Non-periglacial stone stripes? An example from North Wales

A set of active stone stripes below a small debris cone in North Wales is described. In form they do not appear to resemble stone stripes described elsewhere. They are of particular note because their form is not controlled by conventional periglacial processes, but by stones moving downslope when sheep disturb the debris cone above. This downslope movement of stones has resulted in a complex pattern of stripes and horizontal terraces, the exact form of which appears to be controlled by probability. These observations add to the debate over the mode of formation of active stone stripes in Britain and the role of non-periglacial processes.     

高地应力围岩分区碎裂化的时间效应分析和相关参数研究

本文阐述了高地应力围岩分区碎裂化现象的形成需要经过一定的时间,但这段时间不会很长;采用蠕变理论对岩石分区碎裂化的时间效应进行了分析;推导了能够描述加速蠕变阶段的流变模型-改进的西原模型的本构方程和蠕变方程,在此基础上求出了岩石分区碎裂化发生时破裂带半径(破碎带距巷道中心的距离)的公式。      

Impact Compressive Creep Characteristics of Simulative Soil for Deep-Sea Sediment

The impact load (equivalent impact height) applied to deep-sea sediment by a walking mining machine was first deduced by the energy conservation principle, and the simulative soil was prepared based on the deep-sea sediment collected from the Pacific C-C mining area. The self-designed impact compressive creep tests of the simulative soil were conducted under different ground stresses and impact heights, in order to determine impact compressive creep parameters using a K-H rheological model. Test results show that the impact compressive creep curves have three similar creep stages (transient creep, unstable creep, and stable creep) to static compressive creep curves, where the transient creep deformation and total deformation at the unstable creep stage decrease with the impact load. Among the three impact compressive creep parameters (K₁, K₂, β) of the simulative soil, K₁ is first increased with impact height and finally fluctuated to a certain stable value, while K₂ and β are approximately linearly increased with impact height. The maximum subsidence of the mining machine under a specific designed ground stress and walking velocity predicted by the impact compressive creep constitutive equation can be used for safety assessment of the mining machine.     

An approach to the modeling of viscoelastic damage. Application to the long‐term creep of gypsum rock materials

A three‐dimensional phenomenological model is developed to describe the long‐term creep of gypsum rock materials. The approach is based on the framework of continuum damage mechanics where coupling with viscoelasticity is adopted. Specifically, a local damage model based on the concept of yield surface is proposed and deeply investigated. Among the many possibilities, we choose in this work its coupling with a generalized Kelvin–Voigt rheological model to formulate the whole behavior. Long‐term as well as short‐term relaxation processes can be integrated in the model by means of as many as necessary viscoelastic processes. The numerical discretization is described for an easy integration within a finite element procedure. Finally, a set of numerical simulations is given to show the possibilities of the presented model. It shows good agreement with some experimental results found in the literature. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

冻土的蠕变及蠕变强度

基于试验，本本讨论分析了冻土三轴蠕变规律及温度和围压对冻土蠕变强度的影响，给出了土蠕变及蠕变强度随时间降低的方程式，进而提出了冻土蠕变强度的物型屈服准则。通过改变参数可将冻土的瞬时强度准则与冻土的瞬时强度准则与冻土的蠕变强度准则统一为同一个方程描述。     

Time-dependent behaviour of the rock mass

Summary The strength of intact rock and the rock mass is time-dependent. For intact rock experimental verification is available, for the rock mass the scale of time-dependence is a matter of judgement. Rock mass classifications do however emphasize the effect of time on tunnel stability. This paper examines the source of time-dependence in rocks and the rock mass and suggests a technique for estimating the long term strength. The long term strength of the rock mass is controlled by the time-dependent weakening of intact rock. Frictional resistance, a major source of rock mass strength, increases rather than decreases with time. Lifetime estimation for rocks can be accomplished phenomenologically or mechanistically. The first is a statistical process of wide applicability, the second is more restrictive in usage as its applies only to materials that suffer time-dependent strain (creep). Although the mechanistic route is more appealing, it has a major drawback as it concentrates on steady state creep. There is no strong evidence for steady state creep in rocks. The technique for long term prediction is developed through the analysis of the failure rate under constant load. The failure rate for a given load and environment is established from the frequency distribution of time-to-failure data as measured in static fatigue tests. As expected, the failure rate is strongly affected by both the loading and the environmental condition. The influence, however, is systematic and predictable.     

Nonequilibrium thermodynamics of pressure solution

This paper is concerned with the thermodynamic theory of solution and precipitation processes in wet crustal rocks and with the mechanism of steady pressure-solution slip in contact zones, such as grain-to-grain contacts, fracture surfaces, and permeable gouge layers, that are infiltrated by a mobile aqueous solution phase. A local dissipation jump condition at the phase boundary is fundamental to identifying the thermodynamic force driving the solution and precipitation process and is used here in setting up linear phenomenological relations to model near-equilibrium phase transformation kinetics. The local thermodynamic equilibrium of a stressed pure solid in contact with its melt or solution phase is governed by Gibbs's relation, which is rederived here, in a manner emphasizing its independence of constitutive assumptions for the solid while neglecting surface tension and diffusion in the solid. Fluid-infiltrated contact zones, such as those formed by rough surfaces, cannot generally be in thermodynamic equilibrium, especially during an ongoing process of pressure-solution slip, and the existing equilibrium formulations are incorrect in overlooking dissipative processes tending to eliminate fluctuations in superficial free energies due to stress concentrations near asperities, defects, or impurities. Steady pressure-solution slip is likely to exhibit a nonlinear dependence of slip rate on shear stress and effective normal stress, due to a dependence of the contact-zone state on the latter. Given that this dependence is negligible within some range, linear relations for pressure-solution slip can be derived for the limiting cases of diffusion-controlled and interface-reaction-controlled rates. A criterion for rate control by one of these mechanisms is set by the magnitude of the dimensionless quantityk/2C _pD, wherek is the interfacial transfer coefficient, is the mean diffusion path length,C _p is the solubility at pressurep, andD is the mass diffusivity.     

Hypocenter distribution and focal mechanism of AE events during two stress stage creep in Yugawara andesite

More than a thousand acoustic-emission (AE) hypocenters were determined in a cylindrical andesite specimen under two-stage uniaxial creep at stresses of 204 and 214 MPa. Strains were monitored for 6 peripheral points at the middle part of the cylindrical specimen's wall. The strain data indicate gradual increase of nonuniform deformation during steady creep and strong intensification of the nonuniformity during acceleration creep and, therefore, biased stress distribution within the specimen. The correlation between dilatant strain and AE hypocenters was investigated for whether or not tensile cracks emit AE. The region with high AE activity shows only a small dilatant strain. This negative correlation between AE and the dilatant region may eliminate tensile cracks as possible AE sources. A composite focal-mechanism solution of local AE events, covering a wide solid angle of the focal hemisphere, indicates that shear fractures emit AE waves. The direction of the compressional axis in this solution shows a significant deviation from that inferred from the applied external force, suggesting that the local stress field is governed by preexisting weak zones that are, presumably, produced by tensile cracks within the specimen. AE hypocenters tended to form clusters during steady creep under the constant compressional stress. During acceleration creep caused by a small step increase of the external stress, the preceding clusters disappeared while a new cluster appeared in an incipient fault plane. This suggests that changes in seismicity pattern such as migrations or quiescences of swarm—important clues for earthquake predictions—may be caused by an instantaneous change in the tectonic-stress levels.