechanism of the CCNBD rock specimen under mixed mode loading is numerically simulated. Specimens under representative mixed mode loading angles are modelled; and the assumption of the straight through crack front growth is critically assessed. The results show that not only the notch tip but also the saw-cut chevron notch cracks during the experiments, yielding a prominent twisted front, far from being straight. The crack front never grows up to the root of the notch ligament and the straight through crack front assumption is never satisfied in the realistic rock fracture progress of this chevron notched specimen subjected to mixed mode loads. In contrast, the fracture progress features typical three-dimensional wing cracking towards the loading ends. The numerically observed progressive fracture mechanism reveals that the measuring principle of mixed mode fracture tests employing CCNBD specimens is significantly violated and the measures of both modes I and II fracture toughness are uncertain.     

华北克拉通西部鄂尔多斯地块长城系碎屑锆石LA-ICP-MS U-Pb测年及意义

自1.85 Ga西部陆块与东部陆块沿中部造山带碰撞拼合形成统一的华北克拉通之后,中—新元古代克拉通经历了广泛的陆内拉伸,形成了熊耳裂陷槽、燕辽裂陷槽、渣尔泰—白云鄂博—化德裂陷槽及东缘裂谷系。前人根据钻井资料及区域地层对比认为鄂尔多斯地块变质基底之上沉积了中元古代长城系—蓟县系。其中,长城系下部主要为石英岩夹板岩,上部为粉砂质板岩、硅质板岩及含燧石条带白云质灰岩与石英砂岩;蓟县系以白云岩为主,夹少量砂岩、页岩。本文对采自鄂尔多斯地块6口钻井中的长城系进行了碎屑锆石年代学研究。结果表明,鄂尔多斯地块长城系浅变质沉积岩的碎屑锆石年龄组成了1.60 Ga、1.85 Ga、1.95 Ga、2.35 Ga和2.50 Ga等峰值。与华北克拉通内部中—新元古代沉积岩碎屑锆石年龄峰值对比结果表明,长城系沉积岩的碎屑物质来自华北克拉通内部。结合区域钻井资料及前人研究成果,推断中元古代鄂尔多斯地块北缘及东缘为隆起剥蚀区,西南部为沉积区,其西南缘为被动大陆边缘,与北秦岭地体之间被宽坪洋分隔。     

定量降水预报技术进展

对21世纪以来定量降水预报技术流程中的数值模式预报、统计后处理、检验评估和预报员作用4个方面的研究工作进行了归纳,主要进展包括:业务全球模式对于降水的预报能力持续提升,而发展高分辨率模式 (尤其是对流尺度模式) 和集合预报是提高定量降水预报精准化水平的主要途径,且将两者相结合以促进短期降水预报是发展趋势;统计后处理技术已发展到应用数据挖掘方法对海量预报数据中有效信息进行提取和集成,而再预报资料的出现将进一步促进统计后处理技术的发展;为解决评估精细化定量降水预报面临的新问题,多种新的检验技术得到发展和应用,如极端降水检验评分、空间检验技术及概率检验方法等;预报员在模式和后处理方法上能够提供的附加值越来越有限,但在预报流程中仍将处于核心地位,其角色将逐渐向帮助用户进行决策方向转变。文章指出,定量降水预报技术的发展所面临的挑战包括大气水汽观测及同化技术改进、暖区和复杂地形下暴雨预报等科学问题的解决。     

甘肃南祁连余石山地区变粒岩原岩恢复

余石山地区位于南祁连西南端,处在祁连—柴达木—阿尔金地块的交汇部位,构造复杂。长城纪熬油沟组中的变粒岩,由于变质程度较深,以及后期构造的影响,原岩的特征难以辨别。本文通过岩石地球化学方法,对该区变粒岩及其原岩进行了研究,结果显示其原岩为中酸性岩浆岩,结合高场强元素特征和高的碱含量,确定其原岩为正长岩类。     

A bi-modal model for Chinese cities: City size,car use and land rent

China is experiencing rapid urbanization and motorization. Urban transport congestion poses a challenge to the cities of China. Policies have been made trying to control the car use and the land use in Chinese cities without sound modelling researches. The existing literature on monocentric city modelling has shown that the parameters are critical for the outcome of the modelling. Following the Alonso-type monocentric model, this paper introduces a bi-modal model to simulate the city size, the distribution of land rent and the modal substitution in Chinese cities. We set the key parameters according to the recent available data of China′s cities, and re-explain the hypothesis of the model. Then we make a sensitivity analysis to reveal the impacts of key parameters on the Chinese cities. According to the results, we find that the wage, the price of car use and the agriculture rent have significant impacts on city size. The land supply for the private transport or the public transport has the strongest impacts on car use and the level of transport congestion. The total population of the city and the wage level have strong impacts on land rent. Some results are counter-intuitive, but explainable. We also discuss implication of these results for policy making.     

A GIS-based method of risk assessment on no. 11 coal-floor water inrush from Ordovician limestone in Hancheng mining area,China

The no. 11 coal seam in the deep area of Hancheng mining area is mining in recent years, which is threatened by the water inrush from the Ordovician limestone aquifer. Coal-floor water inrush is governed by the water abundance of coal-floor aquifer, the water-resisting performance of coal-floor aquitard, and the pathway connecting the water source and the working face. To make an accuracy risk assessment of water inrush from the no. 11 coal seam floor, a GIS-based vulnerability index method (VIM) is adopted for its superior comprehensive consideration of more controlling factors, powerful spatial analysis, and intuitively display functions. This study firstly established an index system including the water pressure of the coal-floor aquifer, the unit water inflow, the thickness, the core recovery percentage, the thickness ratio of brittle rocks to ductile rocks, the thickness of effective aquitard, and the accumulated length of faults and folds, of which the former six indexes governed the water abundance of the coal-floor aquifer which was combined with the last two factors to determine the risk of coal-floor water inrush. Secondly, the thematic map of each controlling factor is established by GIS using the geological prospecting data, and the weight of each factor is determined by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) after consulting the expert review panel. At last, a vulnerability index is obtained and used to assess the risk of coal-floor water inrush of the no. 11 coal seam. The risk of water inrush of the no. 11 coal seam of the study area was ranked to three zones: the southeastern shallow area in red color is the dangerous zone, the wide northwestern area in green color is the safe zone, and the transition area in yellow color is the moderate-risk zone. Compared with the actual water-inrush incidents, the risk assessment result was verified to achieve an accuracy of 82.35%, which is proved to be a dependable reference for the prevention and controlling of coal-floor water inrush of the no. 11 coal seam in Hancheng mining area.