A novel coupled FDM-DEM modelling method for flexible membrane boundary in laboratory tests

Difficulties are involved in discrete element method (DEM) modelling of the flexible boundary, that is, the membranes covering the soil sample, which can be commonly found in contemporary laboratory soil tests. In this paper, a novel method is proposed wherein the finite difference method (FDM) and DEM are coupled to simulate the rubber membrane and soil body, respectively. Numerical plane strain and triaxial tests, served by the flexible membrane, are implemented and analysed later. The effect of the membrane modulus on the measurement accuracy is considered, with analytical formulae derived to judge the significance of this effect. Based on an analysis of stress-strain responses and the grain rotation field, the mechanical performances produced by the flexible and rigid lateral boundaries are compared for the plane strain test. The results show that (1) the effect of the membrane on the test result becomes more significant at larger strain level because the membrane applies additional lateral confining pressure to the soil body; (2) the tested models reproduce typical stress and volumetric paths for specimens with shear bands; (3) for the plane strain test, the rigid lateral boundary derives a much higher peak strength and larger bulk dilatation, but a similar residual strength, compared with the flexible boundary. The latter produces a more uniform (or ‘diffuse') rotation field and more mobilised local kinematics than does the former. All simulations show that the proposed FDM-DEM coupling method is able to simulate laboratory tests with a flexible boundary membrane.     

An approximate method for evaluating the shear band thickness in saturated soils

A formula for the thickness of a shear band formed in saturated soils under a simple shear or a combined stress state has been proposed. It is shown that the shear band thickness is dependent on the pore pressure properties of the material and the dilatancy rate, but is independent of the details of the combined stress state. This is in accordance with some separate experimental observations. Copyright © 2004 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     

甘新蒙北山地区成矿带划分和基本特征对比

在对甘新蒙北山地区成矿地质背景和成矿在时空上的联系性等综合研究分析基础上,运用新理论、新认识,以板块构造单元划分为基础,将本区划分为3个Ⅲ级成矿带、11个Ⅳ级成矿带,并对Ⅲ级成矿带特征进行了阐述,以期为矿产勘查和地质大调查工作部署提供新的思路和依据。进一步就主要矿床(点)、构造单元、矿种、赋矿建造、控矿因素、成矿类型、成矿时代等方面进行了对比,认为各Ⅳ级成矿带在区域上具有相对稳定的展布范围,具有相同的构造环境和成矿条件、类似的矿种和成矿时代,存在一定的相似性、可比性,并且各成矿带具有一定的潜在找矿价值。     

Metamorphism in Archaean greenstone belts: calculated fluid compositions and implications for gold mineralization

An inescapable consequence of the metamorphism of greenstone belt sequences is the release of a large volume of metamorphic fluid of low salinity with chemical characteristics controlled by the mineral assemblages involved in the devolatilization reactions. For mafic and ultramafic sequences, the composition of fluids released at upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies conditions for the necessary relatively hot geotherm corresponds to those inferred for greenstone gold deposits (X_CO2= 0.2–0.3). This result follows from the calculation of mineral equilibria in the model system CaO–MgO–FeO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–CO₂, using a new, expanded, internally consistent dataset. Greenstone metamorphism cannot have involved much crustal over-thickening, because very shallow levels of greenstone belts are preserved. Such orogeny can be accounted for if compressive deformation of the crust is accompanied by thinning of the mantle lithosphere. In this case, the observed metamorphism, which was contemporaneous with deformation, is of the low-P high-T type. For this type of metamorphism, the metamorphic peak should have occurred earlier at deeper levels in the crust; i.e. the piezothermal array should be of the ‘deeper-earlier’type. However, at shallow crustal levels, the piezothermal array is likely to have been of ‘deeper-later’type, as a consequence of erosion. Thus, while the lower crust reached maximum temperatures, and partially melted to produce the observed granites, mid-crustal levels were releasing fluids prograde into shallow crustal levels that were already retrograde. We propose that these fluids are responsible for the gold mineralization. Thus, the contemporaneity of igneous activity and gold mineralization is a natural consequence of the thermal evolution, and does not mean that the mineralization has to be a consequence of igneous processes. Upward migration of metamorphic fluid, via appropriate structurally controlled pathways, will bring the fluid into contact with mineral assemblages that have equilibrated with a fluid with significantly lower X_CO2. These assemblages are therefore grossly out of equilibrium with the fluid. In the case of infiltrated metabasic rocks, intense carbonation and sulphidation is predicted. If, as seems reasonable, gold is mobilized by the fluid generated by devolatilization, then the combination of processes proposed, most of which are an inevitable consequence of the metamorphism, leads to the formation of greenstone gold deposits predominantly from metamorphic fluids.     

Paleoproterozoic Extensional Structure and Its Controlling on Mineralization in the East of Liaoning Province

IntroductionThe area of eastern Liaoning is an importantmetal and nonmetal metallogenetic district in China,and the Liaohe group is one of the most importantstrata that hosts Pb, Zn, Au, B and Mg etcstratabound deposits. Up to now many geo1ogistssuch as Z…     

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.     

江西浒坑钨矿含矿石英脉的地质特征及成矿构造演化

位于赣西武功山地区的江西浒坑钨矿是一个大型石英脉型钨矿床,与赣南典型的“五层楼”模式不同,矿脉主要集中在岩体内接触带。含矿石英脉除了普通的块状构造以外,还普遍存在条带状构造。详细的野外编录和镜下研究表明含矿块状石英脉在形成后遭受不同程度的韧性剪切,从而形成不同成分的分异条带。剪切带以出现新生的面理和线理（拉伸线理）为特征。岩石学研究表明条带状矿石属于糜棱岩,具有丰富的塑性变形显微构造特征。通过对含矿石英脉的构造解析,认为与岩浆岩有关的原生节理系统基本上是同时形成的,沿节理充填的石英脉经历了长期的、多期次的构造运动,从而形成了复杂的石英脉和矿石类型。建立了原生节理形成→石英充填→韧性剪切发生→二期石英充填→脆性碎裂的矿区构造演化序列。韧性剪切作用的动力学背景可能是受后期岩浆侵入的影响,最后的脆性破裂应与区域上存在南北向的压应力有关。