Progressive failure of sheeted rock slopes: the 2009–2010 Rhombus Wall rock falls in Yosemite Valley,California, USA

Progressive rock‐fall failures in natural rock slopes are common in many environments, but often elude detailed quantitative documentation and analysis. Here we present high‐resolution photography, video, and laser scanning data that document spatial and temporal patterns of a 15‐month‐long sequence of at least 14 rock falls from the Rhombus Wall, a sheeted granitic cliff in Yosemite Valley, California. The rock‐fall sequence began on 26 August 2009 with a small failure at the tip of an overhanging rock slab. Several hours later, a series of five rock falls totaling 736 m³ progressed upward along a sheeting joint behind the overhanging slab. Over the next 3 weeks, audible cracking occurred on the Rhombus Wall, suggesting crack propagation, while visual monitoring revealed opening of a sheeting joint adjacent to the previous failure surface. On 14 September 2009 a 110 m³ slab detached along this sheeting joint. Additional rock falls between 30 August and 20 November 2010, totaling 187 m³, radiated outward from the initial failure area along cliff (sub)parallel sheeting joints. We suggest that these progressive failures might have been related to stress redistributions accompanying propagation of sheeting joints behind the cliff face. Mechanical analyses indicate that tensile stresses should occur perpendicular to the cliff face and open sheeting joints, and that sheeting joints should propagate parallel to a cliff face from areas of stress concentrations. The analyses also account for how sheeting joints can propagate to lengths many times greater than their depths behind cliff faces. We posit that as a region of failure spreads across a cliff face, stress concentrations along its margin will spread with it, promoting further crack propagation and rock falls. Published in 2012. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

无限域横观各向同性岩体介质中折线裂纹边界元方法

岩体材料的各向异性导致其中的光滑裂纹在扩展后会变为折线裂纹。对于折线裂纹,其折线处裂纹面外法线方向不惟一,不能用连续单元离散。为此,在光滑裂纹问题方法的基础上,引入4种新的不连续单元来离散折线处裂纹面,建立了适用于折线裂纹问题的对偶边界元方法,该方法基于横观各向同性基本解。算例验证表明,该方法具有较好的精度。最后用该方法分析了横观各向同性岩体中的折线裂纹,得到了该类裂纹的应力强度因子。当裂纹面上作用法向均布力,横观各向同性岩体介质中的矩形光滑裂纹发生弯折时,折线两侧的裂纹面在张开时存在抑制效应,从而导致折线裂纹裂尖应力强度因子小于原光滑裂纹。同时还发现,随裂纹面的逐渐弯折,其裂纹面对各向同性面的倾角发生变化,因此,其裂尖断裂特性还受到岩体各向异性的影响。     

底板导水裂隙带中含承压水裂隙的力学特性

华北煤田煤系地层的底部为含水丰富的奥陶系灰岩,该层灰岩与地表水系和煤系地层含水层存在着密切的水力联系。许多大型突水是采掘空间与含水层之间形成突水通道引起的。因此,分析开采工过程中底板岩体中含承压水裂隙的断裂力学特性具有重要意义。本文采用作者提出的数值方法分析了含高压水裂隙在开采过程中的断裂力学特性。假设裂隙面上作用着均匀水压力,考虑地应力的影响,采用断裂力学的叠加原理,分析了采煤工作面推进过程中含承压水裂隙的断裂力学特性,讨论了开采过程中底板承压水导升。结果表明:在工作面推进过程中,位于底板岩层且与含承压水岩层连通的裂隙,会在承压水水压力和扰动应力的共同作用下,产生破坏,导水裂隙带的高度会增加;这就增加了底板突水的危险性。     

数字图像技术在岩石细观力学研究中的应用

岩石内部的细观组成和结构决定了其在外力作用下的应力-应变状态,进而控制了其宏观力学响应和破坏机制。数字图像处理技术作为一种材料细观尺度上的空间结构精确测量和数字表述手段,已广泛应用于土、岩石及混凝土的细观结构定量分析中。应用数字图像处理进行的岩石细观力学研究是对岩石力学研究方法的革新。现阶段主要研究内容包括：岩石裂隙隙宽的非接触测量,数字表述岩石结构的非均匀性,进行岩石细观力学行为分析,将提取的岩石数字特征值与相应的岩石物性结合以实现岩石流-固耦合研究,建立基于数字图像技术的岩石细观力学数值模拟方法。在研究相关文献的基础上,对数字图像技术在岩石细观力学定量研究中的成果进行客观评述,探讨各种方法的优缺点,分析展望数字图像技术在岩石细观研究领域中的应用前景。     

曲线翼型裂纹扩展路径理论分析及试验验证

采用数值和试验的方法对翼型裂纹的扩展路径进行分析,发现单轴下张开型裂纹的翼型裂纹的扩展路径逼近于过原主裂纹中心点、平行于最大主应力的一条直线。基于翼型裂纹路径这个特点,采用了双曲线参数方程近似表达真实翼型裂纹的扩展路径,通过翼型裂纹的起裂角、起裂点及翼型裂纹的渐近线方程求解了双曲线方程中的未知参数。采用双曲线翼型裂纹路径和试验中所得翼型裂纹路径进行了对比分析,二者吻合得很好,验证了采用双曲线近似表示真实存在的翼型裂纹模型的正确性。应用双曲线翼型裂纹模型对翼型裂纹的扩展和失稳进行分析,采用ABAQUS求解了双曲线翼型裂纹模型的应力强度因子,并与试验进行对比,发现双曲线翼型裂纹模型能很好地解释翼型裂纹的实际扩展规律,这表明了采用双曲线近似表示真实翼型裂纹路径的有效性。     

考虑非线性徐变的混凝土温度裂缝扩展过程模拟

混凝土温度应力超过相应龄期的抗拉强度一半时,混凝土的徐变变形不再与应力呈线性关系。采用一个混凝土非线性徐变模型来进行混凝土的温度应力计算,并给出了相应的算法。同时,吸取无网格方法在裂缝扩展模拟方面的优势,采用无网格方法对混凝土的温度裂缝过程进行了仿真计算。数值算例计算结果表明,所编制的无网格法程序具有较好的收敛性和可靠性,能够有效地模拟混凝土块在温度应力作用下的开裂发展过程,考虑混凝土非线性徐变效应后,在开裂时刻混凝土急剧增加的非线性徐变变形缓和了缝端的温度拉应力,使得相同龄期混凝土的裂缝深度和扩展速率要比只考虑混凝土线性徐变要小一些。     

大跨暗涵衬砌混凝土温度数值分析与裂缝控制

以南水北调中线石京段古运河枢纽工程暗涵段为工程背景,采用理论分析和数值计算,提出了南水北调暗涵衬砌结构施工过程中钢筋混凝土内部温降的控制标准,即按最不利部位考虑,30 d内混凝土内部温降不应超过26.7 ℃,为选取合理的温控措施提供了依据。以衬砌内部温度场数值分析为理论依据,结合下穿段暗涵的地形条件、结构特点,并考虑工程气候特点,优化混凝土配比、降低水泥用量、掺入适量粉煤灰以及采用遮阳棚和地垄等工程措施,有效控制了混凝土结构的内部温度变化,成功解决了大体积混凝土施工温度裂缝问题,保证了结构工程的施工质量。理论计算与现场量测相结合,结果表明,实测值与计算值规律基本一致,说明计算模型和计算参数选取的合理性和计算结果的正确性,可为后续类似工程提供参考。     

非贯通类节理岩体剪切变形规律分析

通过直剪条件下的模型试验研究具有相同连通率、含不同起伏角的共面闭合节理在不同法向应力作用下的剪切变形特征。试验结果表明：在达到峰值剪切强度前,剪切应力-位移曲线具有明显的线性段与非线性段;岩桥在法向与剪切荷载的共同作用下会产生一定程度的弱化,积累到一定程度时宏观表现为剪切应力软化。详细阐述了试验过程中裂纹发展的4个阶段并描述了剪切应力-剪切变形曲线变化的特征,提出一个能反映剪切应力-剪切变形曲线全过程的经验本构模型。新模型采用分段函数描述曲线变化特征。直剪试验数据分析表明,该模型能够拟合剪切应力-剪切变形变化发展趋势且具有较高的拟合精度,验证了模型的正确性。最后,对其存在的不足亦进行了简要分析     

单轴条件下层状盐岩的表面裂纹扩展分析

利用荧光法和细观分析技术对单轴条件下层状盐岩表面裂纹扩展及分布进行了研究,并简要分析了国内外盐岩物理力学性质的差异。试验结果表明：纯盐岩表面裂纹以盐晶粒间错动裂纹为主,晶间裂纹扩展贯通形成破坏性主裂纹,裂纹分布受盐晶粒大小及分布均匀性的影响,国外细晶粒盐岩的强度和变形能力均大于国内粗晶粒纯盐岩;纯夹层表面裂纹多产生在几种矿物交杂沉积处,裂纹分布由夹层矿物成分和组成结构决定;含夹层盐岩表面裂纹扩展分布受夹层与盐岩界面过渡形式影响,一般锯齿型交界面裂纹由盐岩部分主裂纹向夹层扩展而成,而过渡分明并含有薄泥层的交界面裂纹由盐岩部分主裂纹和泥层碎散型裂纹汇集扩展而成     

Shear-tensile crack as a tool for reliable estimates of the non-double-couple mechanism: West Bohemia-Vogtland earthquake 1997 swarm

Shear-tensile crack is a model for an earthquake mechanism that is more constrained than the moment tensor but that can still describe a non-shear focus. As such, the shear-tensile crack model is more robust than the moment tensor model and yields more reliable estimates for the earthquake mechanism. Such an advantage verifies the credibility of the non-double-couple component found for some events of the 1997 West Bohemia-Vogtland earthquake swarm. As expected, in several cases, a significantly resolved non-double-couple component was obtained where the moment tensor approach failed. Additionally, for non-shear sources, the shear-tensile crack model offers optimization of the Poisson number within the focus, concurrently with retrieval of the mechanism. However, results obtained for the joint inversion of the 1997 swarm indicate that resolution is low. A series of synthetic experiments indicated that limited observations during 1997 were not the cause. Rather, hypothetical experiments of both very good and extremely poor network configurations similarly yielded a low resolution for the Poisson number. Applying this method to data for recent swarms is irrelevant because the small non-double-couple components detected within the inversion are spurious and, thus, the events are pure double-couple phenomena.