Smeared crack approach: back to the original track

This paper briefly reviews the formulations used over the last 40 years for the solution of problems involving tensile cracking, with both the discrete and the smeared crack approaches. The paper focuses on the smeared approach, identifying as its main drawbacks the observed mesh‐size and mesh‐bias spurious dependence when the method is applied ‘straightly’. A simple isotropic local damage constitutive model is considered, and the (exponential) softening modulus is regularized according to the material fracture energy and the element size. The continuum and discrete mechanical problems corresponding to both the weak discontinuity (smeared cracks) and the strong discontinuity (discrete cracks) approaches are analysed and the question of propagation of the strain localization band (crack) is identified as the main difficulty to be overcome in the numerical procedure. A tracking technique is used to ensure stability of the solution, attaining the necessary convergence properties of the corresponding discrete finite element formulation. Numerical examples show that the formulation derived is stable and remarkably robust. As a consequence, the results obtained do not suffer from spurious mesh‐size or mesh‐bias dependence, comparing very favourably with those obtained with other fracture and continuum mechanics approaches. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strain localization in sand: an overview of the experimental results obtained in Grenoble using stereophotogrammetry

Experimental results are presented from the extensive program of drained plane strain compression tests on sand carried out in Grenoble over the last two decades. Systematic analysis of photographs of the deforming specimen allowed for measuring deformations and determining strain fields throughout the test, that is: prior to, at, and after the onset of strain localization. The principles, details and accuracy of the procedure are described, as well as its suitability to properly depict the patterns of deformation. Findings concerning the occurrence and progression of strain localization are discussed. The issues of shear band orientation and thickness are addressed, as well as temporary and persistent complex localization patterns, and the volumetric behaviour inside a band after its formation. The influence of such variables as initial state of the sand (effective stress and relative density), specimen size and slenderness, as well as grain size, is discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd     

The second order characteristic condition for plastic flow

In this paper the second order characteristic (discontinuous bifurcation) condition is derived for the granular flow (fully plastic) equations. This second order bifurcation equation is shown to be formally identical to the first order localization requirement during steady elastoplastic deformation provided the elastic compliance tensor is substituted for the product of the plastic multiplier with the flow Hessian. For isotropic yield and flow functions the invariant form of the characteristic condition is given in detail, as well as an alternative expression in adapted co‐ordinates. The characteristic condition can be regarded as defining a hardening function which is maximized to identify the critical angles. When the method is applied to 3D Coulomb flow, Mohr's 3D fracture plane conditions are obtained uniquely. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Size Scaling of Cross Correlation Between Multiple Variables

Reservoir models have large uncertainty because of spatial variability and limited sample data. The ultimate aim is to use simultaneously all available data sources to reduce uncertainty and provide reliable reservoir models for resource assessment and flow simulation. Seismic impedance or some other attribute provides a key source of data for reservoir modeling. These seismic data are at a coarser scale than the hard well data and it not an exact measurement of facies proportions or porosity. A requirement for data integration is the cross-covariance between the well and seismic data.The size-scaling behavior of the cross correlation for different measurement scales was nvestigated. The size-scaling relationship is derived theoretically and validated by numerical studies (including an example with real data). The limit properties of the cross-correlation coefficient when the averaging volume becomes large is shown. After some averaging volume, the volume-dependent cross-correlation coefficient reaches a limit value. This plateau value is controlled mainly by the large-scale behavior of the cross and direct variograms.The cross correlation can increase or decrease with volume support depending on the relative importance of long- and short-scale covariance structures. If the direct and cross variograms are proportional, there is no change in the cross correlation as the averaging volume changes. Our study shows that the volume-dependent cross-correlation coefficient is sensitive to the shape of the cross variogram and differences between the direct variograms of the well data and seismic data.     

Spectral and Multiscale Signal-to-Noise Thresholding of Spherical Vector Fields

The basic concepts of spectral and multiscale selective reconstruction of (geophysically relevant) vector fields on the sphere from error-affected data is outlined in detail. The reconstruction mechanism is formulated under the assumption that spectral as well as multiscale approximation is well-representable in terms of only a certain number of expansion coefficients at the various resolution levels. It is shown that spectral denoising by means of orthogonal expansions in terms of vector spherical harmonics reflects global a priori information of the noise (e.g., in form of a covariance tensor field), whereas multiscale signal-to-noise thresholding can be performed under locally dependent noise information within a multiresolution analysis in terms of spherical vector wavelets. An application of the multiscale formalism to Earth's magnetic field determination is presented.     

极化分析研究及其在波场分离中的应用

不同的波在空间的质点运动轨迹和极化方向是不同的，利用三分量或二分量记录，在特定的以ｔ０为中心，长为Ｎ△ｔ的滑动时窗中计算出描述波的质点运动轨迹和极化方向的特征参数。利用这些参数可以设计出合适的极化滤波函数，保留那些满足特定要求的质点运动，而衰减那些不满足设计要求的质点运动，利用某些算子可以把弹性波分解成Ｐ波和ＳＶ波，而且衰减面波；利用另外一些算子可以把Ｐ波和ＳＶ波衰减而使面波增强。这些算子甚至可以在嗓音和信号具有相同频率的情况下，成功地提高信嗓比。     

Correcting method of eddy covariance fluxes over non-flat surfaces and its application in ChinaFLUX

Although Eddy Covariance (EC) technique is one of the best methods for estimating the energy and mass exchanges between underlying surface and atmosphere in micrometeorology, errors and uncertainties still exist without necessary corrections. In this paper, we will focus on the effect of coordinate system on the eddy fluxes. Based on the data observed over four sites (one farmland site, one grassland site and two forest sites), the effects of three coordinate system transforming methods (Double Rotation-DR, Triple Rotation-TR and Planar Fit-PF)on the turbulent fluxes are analyzed. It shows that (i) the corrected fluxes are more or less than the uncorrected fluxes, which is related mainly to the sloping degree of surface, wind speed and wind direction; and (ii) pitch angle has a sinusoidal dependence on wind direction, especially in the regular sloping terrain; and (iii) PF method is something like the simplification of TR or DR,and there are not obvious distinctions in correction in sloping grassland and flat farmland, but PF method is not suitable for uneven and irregular forest sites.     

Establishment of apparent quantum yield and maximum ecosystem assimilation on Tibetan Plateau alpine meadow ecosystem

The alpine meadow is widely distributed on the Tibetan Plateau with an area of about 1.2×106kn2. Damxung County, located in the hinterland of the Tibetan Plateau, is the place covered with this typical vegetation. An open-path eddy covariance system was set up in Damxung rangeland station to measure the carbon flux of alpine meadow from July to October,2003. The continuous carbon flux data were used to analyze the relationship between net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange (NEE) and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), as well as the seasonal patterns of apparent quantum yield (α) and maximum ecosystem assimilation (Pmax).Results showed that the daytime NEE fitted fairly well with the PAR in a rectangular hyperbola function, with α declining in the order of peak growth period (0.0244 μmolCO2 · μmol-1pAR) ＞early growth period ＞ seed maturing period ＞ withering period (0.0098 μmolCO2 · μmol-1pAR).The Pmax did not change greatly during the first three periods, with an average of 0.433mgCO2· m-2· s-1, i.e. 9.829 μmolCO2· m-2· s-1. However, during the withering period, Pmax was only 0.35 mgCO2 · m-2 · s-1, i.e. 7.945 μmolCO2 · m-2 · s-1. Compared with other grassland ecosystems, the α of the Tibetan Plateau alpine meadow ecosystem was much lower.     

集合卡尔曼滤波同化中雷达位置的敏感性研究

针对对流尺度集合卡尔曼滤波（EnKF）雷达资料同化中雷达位置对同化的影响进行研究。为了考察强对流出现在雷达不同方位时集合卡尔曼滤波同化雷达资料的能力,以一个理想风暴为例,设计了8个均匀分布在模拟区域周围的模拟雷达进行试验。单雷达同化试验中,初期同化对雷达位置较敏感,而十几个循环后对雷达方位的敏感性降低。造成初期同化效果较差的雷达观测位于模拟区域正南和正北方向,这两部雷达与模拟区域中心的连线垂直于风暴移动方向（即环境气流的方向）。双雷达试验的结果表明,正东、正南、正西和正北方向的雷达组合观测会使同化初期误差较大,这说明并不是所有与风暴连线成90°的雷达组合都能在短时同化中得到合理的分析结果,还需要都处于模拟区域对角线上（即与环境气流成45°夹角）,同化效果才较好。短时同化后的确定性预报结果表明,较大分析误差也会导致较大预报误差。这些分析误差主要是由于同化初期不准确的集合平均场驱动出的不合理的背景误差协方差造成的。当背景场随着同化循环得到改进后,驱动出的合理的背景误差协方差使得不同位置雷达同化造成的差异逐步减小。基于上述结果,引入迭代集合均方根滤波（iEnSRF）算法,结果显示使用该算法后,雷达位置对同化效果的影响减小,同化不同位置的雷达资料均能有效降低分析和预报误差。