Are open fractures necessarily aligned with maximum horizontal stress?

Fluid flow in fractured rock is an increasingly central issue in recovering water and hydrocarbon supplies and geothermal energy, in predicting flow of pollutants underground, in engineering structures, and in understanding large-scale crustal behaviour. Conventional wisdom assumes that fluids prefer to flow along fractures oriented parallel or nearly parallel to modern-day maximum horizontal compressive stress, or S_Hmax. The reasoning is that these fractures have the lowest normal stresses across them and therefore provide the least resistance to flow. For example, this view governs how geophysicists design and interpret seismic experiments to probe fracture fluid pathways in the deep subsurface. Contrary to these widely held views, here we use core, stress measurement, and fluid flow data to show that S_Hmax does not necessarily coincide with the direction of open natural fractures in the subsurface (>3 km depth). Consequently, in situ stress direction cannot be considered to predict or control the direction of maximum permeability in rock. Where effective stress is compressive and fractures are expected to be closed, chemical alteration dictates location of open conduits, either preserving or destroying fracture flow pathways no matter their orientation.     

Investigation of upper crust anisotropy in Ghaen-Birjand region, east-central Iran

IntroductionWhenpropagatingthroughananisotropicmedium,ashearwavesplitsintotwo(quasi)shearwaveswithdifferentpropagationspeedsandpolarizedorthogonally.Owingtotherecentdevel-opmentofseismicobservationsystem,detectionofshearwavessplittingwithverysmalldelaytimesbetweenfasterandslowershearwavesbecameavailableandprovidedpowerfulapproachfordetectionofcrustalanisotropy.Crampin(1978)emphasizedtheroleofalignedmicrocracksasacauseofcrustalanisotropyandpointedoutthatforverticallyalignedmicrocracksthedirecti…     

三层模式背风波的理论研究

文中建立了一个背风波的三层理论模式 ;当三层Scorer参数在中层最大、高层次之、下层最小的情况下 ,利用该模式求得了背风波的理论波长及扰动的解析解 ,并对一个典型的个例计算了其背风波波长 ,并在此基础上分析了背风波波长对上、中、下三层Scorer参数变化的敏感性 ,结果表明波长对中层Scorer参数的变化比较敏感 ,对下层Scorer参数的大小和符号都不敏感 ,但在计算背风波波长时不能忽略下层的Scorer参数。     

黄河水下三角洲沉积物强度变化原位测试研究

研究区位于1964～1976年黄河由刁口入海时形成的水下三角洲叶瓣上。1995年为石油开采在潮坪上构筑的交通设施对波浪形成良好的屏障。在屏障两侧各选一典型研究区，于1999年和2002年进行了大量对比性现场原位土工测试，探讨了波浪对黄河口沉积物的次生改造作用，结果表明：(1)较强的波浪荷载作用，不会提高海底沉积物的表层强度，只是导致不均匀程度随水动力作用的时间增长有所加大：(2)较强的波浪荷载作用，使得海底表层沉积物之下一定深度范围内土体强度提高，形成强度硬层：(3)海底沉积物强度沿着剖面线在平面上呈现周期性或间隔性变化。     

SH波对无限介质土中衬砌结构的动应力集中

运用复变函数法和保角映射法对无限介质土中的衬砌结构进行分析.通过引入两个势函数将弹性介质的控制方程解耦成两个Helmholtz方程.利用所得势函数的通解,得到无限土介质和衬砌结构的位移和应力的表达式,利用无限介质与衬砌结构之间的连续性条件和衬砌结构内边界上的边界条件,可确定波函数展开式中的末知系数,并给出动应力集中系数的数值结果.     

Determination of the elastic modulus set of foliated rocks from ultrasonic velocity measurements

Ultrasonic measurements of compressional and shear wave velocities under hydrostatic pressure up to 70 MPa were carried out on cylindrical specimens cored across and along the foliation planes. Our measurements revealed that the foliation of the metamorphic rocks induces a clear velocity anisotropy between two orthogonal directions; faster along the foliation plane and slower across the plane in most rock types. All velocity components monotonically increase with the confining pressure, probably due to the closure of microcracks distributed in rock specimens. We determined the complete set of dynamic moduli of foliated metamorphic rocks with two assumptions; transverse isotropy due to the foliation and ellipsoidal seismic energy propagation from a point source. The calculated elastic moduli referring to different directions could be valuable for the design of various engineering structures in planar textured rock mass.     

大震前井水位长周期波生成机理的实验证据

根据一些学者的岩石力学实验结果证实岩石在大破裂前能够产生一种长周期、小振幅的低频事件,并依此来解释大震前井水位长周期事件的物理机制.研究结果表明,大震前井水位长周期事件反映了震源的内部信息,是大震前断裂失稳扩展前预扩展所产生的一种波,是震源成核过程的反映.