Reaction softening by dissolution–precipitation creep in a retrograde greenschist facies ductile shear zone,New Hampshire,USA

We describe strain localization by a mixed process of reaction and microstructural softening in a lower greenschist facies ductile fault zone that transposes and replaces middle to upper amphibolite facies fabrics and mineral assemblages in the host schist of the Littleton Formation near Claremont, New Hampshire. Here, Na‐poor muscovite and chlorite progressively replace first staurolite, then garnet, and finally biotite porphyroblasts as the core of the fault zone is approached. Across the transect, higher grade fabric‐forming Na‐rich muscovite is also progressively replaced by fabric‐forming Na‐poor muscovite. The mineralogy of the new phyllonitic fault‐rock produced is dominated by Na‐poor muscovite and chlorite together with late albite porphyroblasts. The replacement of the amphibolite facies porphyroblasts by muscovite and chlorite is pseudomorphic in some samples and shows that the chemical metastability of the porphyroblasts is sufficient to drive replacement. In contrast, element mapping shows that fabric‐forming Na‐rich muscovite is selectively replaced at high‐strain microstructural sites, indicating that strain energy played an important role in activating the dissolution of the compositionally metastable muscovite. The replacement of strong, high‐grade porphyroblasts by weaker Na‐poor muscovite and chlorite constitutes reaction softening. The crystallization of parallel and contiguous mica in the retrograde foliation at the expense of the earlier and locally crenulated Na‐rich muscovite‐defined foliation destroys not only the metastable high‐grade mineralogy, but also its stronger geometry. This process constitutes both reaction and microstructural softening. The deformation mechanism here was thus one of dissolution–precipitation creep, activated at considerably lower stresses than might be predicted in quartzofeldspathic rocks at the same lower greenschist facies conditions.     

Reaction localization and softening of texturally hardened mylonites in a reactivated fault zone, central Argentina

The Tres Arboles ductile fault zone in the Eastern Sierras Pampeanas, central Argentina, experienced multiple ductile deformation and faulting events that involved a variety of textural and reaction hardening and softening processes. Much of the fault zone is characterized by a (D2) ultramylonite, composed of fine‐grained biotite + plagioclase, that lacks a well‐defined preferred orientation. The D2 fabric consists of a strong network of intergrown and interlocking grains that show little textural evidence for dislocation or dissolution creep. These ultramylonites contain gneissic rock fragments and porphyroclasts of plagioclase, sillimanite and garnet inherited from the gneissic and migmatitic protolith (D1) of the hangingwall. The assemblage of garnet + sillimanite + biotite suggests that D1‐related fabrics developed under upper amphibolite facies conditions, and the persistence of biotite + garnet + sillimanite + plagioclase suggests that the ultramylonite of D2 developed under middle amphibolite facies conditions. Greenschist facies, mylonitic shear bands (D3) locally overprint D2 ultramylonites. Fine‐grained folia of muscovite + chlorite ± biotite truncate earlier biotite + plagioclase textures, and coarser‐grained muscovite partially replaces relic sillimanite grains. Anorthite content of shear band (D3) plagioclase is c. An30, distinct from D1 and D2 plagioclase (c. An35). The anorthite content of D3 plagioclase is consistent with a pervasive grain boundary fluid that facilitated partial replacement of plagioclase by muscovite. Biotite is partially replaced by muscovite and/or chlorite, particularly in areas of inferred high strain. Quartz precipitated in porphyroclast pressure shadows and ribbons that help define the mylonitic fabric. All D3 reactions require the introduction of H⁺ and/or H₂O, indicating an open system, and typically result in a volume decrease. Syntectonic D3 muscovite + quartz + chlorite preferentially grew in an orientation favourable for strain localization, which produced a strong textural softening. Strain localization occurred only where reactions progressed with the infiltration of aqueous fluids, on a scale of hundreds of micrometre. Local fracturing and microseismicity may have induced reactivation of the fault zone and the initial introduction of fluids. However, the predominant greenschist facies deformation (D3) along discrete shear bands was primarily a consequence of the localization of replacement reactions in a partially open system.     

冻土旁压试验与单轴试验对比

为了认识冻土旁压试验结果与常规试验结果之间的关系,在室内分别开展了冻结重塑黏土的旁压试验和单轴压缩试验,并对试验结果进行了对比分析。结果表明,在各级荷载作用下旁压曲线一般都呈现应变速率衰减的趋势,而单轴曲线在冻土破坏时会出现渐进流动阶段。旁压试验的应力-应变曲线呈现应变硬化型,而且出现初始拟弹性阶段;而单轴试验的应力-应变曲线则属于应变软化型,并在轴向应变大约为10%时达到剪应力峰值。温度相同时,旁压试验的剪切强度以及初始弹性模量都要大于单轴试验,且温度越低差值越大。     

Chemical and physical responses to deformation in micaceous quartzites from the Tauern Window, Eastern Alps

Micaceous quartzites from a subvertical shear zone in the Tauern Window contain abundant quartz clasts derived from dismembered quartz‐tourmaline veins. Bulk plane strain deformation affected these rocks at amphibolite facies conditions. Shape changes suggest net shortening of the clasts by 11–64%, with a mean value of 35%. Quartz within the clasts accommodated this strain largely via dislocation creep processes. On the high‐stress flanks of the clasts, however, quartz was removed via solution mass transfer (pressure solution) processes; the resulting change in bulk composition allowed growth of porphyroblastic staurolite + chlorite ± kyanite on the clast flanks. Matrix SiO₂ contents decrease from c. 83 wt% away from the clasts to 49–58% in the selvages on the clast flanks. The chemical changes are consistent with c. 70% volume loss in the high‐stress zones. Calculated shortening values within the clast flanks are similar to the volume‐loss estimates, and are greatly in excess of the shortening values calculated from the clasts themselves. Flow laws for dislocation creep versus pressure solution imply large strain‐rate gradients and/or differential stress gradients between the matrix and the clast selvages. In a rock containing a large proportion of semirigid clasts, weakening within the clast flanks could dominate rock rheology. In our samples, however, weakening within the selvages was self limiting: (1) growth of strong staurolite porphyroblasts in the selvages protected remaining quartz from dissolution; and (2) overall flattening of the quartz clasts probably decreased the resolved shear stress on the flanks to values near those of the matrix, which would have reduced the driving force for solution‐transfer creep. Extreme chemical changes nonetheless occurred over short distances. The necessity of maintaining strain compatibility may lead to significant localized dissolution in rocks containing rheologic heterogeneities, and overall weakening of the rocks may result. Solution‐transfer creep may be a major process whereby weakening and strain localization occur during deep‐crustal metamorphism of polymineralic rocks.     

Extension of plasticity theory to debonding,grain dissolution,and chemical damage of calcarenites

The mechanical properties of calcarenites are known to be significantly affected by water saturation: both stiffness and strength decrease for wetting in the short term and for chemical dissolution in the long term. Both processes mainly affect bonds among grains: immediately after inundation depositional bonds fall in suspension, whereas diagenetic bonds dissolve more slowly. In this paper, the authors started from the micro‐structural analysis of the weathering processes to conceive a strain hardening hydro‐chemo‐mechanical coupled elastoplastic constitutive model. The concept of extended hardening rules is here enriched: weathering functions have been determined by employing a micro to macro simplified upscaling procedure. Chemical damage is incorporated into the formulation by means of a scalar damage function. Its evolution is also described by using a multiscale approach. A new term is added to the strain rate tensor in order to incorporate the dissolution induced chemical deformations developing once the soft rock is turned into a granular material. A calibration procedure for the constitutive parameters is suggested, and the model is validated by using both coupled and uncoupled chemo‐mechanical experimental test results. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A numerical model simulating reactive transport and evolution of fracture permeability

A numerical model is presented to describe the evolution of fracture aperture (and related permeability) mediated by the competing chemical processes of pressure solution and free‐face dissolution/precipitation; pressure (dis)solution and precipitation effect net‐reduction in aperture and free‐face dissolution effects net‐increase. These processes are incorporated to examine coupled thermo‐hydro‐mechano‐chemo responses during a flow‐through experiment, and applied to reckon the effect of forced fluid injection within rock fractures at geothermal and petroleum sites. The model accommodates advection‐dominant transport systems by employing the Lagrangian–Eulerian method. This enables changes in aperture and solute concentration within a fracture to be followed with time for arbitrary driving effective stresses, fluid and rock temperatures, and fluid flow rates. This allows a systematic evaluation of evolving linked mechanical and chemical processes. Changes in fracture aperture and solute concentration tracked within a well‐constrained flow‐through test completed on a natural fracture in novaculite (Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 2006, in press) are compared with the distributed parameter model. These results show relatively good agreement, excepting an enigmatic abrupt reduction in fracture aperture in the early experimental period, suggesting that other mechanisms such as mechanical creep and clogging induced by unanticipated local precipitation need to be quantified and incorporated. The model is applied to examine the evolution in fracture permeability for different inlet conditions, including localized (rather than distributed) injection. Predictions show the evolution of preferential flow paths driven by dissolution, and also define the sense of permeability evolution at field scale. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Low stress deformation of garnet by incongruent dissolution precipitation creep

Microstructures indicating incongruent dissolution precipitation creep of garnet in eclogite-facies graphitic micaschist (Tauern window, Eastern Alps) are investigated. Garnet dissolution is observed where garnet poikiloblasts grown at eclogite facies metamorphism approached each other as a consequence of progressive deformation during exhumation, with estimated P-T-conditions between 570 °C, 1.7 GPa and 470 °C, 0.9 GPa. The poikiloblasts are separated by a dissolution seam and flanked by strain shadows filled with quartz, white mica, and chlorite; there is no evidence for crystal plastic deformation of garnet. Two cases are investigated: (A) stylolitic contact zone, (B) smooth contact zone. In both cases, internal fabrics of the poikiloblasts and concentric chemical zoning are truncated. Material previously forming inclusions in the garnet poikiloblasts is now passively enriched in a dissolution seam, the original microstructure of fine-grained mica–graphite aggregates remaining preserved. Though microstructures suggest that garnet dissolution was driven by local stress concentration, the level of differential stress remained too low for plastic deformation of the fine-grained white mica-graphite aggregates set free from the stress supporting garnet. Incongruent dissolution precipitation creep appears to be a particularly effective deformation mechanism at low stress in a subduction channel.     

Deformation and fluid flow during orogeny at the palaeo-Pacific active margin of Gondwana: the Early Palaeozoic Robertson Bay accretionary complex (north Victoria Land, Antarctica)

Structural investigations, integrated with X‐ray diffraction, fluid inclusion microthermometry and oxygen‐stable isotope analyses are used to reconstruct the deformation history and the palaeo‐fluid circulation during formation of the low‐grade, turbidite‐dominated Early Palaeozoic Robertson Bay accretionary complex of north Victoria Land (Antarctica). Evidence for progressive deformation is elucidated by analysing the textural fabric of chronologically distinct, thrust‐related quartz vein generations, incrementally developed during progressive shortening and thickening of the Robertson Bay accretionary complex. Our data attest that orogenic deformation was mainly controlled by dissolution–precipitation creep, modulated by stress‐ and strain‐rate‐dependent fluid pressure cycling, associated with local and regional permeability variations induced by the distribution and evolution of the fracture network during regional thrusting. Fracture‐related fluid pathways constituted efficient conduits for episodic fluid flow. The dominant migrating fluid was pre‐to‐syn‐folding and associated with the migration of warm (160–200 °C) nitrogen‐ and carbonic (CO₂ and CH₄)‐bearing fluids. Both fluid advection and diffusive mass transfer are recognized as operative mechanisms for fluid–rock interaction and vein formation during continuous shortening. In particular, fluid–rock interaction was the consequence of dissolution–precipitation creep assisted by tectonically driven cooling fluids moving through the rock section as a result of seismic pumping. The most likely source of the migrating fluids would be the frontal part of the growing accretionary complex, where fluids from the deep levels in the hinterland are driven trough channelization operated by the thrust‐related fracture (fault) systems.     

Microfabric of folded quartz veins in metagreywackes: dislocation creep and subgrain rotation at high stress

The microfabrics of folded quartz veins in fine‐grained high pressure–low temperature metamorphic greywackes of the Franciscan Subduction Complex at Pacheco Pass, California, were investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy including electron backscatter diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. The foliated host metagreywacke is deformed by dissolution–precipitation creep, as indicated by the shape preferred orientation of mica and clastic quartz without any signs of crystal‐plastic deformation. The absence of crystal‐plastic deformation of clastic quartz suggests that the flow stress in the host metagreywacke remained below a few tens of MPa at temperatures of 250–300 °C. In contrast, the microfabric of the folded quartz veins indicates deformation by dislocation creep accompanied by subgrain rotation recrystallization. For the small recrystallized grain size of ～8 ± 6 μm, paleopiezometers indicate differential stresses of a few hundred MPa. The stress concentration in the single phase quartz vein is interpreted to be due to its higher effective viscosity compared to the fine‐grained host metagreywacke deforming by dissolution–precipitation creep. The fold shape suggests a viscosity contrast of one to two orders of magnitude. Deformation by dissolution–precipitation creep is expected to be a continuous process. The same must hold for folding of the vein and deformation of the vein quartz by dislocation creep. The microfabric suggests dynamic recrystallization predominantly by subgrain rotation and only minor strain‐induced grain boundary migration, which requires low contrasts in dislocation density across high‐angle grain boundaries to be maintained during climb‐controlled creep at high differential stress. The record of quartz in these continuously deformed veins is characteristic and different from the record in metamorphic rocks exhumed in seismically active regions, where high‐stress deformation at similar temperatures is episodic and related to the seismic cycle.     

Explicit solutions for the instantaneous undrained contraction of hollow cylinders and spheres in porous elastoplastic medium

In this article we present closed‐form solutions for the undrained variations in stress, pore pressure, deformation and displacement inside hollow cylinders and hollow spheres subjected to uniform mechanical pressure instantaneously applied to their external and internal boundary surfaces. The material is assumed to be a saturated porous medium obeying a Mohr–Coulomb model failure criterion, exhibiting dilatant plastic deformation according to a non‐associated flow rule which accounts for isotropically strain hardening or softening. The instantaneous response of a porous medium submitted to an instantaneous loading is undrained, i.e. without any fluid mass exchange. The short‐term equilibrium problem to be solved is now formally identical to a problem of elastoplasticity where the constitutive equations involve the undrained elastic moduli and particular equivalent plastic parameters. The response of the model is presented (i) for extension and compression undrained triaxial tests, and (ii) for unloading problems of hollow cylinders and spheres through the use of appropriately developed closed‐form solutions. Numerical results are presented for a plastic clay stone with strain hardening and an argilite with strain softening. The effects of plastic dilation, of the strain softening law and also of geometry of the cavity on the behaviour of the porous medium have been underlined. Analytical solutions provide valuable benchmarks enabling various numerical methods in undrained conditions with a finite boundary to be verified. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于硬化-损伤机制的贫煤蠕变本构模型研究

岩石蠕变是其内部硬化效应和损伤效应共同作用演化的结果。通过分级加载下贫煤单轴压缩蠕变试验,基于试验中瞬时弹性模量增大和黏滞系数减小的现象,分析贫煤蠕变中的硬化-损伤机制。结果表明,较低应力下煤样的变形仅为瞬时应变,煤样仅有硬化效应;当应力达到蠕变起始应力阈值时煤样逐渐出现损伤,次生裂纹出现并扩展,硬化效应与损伤效应共同作用下煤样表现出衰减蠕变和稳定蠕变特征。长期蠕变过程中煤样强度经历先硬化再弱化的过程,最终因累计损伤过大而失稳破坏,依据各级应力下煤样的变形特征,构建了符合其变形规律的黏弹塑性组合模型,并引入了硬化函数和损伤函数,推导得到其蠕变本构方程。采用该模型描述分级加载下贫煤单轴压缩蠕变变形曲线,试验曲线和模型曲线吻合良好。该模型元件简单,物理意义明确,能很好地反映贫煤单轴压缩下的硬化–损伤蠕变特性。     

Domainal variations of U–Pb monazite ages and Rb–Sr whole-rock dates in polymetamorphic paragneisses (KTB Drill Core, Germany): influence of strain and deformation mechanisms on isotope systems

Polyphase metamorphic paragneisses from the drill core of the continental deep drilling project (KTB; NW Bohemian Massif) are characterized by peak pressures of about 8 kbar (medium‐P metamorphism) followed by strain accumulation at T >650 °C, initially by dislocation creep and subsequently by diffusion creep. U–Pb monazite ages and Rb–Sr whole‐rock data vary in the dm‐scale, indicating Ordovician and Mid‐Devonian metamorphic events. Such age variations are closely interconnected with dm‐scale domainal variations of microfabrics that indicate different predominant deformation mechanisms. U–Pb monazite age variations dependent on microfabric domains exceed grain‐size‐dependent age variations. In ‘mylonitic domains’ recording high magnitudes of plastic strain, dislocation creep and minor static annealing, monazite yields concordant and near concordant Lower Ordovician U–Pb ages, and the Rb–Sr whole‐rock system shows isotopic disequilibrium at an mm‐scale. In ‘mineral growth/mobilisate domains’, in which diffusive mass transfer was a major strain‐producing mechanism promoting diffusion creep of quartz and feldspar, and in which static recrystallization (annealing) reduced the internal free energy of the strained mineral aggregates, concordant U–Pb ages are Mid‐Devonian. Locally, in such domains, Rb–Sr dates among mm³‐sized whole‐rock slabs reflect post‐Ordovician resetting. In ‘transitional domains’, the U–Pb‐ages are discordant. We conclude that medium‐P metamorphism occurred at 484±2 Ma, and a second metamorphic event at 380–370 Ma (Mid‐Devonian) caused progressive strain in the rocks. Dislocation creep at high rates, even at high temperatures, does not reset the Rb–Sr whole‐rock system, while diffusion creep at low rates and stresses (i.e. low ε/D_eff ratios), static annealing and the presence of intergranular fluids locally assist resetting. At temperatures above 650 °C, diffusive Pb loss did not reset Ordovician U–Pb monazite ages, and in domains of overall high imposed strain rates and stresses, resetting was not assisted by dynamic recrystallization/crystal plasticity. However, during diffusion creep at low rates, Pb loss by dissolution and precipitation (‘recrystallization’) of monazite produces discordance and Devonian‐concordant U–Pb monazite ages. Hence, resetting of these isotope systems reflects neither changes of temperature nor, directly, the presence or absence of strain.     

Deformation of amphibolites via dissolution–precipitation creep in the middle and lower crust

Continuous compositional zoning in amphibole grains in strongly deformed and lineated amphibolites from the Eastern Blue Ridge, North Carolina indicates that most of the deformation was accommodated by dissolution–precipitation creep. Amphibole in most samples shows moderate prograde and/or retrograde zoning parallel to the long‐axis with compositions ranging between magnesiohornblende and tschermakite. In one sample, grains are zoned from actinolitic (Si = 7.9 p.f.u.) cores to tschermakitic (Si = 6.2 p.f.u) rims. Amphibole‐plagioclase thermometry suggests prograde growth temperatures as low as 400 °C, but typically range from 650 to 730 °C and retrograde growth temperatures <700 °C. These estimates are corroborated quantitatively with amphibole‐garnet‐plagioclase thermobarometry and qualitatively with a positive correlation between TiO₂ concentration in amphibole and calculated temperature. This growth zoning provides persuasive evidence that amphibole precipitation produced the fabric, but evidence for dissolution is less common. It is present, however in the form of truncations of complicated zoning patterns produced by healed fractures and overgrowths in low‐temperature cores by high‐temperature tschermakitic grains lacking similar internal structures. The preservation of this network of straight cracks filled with optically continuous amphibole also provides evidence against the operation of dislocation creep even to temperatures >700 °C because dislocation‐creep would have deformed the fracture network. Thus, these amphibolites deformed by dissolution–precipitation creep that produced a strong linear fabric under upper amphibolite facies, middle‐to‐lower crustal conditions. The significance of this discovery is that dissolution–precipitation creep is activated at lower stresses than dislocation creep and that the strength of the lower crust, where amphibole is the dominant mineral is probably lower than that derived from experimental studies.     

Stress‐dependent hardening and failure surfaces of dry sand

During several triaxial compression experiments on plastic hardening, softening, and failure properties of dense sand specimens, it was found on various stress paths that the size of the failure surface was not constant. Instead, it changed depending on the current state of hydrostatic pressure. This finding is in contrast to the standard opinion consisting of the fact that the failure surface remains constant, once it has been reached during an experiment or in situ. In general, the behaviour of cohesionless granular‐material‐like sand is somehow characterised in between fluid and solid, where the solid behaviour results from the angle of internal friction and the confining pressure. Although the friction angle is an intrinsic material property, the confining pressure varies with the boundary conditions, thus defining different solid properties like plastic hardening, softening, and also failure. Based on our findings, it was the goal of the present contribution to introduce an improved setting for the plastic strain hardening and softening behaviour including the newly found yield properties at the limit state. For the identification of the material parameters, a complete triaxial experimental analysis of the tested sand is given. The overall elasto‐plasticity concept is validated by numerical computations of several laboratory foundation‐ and slope‐failure experiments. The performance of the proposed approach is compared with the standard concept of a constant failure surface, where the corresponding yield surfaces are understood as contours of equivalent plastic work or plastic strain. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

描述饱和黏性土应变软化的弹塑性双面模型

常规三轴压缩试验中具有较强结构性的黏性土在围压较低时其应力−应变关系会呈现应变软化现象,一般还伴有塑性变形,通常土体内部结构损伤是应变软化产生的主要原因。考虑到采用经典塑性理论描述材料的应变软化不仅会违背 Drucker 的稳定性假设,而且也不能描述卸载塑性。因此,基于修正剑桥模型及 Li 和 Meissner 提出的塑性硬化准则,建立了一个描述饱和黏性土不排水应变软化的弹塑性双面模型。该模型以应力−应变曲线的峰值点分界,将应变硬化和应变软化分别作为独立的加载事件进行分析,同时引入新的结构性参数表征剪切过程中土体结构损伤导致的塑性刚度衰退。对不同固结状态饱和结构性黏土的三轴固结不排水压缩试验结果的模拟表明,所建模型能够较好地描述饱和黏性土的不排水应变软化特性。     

基于Drucker-Prager准则的岩石弹塑性损伤本构模型研究

大多数岩石材料软化本构模型在硬化函数中引入塑性内变量来表示材料的硬化/软化性质,但并不能反映岩石微裂隙损伤对材料力学性能的影响及单轴拉伸和压缩所表现的初始屈服强度f0与屈服极限fu的差异。基于D-P准则同时考虑塑性软化及损伤软化,建立岩石类材料的弹塑性本构关系及其数值算法。塑性屈服函数采用Borja等的应力张量的硬化/软化函数,反映塑性内变量及应力状态对硬化函数的影响;由于岩石损伤软化是微裂隙扩展所导致的体积膨胀引起的,因此,提出用体积应变表征岩石损伤变量的演化,并用回映隐式积分算法编制了岩石的弹塑性损伤本构程序。对单轴压缩及拉伸荷载作用下的岩石材料试验进行数值模拟,结果表明,所提出的岩石弹塑性损伤本构模型可以较好地符合岩石材料的力学特性。     

A macroscopic damage‐plastic constitutive law for modeling quasi‐brittle fracture and ductile behavior of concrete

A new phenomenological macroscopic constitutive model for the numerical simulation of quasi‐brittle fracture and ductile concrete behavior, under general triaxial stress conditions, is presented. The model is particularly addressed to simulate a wide range of confinement stress states, as also, to capture the strong influence of the mean stress value in the concrete failure mechanisms. The model is based on a two‐surface damage‐plastic formulation. The mechanical behavior in different domains of the stress space is separately described by means of a quasi‐brittle or ductile material response:

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考虑温度影响的冻土蠕变本构模型

冰作为冻土的基本组成部分,对冻土蠕变的加速蠕变阶段有重要影响。温度通过影响冻土中冰的冻结与融化过程,及其黏塑性流动,引起冻土结构的强化与弱化,从而成为了决定冻土蠕变力学行为的关键因素之一。同时,外部应力也造成冻土的强化与弱化,影响着冻土的蠕变。通过引入硬化因子与损伤因子来考虑温度、应力造成的冻土材料强化与弱化。硬化因子H代表了蠕变过程中强化效应的大小,而损伤因子D则代表了由弱化效应造成的冻土材料相关参数的折减比例,进而提出了适用于冻土的改进西原蠕变本构模型。该模型预测值与试验数据的比较表明：改进的模型不仅能较好地描述初始蠕变阶段、稳定蠕变阶段,而且相比于传统模型,能更好地描述冻土加速蠕变阶段,具有合理性与一定的实用性。     

An improved hardening-damage creep model of lean coal: a theoretical and experimental study

Creep is an important rheological behavior of coal, impacting pillar stability, gateway support performance, and construction costs in underground mining. It is of great significance to study the creep mechanism of coal to prevent creep failure. In this paper, uniaxial compressive creep tests of raw lean coal under multiple stages are conducted, the increasing instantaneous elastic modulus and decreasing viscosity coefficient are calculated to analyze the hardening-damage creep mechanism of coal, and some new conclusions are as follows. When the stress is low, the hardening effect exists, and coal strain shows an instantaneous response. At high stress, both the damage effect and hardening effect work and coal strain shows time-dependent transient creep and steady creep. During multistage creep, coal is first hardened, then weakened, and finally fails due to well-developed cracks. Based on the strain evolution laws of lean coal at different stress levels, an elastic viscous-plastic model is established, and the hardening function and damage function are introduced into the model to obtain an improved hardening-damage creep model. This model is used to fit the creep data, and the model curves match the testing data very well, showing much better accuracy than other models. This model is simple with clear physical meanings of the elements and can reflect the nonlinear hardening-damage creep of raw lean coal under uniaxial compression very well.     

Strain‐softening analysis of a spherical cavity

This paper studies the excavation of a spherical cavity subjected to hydrostatic initial stresses in the infinite homogeneous and isotropic rock mass with strain‐softening Mohr–Coulomb (M‐C) and Hoek–Brown (H‐B) behaviors. Numerical solutions of the spherical cavity are obtained and the application to determining stress–strain curve of strain‐softening M‐C and H‐B rock mass is studied. A closed‐form solution for the elastic–brittle–plastic medium is introduced first, and then a numerical procedure that simplifies the strain‐softening process into a series of brittle–plastic ones is presented. The approach is validated against the facts that the strain‐softening process evolves into a brittle–plastic one when the softening slope is very steep, whereas it evolves into an elasto‐plastic one when the softening slope approaches zero. Numerical solutions for the prediction of displacements and stresses around the spherical cavity in the strain‐softening M‐C and H‐B rock mass are presented. On the basis of the analysis of the spherical cavity in strain‐softening rock mass, the stress–strain relationship at an infinitesimal cube around the cavity is obtained and discussed with different evolution laws for the strength parameters considered. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.