岩石三轴压缩实验的强度特性及应用

结合实例对岩石三轴实验数据的一些主要特点和适合应用的领域进行了探讨。结果为:①岩石的三轴抗压、抗剪强度随围压(或深度)的增大而增大。低围压时,呈线性增大;当围压超过某一值后,变为增长率逐渐下降的非线性增大;至更高围压后,抗压强度与围压的应力差、抗剪强度将趋于某一常数。②岩石的单轴强度是强度中的极小值。工程应用中应采用三轴强度,以降低造价、避免浪费。③在现有的各种岩石力学实验方法中,三轴实验得出的凝聚力C和内摩擦角Φ相对最准确。④岩石三轴实验数据在与地学相关的领域内有着广泛的用途。     

Benchmarking analogue models of brittle thrust wedges

We performed a quantitative comparison of brittle thrust wedge experiments to evaluate the variability among analogue models and to appraise the reproducibility and limits of model interpretation. Fifteen analogue modeling laboratories participated in this benchmark initiative. Each laboratory received a shipment of the same type of quartz and corundum sand and all laboratories adhered to a stringent model building protocol and used the same type of foil to cover base and sidewalls of the sandbox. Sieve structure, sifting height, filling rate, and details on off-scraping of excess sand followed prescribed procedures.Our analogue benchmark shows that even for simple plane-strain experiments with prescribed stringent model construction techniques, quantitative model results show variability, most notably for surface slope, thrust spacing and number of forward and backthrusts. One of the sources of the variability in model results is related to slight variations in how sand is deposited in the sandbox. Small changes in sifting height, sifting rate, and scraping will result in slightly heterogeneous material bulk densities, which will affect the mechanical properties of the sand, and will result in lateral and vertical differences in peak and boundary friction angles, as well as cohesion values once the model is constructed. Initial variations in basal friction are inferred to play the most important role in causing model variability.Our comparison shows that the human factor plays a decisive role, and even when one modeler repeats the same experiment, quantitative model results still show variability. Our observations highlight the limits of up-scaling quantitative analogue model results to nature or for making comparisons with numerical models. The frictional behavior of sand is highly sensitive to small variations in material state or experimental set-up, and hence, it will remain difficult to scale quantitative results such as number of thrusts, thrust spacing, and pop-up width from model to nature.     

Strength of moist sand controlled by surface tension for tectonic analogue modelling

A technique has been developed to control the strength of moistened sand in a quantifiable, accurate and reproducible way, while other mechanical properties were maintained. Strength of dry sand was increased through adding a small amount of liquid. In order to control the additional cohesion of moist sand, the influence of the surface tension of the liquid was investigated. Direct shear experiments were performed on four granular materials at confining stress levels below 1 kPa. It has been found that the surface tension of the added liquid controlled the additional apparent cohesion of sand with high accuracy. The mechanical properties of moist sand show dynamic similarity towards natural brittle rock, which enables analogue modelling of fault formation, fault reactivation and tension fracture formation in the brittle regime with a controlled strength profile. Furthermore, experimental results fit well to shear strength models. From this followed the direct proportionality of the unsaturated shear strength parameter φ^b relative to the matrix suction, measured at low stress levels. Moreover, shear strength turned out to be also a function of grain size and the grain shape.     

Insights on the kinematics of deep-seated gravitational slope deformations along the 1915 Avezzano earthquake fault (Central Italy), from time-series DInSAR

Small meandering channels of about 1 m wide on an intertidal mudflat in the Westerschelde estuary the Netherlands) were studied with the aim to improve understanding of the effect of highly cohesive bed and bank sediment on channel inception and meander geometry and dynamics. The study is supported by experiments and modelling. The estuarine meandering channels are less dynamical than alluvial meandering rivers, and the dynamics are more localised. Moreover, the high thresholds for bed sediment erosion and for bank failure lead to two processes, uncommon in larger rivers, that cause most of the morphological change. First, the beds of the channels are eroded by backward migrating steps under hydraulic jumps, while the remainder of the bed surface along the channel is hardly eroded. Second, channel banks erode i) where eroding steps locally cause undercutting of otherwise stable channel banks and ii) in very sharp bends where the flow separates from the inner-bend channel boundary and impinges directly on the bank on the opposite side of the channel. Further morphological change is probably induced by rainfall splash erosion and by storm waves that weaken the mud, and by large mud fluxes from the estuary. The steps were successfully reproduced in laboratory flume experiments. An existing model for step migration predicted celerities consistent with field and laboratory observations and demonstrated a strong dependence on the threshold for erosion. Bank stability models confirm that banks and steps only fail when undercut and weakened by waves, rain or excess pore pressure in agreement with observations. The effects of a high threshold for bank erosion was implemented in an existing meander simulation model that reproduced the observed locations of bank erosion somewhat better than without the threshold, but flow separation and its effect on meander bends remains poorly understood.