Thermal effects on the strain rate-dependent behavior of highly compacted GMZ01 bentonite

Investigation of thermal effects on the strain rate-dependent properties of compacted bentonite is crucial for the long-term safety assessment of deep geological repository for disposal of high-level radioactive waste.In the present work,cylindrical GMZ01 bentonite specimens were compacted with suction-controlled by the vapor equilibrium technique.Then,a series of temperature-and suction-controlled stepwise constant rate of strain(CRS)tests was performed and the rate-dependent compressibility behavior of the highly compacted GMZ01 bentonite was investigated.The plastic compressibility parameterλ,the elastic compressibility parameterκ,the yield stress p0,as well as the viscous parameterαwere determined.Results indicate thatλ,κandαdecrease and p0 increases as suction increases.Upon heating,parametersλ,αand p0 decrease.It is also found that p0 increases linearly with increasing CRS in a double-logarithm coordinate.Based on the experimental results,a viscosity parameterα(s,T)was fitted to capture the effects of suction s and temperature T on the relationship between yield stress and strain rate.Then,an elastic-thermo-viscoplastic model for unsaturated soils was developed to describe the thermal effects on the rate-dependent behavior of highly compacted GMZ01 bentonite.Validation showed that the calculated results agreed well to the measured ones.

Present-day Upper-crustal Strain Rate Field in Southeastern Tibet and its Geodynamic Implications:Constraints from GPS Measurements with ABIC Method

The Earth’s surface kinematics and deformation are fundamental to understanding crustal evolution.An effective research approach is to estimate regional motion field and deformation fields based on modern geodetic networks.If the discrete observed velocity field is obtained,the velocity related fields,such as dilatation rate and maximum shear strain rate,can be estimated by applying varied mathematical approaches.This study applied Akaike's Bayesian Information Criterion(ABIC)method to calculate strain rate fields constrained by GPS observations in the southeast Tibetan Plateau.Comparison with results derived from other three methods revealed that our ABIC-derived strain rate fields were more precise.The maximum shear strain rate highlighted the Xianshuihe–Xiaojiang fault system as the main boundary for the outward migration of material in southeastern Tibet,indicating rotation of eastern Tibet material around the eastern Himalaya rather than whole extrusion along a fixed channel.Additionally,distinct dilatation rate patterns in the northeast and southwest regions of the fault system were observed.The northeast region,represented by the Longmenshan area,exhibited negative dilatational anomalies;while the southwest region,represented by the Jinsha River area north of 29°N,displayed positive dilatational anomalies.This indicates compression in the former and extension in the latter.Combined with deep geophysical observations,we believe that the upper and lower crusts of the Jinsha River area north of 29°N are in an entire expanding state,probably caused by the escape-drag effect of material.The presence of a large,low-viscosity region south of 29°N may not enable the entire escape of the crust,but instead result in a differential escape of the lower crust faster than the upper crust.

Mechanical behavior of nanorubber reinforced epoxy over a wide strain rate loading

Nanorubber/epoxy composites containing 0,2,6 and 10 wt%nanorubber are subjected to uniaxial compression over a wide range of strain rate from 8×10^(-4) s^(-1) to~2×10^(4) s^(-1).Unexpectedly,their strain rate sensitivity and strain hardening index increase with increasing nanorubber content.Potential mechanisms are proposed based on numerical simulations using a unit cell model.An increase in the strain rate sensitivity with increasing nanorubber content results from the fact that the nanorubber becomes less incompressible at high strain,generating a higher hydro-static pressure.Adiabatic shear localization starts to occur in the epoxy under a strain rate of 22,000 s^(-1) when the strain exceeds 0.35.The presence of nanorubber in the epoxy reduces adiabatic shear localization by preventing it from propagating.

Assessment of liquefaction potential based on shear wave velocity:Strain energy approach

Liquefaction assessment based on strain energy is significantly superior to conventional stress-based methods.The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the correlation between shear wave velocity and strain energy capacity of silty sands.The dissipated energy until liquefaction occurs was calculated by analyzing the results of three series of comprehensive cyclic direct simple shear and triaxial tests on Ottawa F65,Nevada,and Firoozkuh sands with varying silt content by weight and relative densities.Additionally,the shear wave velocity of each series was obtained using bender element or resonant column tests.Consequently,for the first time,a liquefaction triggering criterion,relating to effective overburden normalized liquefaction capacity energy(WL=s’c)to effective overburden stresscorrected shear wave velocity(eVs1)has been introduced.The accuracy of the proposed criteria was evaluated using in situ data.The results confirm the ability of shear wave velocity as a distinguishing parameter for separating liquefied and non-liquefied soils when it is calculated against liquefaction capacity energy(WL=s’c).However,the proposed WL=s’c-Vs1 curve,similar to previously proposed cyclic resistance ratio(CRR)-Vs1 relationships,should be used conservatively for fields vulnerable to liquefaction-induced lateral spreading.

Spalling characteristics of high-temperature treated granitic rock at different strain rates

The dynamic spalling characteristics of rock are important for stability analysis in rock engineering.This paper presented an experimental investigation on the dynamic spalling characteristics of granite with different temperatures and strain rates.A series of dynamic spalling tests with different impact velocities were conducted on thermally treated granite at different temperatures.The dynamic spalling strengths of granite with different temperatures and strain rates were determined.A model was proposed to correlate the dynamic spalling strength of granite,high temperature and strain rate.The results show that the spalling strength of granite decreases with increasing temperature.Moreover,the spalling strength of granite with a higher strain rate is larger than that with a lower strain rate.The proposed model can describe the relationship among dynamic spalling strength of granite,high temperature and strain rate.

Extension of Flow Behaviour and Damage Models for Cast Iron Alloys with Strain Rate Effect

Cast iron alloys with low production cost and quite good mechanical properties are widely used in the automotive industry.To study the mechanical behavior of a typical ductile cast iron(GJS-450)with nodular graphite,uni-axial quasi-static and dynamic tensile tests at strain rates of 10^(-4),1,10,100,and 250 s^(-1)were carried out.In order to investigate the influence of stress state on the deformation and fracture parameters,specimens with various geometries were used in the experiments.Stress strain curves and fracture strains of the GJS-450 alloy in the strain rate range of 10^(-4)to 250 s^(-1)were obtained.A strain rate-dependent plastic flow model was proposed to describe the mechanical behavior in the corresponding strain-rate range.The available damage model was extended to take the strain rate into account and calibrated based on the analysis of local fracture strains.Simulations with the proposed plastic flow model and the damage model were conducted to observe the deformation and fracture process.The results show that the strain rate has obviously nonlinear effects on the yield stress and fracture strain of GJS-450 alloys.The predictions with the proposed plastic flow and damage models at various strain rates agree well with the experimental results,which illustrates that the rate-dependent plastic flow and damage models can be used to describe the mechanical behavior of cast iron alloys at elevated strain rates.The proposed plastic flow and damage models can be used to describe the deformation and fracture analysis of materials with similar properties.

Bending Strength of Glass Materials under Strong Dynamic Impact and Its Strain Rate Effects

Based on the structural characteristics of the high-speed loading tester,a four-point bending test device was designed to carry out the four-point bending strength test of glass under the action of static load and different impact velocities,and the formulae for calculating the maximum dynamic stress and strain rate of glass specimens under the action of impact loads were derived.The experimental results show that the bending strength values of the glass under dynamic impact loading are all higher than those under static loading.With the increase of impact speed,the bending strength value of glass specimens generally tends to increase,and the bending strength value increases more obviously when the impact speed exceeds 0.5 m/s or higher.By increasing the impact velocity,higher tensile strain rate of glass specimens can be obtained because the load action time becomes shorter.The bending strength of the glass material increases with its tensile strain rate,and when the tensile strain rate is between 0 and 2 s^(-1),the bending strength of the glass specimen grows more obviously with the strain rate,indicating that the glass bending strength is particularly sensitive to the tensile strain rate in this interval.As the strain rate increases,the number of cracks formed after glass breakage increases significantly,thus requiring more energy to drive the crack formation and expansion,and showing the strain rate effect of bending strength at the macroscopic level.The results of the study can provide a reference for the load bearing and structural design of glass materials under dynamic loading.

Experimental and numerical study on dynamic mechanical behaviors of shale under true triaxial compression at high strain rate

High-energy gas fracturing of shale is a novel,high efficacy and eco-friendly mining technique,which is a typical dynamic perturbing behavior.To effectively extract shale gas,it is important to understand the dynamic mechanical properties of shale.Dynamic experiments on shale subjected to true triaxial compression at different strain rates are first conducted in this research.The dynamic stress-strain curves,peak strain,peak stress and failure modes of shale are investigated.The results of the study indicate that the intermediate principal stress and the minor principal stress have the significant influence on the dynamic mechanical behaviors,although this effect decreases as the strain rate increases.The characteristics of compression-shear failure primarily occur in shale subjected to triaxial compression at high strain rates,which distinguishes it from the fragmentation characteristics observed in shale under dynamic uniaxial compression.Additionally,a numerical three-dimensional Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar(3D-SHPB),which is established by coupling PFC3D and FLAC3D methods,is validated to replicate the laboratory characteristics of shale.The dynamic mechanical characteristics of shale subjected to different confining stresses are systematically investigated by the coupling PFC3D and FLAC3D method.The numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental data.

A method for extracting the preseismic gravity anomalies over the Tibetan Plateau based on the maximum shear strain using GRACE data

The occurrence of earthquakes is closely related to the crustal geotectonic movement and the migration of mass,which consequently cause changes in gravity.The Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment(GRACE)satellite data can be used to detect gravity changes associated with large earthquakes.However,previous GRACE satellite-based seismic gravity-change studies have focused more on coseismic gravity changes than on preseismic gravity changes.Moreover,the noise of the north–south stripe in GRACE data is difficult to eliminate,thereby resulting in the loss of some gravity information related to tectonic activities.To explore the preseismic gravity anomalies in a more refined way,we first propose a method of characterizing gravity variation based on the maximum shear strain of gravity,inspired by the concept of crustal strain.The offset index method is then adopted to describe the gravity anomalies,and the spatial and temporal characteristics of gravity anomalies before earthquakes are analyzed at the scales of the fault zone and plate,respectively.In this work,experiments are carried out on the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas,and the following findings are obtained:First,from the observation scale of the fault zone,we detect the occurrence of large-area gravity anomalies near the epicenter,oftentimes about half a year before an earthquake,and these anomalies were distributed along the fault zone.Second,from the observation scale of the plate,we find that when an earthquake occurred on the Tibetan Plateau,a large number of gravity anomalies also occurred at the boundary of the Tibetan Plateau and the Indian Plate.Moreover,the aforementioned experiments confirm that the proposed method can successfully capture the preseismic gravity anomalies of large earthquakes with a magnitude of less than 8,which suggests a new idea for the application of gravity satellite data to earthquake research.

Effect of Initial Stress Conditions on the Threshold Shear Strain of Nanjing's Saturated Fine Sand

By using GDS dynamic hollow cylinder torsional apparatus, a series of cyclic torsional triaxial tests under complex initial consolidation condition are performed on Nanjing saturated fine sand. The effects of the initial principal stress direction αo, the initial ratio of deviatoric stress η0, the initial average effective principal stress Po and the initial intermediate principal stress parameter b0 on the threshold shear strain γt of Nanjing saturated fine sand are then systematically investigated. The results show that γt increases as η0,p0 and b0 increase respectively, while the other three parameters remain constant. ao has a great influence on γt, which is reduced when ao increases from 0° to 45°and increased when α0 increases from 45° to 90°. The effect of α0 on γt, plays a leading role and the effect of η0 will weaken when ao is approximately 45°.

The Principle of Interaction between Plastic Volumetric and Shear Strains for Unsaturated Soils

The principle of interaction between plastic volumetric and shear strains for rock and soil has been extended to the field of unsaturated soils.Two new interactions of suction-plastic volumetric strain and pore air pressure-plastic volumetric strain appear in the unsaturated state of a soil except the interaction between plastic volumetric and shear strains.It is very important to find that the suction possesses a dual property,which is the origin of generating its special functions.Thereby the effect of the suction on volumetric strain includes two opposite aspects.By means of this property of suction,the physical significance of effective stress parameter,effects of suction on volume change and preconsolidation pressure,and the mechanism of collapse upon wetting all can be explained.In addition,it is theoretically proved by application of this principle of interaction that the critical state line for unsaturated soils exists,and is unique and independent of the stress history.

Experimental study of seismic cyclic loading effects on small strain shear modulus of saturated sands

The seismic loading on saturated soil deposits induces a decrease in effective stress and a rearrangement of the soil-particle structure, which may both lead to a degradation in undrained stiffness and strength of soils. Only the effective stress influence on small strain shear modulus Gmax is considered in seismic response analysis nowadays, and the cyclic shearing induced fabric changes of the soil-particle structure are neglected. In this paper, undrained cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on saturated sands with the shear wave velocity measured by bender element, to study the influences of seismic loading on Gmax. And Gmax of samples without cyclic loading effects was also investigated for comparison. The test results indicated that Gmax under cyclic loading effects is lower than that without such effects at the same effective stress, and also well correlated with the effective stress variation. Hence it is necessary to reinvestigate the determination of Gmax in seismic response analysis carefully to predict the ground responses during earthquake more reasonably.

Strength characteristics of dry and saturated rock at different strain rates

The strength of rock materials is largely affected by water and loading conditions, but there are few studies on mechanical properties of saturated rocks at high strain rates. Through compressive tests on dry and saturated sandstone specimens, it was found that the dynamic compressive strength of both dry and saturated sandstone specimens increased with the increase of strain rates. The saturated rock specimens showed stronger rate dependence than the dry ones. The water affecting factor （WAF）, as the ratio of the strength under dry state to that under saturated state, was introduced to describe the influence of water on the compressive strength at different strain rates. The WAF under static load was close to 1.38, and decreased with the increase of strain rate. When the strain rate reached 190 s^-1, the WAF reduced to 0.98. It indicates that the compressive strength of saturated specimens can be higher than that of dry ones when the strain rate is high enough. Furthermore, the dual effects of water and strain rate on the strength of rock were discussed based on sliding crack model, which provided a good explanation for the experimental results.

Influence of strain rate on microstructure and formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets

The effects of strain rate on microstructure and formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets were investigated through uniaxial tensile tests and hemispherical punch tests with strain rates of 10^-4, 10^-3, 10^-2, 10^-1 s^-1 at 200℃. The results show that the volume fraction of dynamic recrystallization grains increases and the original grains are gradually replaced by recrystallization grains with the strain rate decreasing. A larger elongation and a smaller r-value are obtained at a lower strain rate, moreover the erichsen values become larger with the strain rate reducing, so the formability improves. This problem arises in part from the enhanced softening and the coordination of recrystallization grains during deformation.

Flow behavior and microstructure of ZK60 magnesium alloy compressed at high strain rate

Flow behavior and microstructure of a homogenized ZK60 magnesium alloy were investigated during compression in the temperature range of 250-400 ℃ and the strain rate range of 0.1-50 s^-1. The results showed that dynamic recrystallization （DRX） developed mainly at grain boundaries at lower strain rate （0.1-1 s^-1）, while in the case of higher strain rate （10-50 s^-1）, DRX occurred extensively both at twins and grain boundaries at all temperature range, especially at temperature lower than 350 ℃, which resulted in a more homogeneous microstructure than that under other deformation conditions. The DRX extent determines the hot workability of the workpiece, therefore, hot deformation at the strain rate of 10-50 s^-1 and in the temperature range of 250-350 ℃ was desirable for ZK60 alloy. Twin induced DRX during high strain rate compression included three steps. Firstly, twins with high dislocation subdivided the initial grain, then dislocation arrays subdivided the twins into subgrains, and after that DRX took place with a further increase of strain.

Molecular dynamics study on temperature and strain rate dependences of mechanical tensile properties of ultrathin nickel nanowires

Based on the EAM potential, a molecular dynamics study on the tensile properties of ultrathin nickel nanowires in the （100〉 orientation with diameters of 3.94, 4.95 and 5.99 nm was presented at different temperatures and strain rates. The temperature and strain rate dependences of tensile properties were investigated. The simulation results show that the elastic modulus and the yield strength are gradually decreasing with the increase of temperature, while with the increase of the strain rate, the stress--strain curves fluctuate more intensely and the ultrathin nickel nanowires rupture at one smaller and smaller strain. At an ideal temperature of 0.01 K, the yield strength of the nanowires drops rapidly with the increase of strain rate, and at other temperatures the strain rate has a little influence on the elastic modulus and the yield strength. Finally, the effects of size on the tensile properties of ultrathin nickel nanowires were briefly discussed.

HIGH STRAIN RATE SU PERPLASTICITY IN SiCp REINFORCED AZ31 MAGNESIUM MATRIX COMPOSITE

Superplasticity of AZ 31 magnesium matrix composites reinforced with 10 vol% SiC（2 μm） particulate i s investigated at temperature range from 365℃ to 565℃ and strain rate from 2.0 8×10-3 to 5.21×10-1 s-1. The maximum total elongation of 228 % is obtained at a strain rate of 2.08×10-1 s-1. The strain rate se nsitivity exponent （m） higher than 0.3, is observed when the strain rate is high er than 10-1 s-1 at 525℃. Increasing the test temperature to 540℃, the maximum total elongation exceeding 195% is achieved at a higher strain rate of 5.21×10-1 s-1 than that at 525℃. SiC in AZ31/SiCp composite ca n fine the matrix grain size. Filament is observed on the fracture surface of th e specimens showing superplasticity.

Uniaxial compressive behavior of equal channel angular pressing Al at wide temperature and strain rate range

Uniaxial compressive experiments of ultrafine-grained Al fabricated by equal channel angular pressing(ECAP) method were performed at wide temperature and strain rate range. The influence of temperature on flow stress, strain hardening rate and strain rate sensitivity was investigated experimentally. The results show that both the effect of temperature on flow stress and its strain rate sensitivity of ECAPed Al is much larger than those of the coarse-grained Al. The temperature sensitivity of ultrafine-grained Al is comparatively weaker than that of the coarse-grained Al. Based on the experimental results, the apparent activation volume was estimated at different temperatures and strain rates. The forest dislocation interactions is the dominant thermally activated mechanism for ECAPed Al compressed at quasi-static strain rates, while the viscous drag plays an important role at high strain rates.

Strain rate-dependent high temperature compressive deformation characteristics of ultrafine-grained pure aluminum produced by ECAP

To explore the effect of strain rate ε on the high temperature deformation characteristics of ultrafine-grained materials, the deformation and damage features as well as microstructures of ECAP-treated pure Al at different temperatures T and strain ratesε were systematically studied through compression tests and microscopic observations. The increase in ε eliminates strain softening at T≤473 K, and largely enhances the yield strength and flow stress at 473?573 K. The shear deformation dominates the plastic deformation of ECAP-treated Al. Many cracks along shear bands (SBs) are formed at T≥473 K and secondary SBs basically disappear at 1×10?3 s?1; however, at 1×10?2 s?1, cracks are only observed at temperature below 473 K, and secondary SBs become clearer at T≥473 K. The microstructures of ECAP-treated Al mainly consist of sub-grains (SGs). The increase in ε inhibits the SG growth, thus leading to the increases both in yield strength and flow stress at high temperatures.

“Abnormal transient creep” in fine-grained Al-5356 alloy observed at low strain rates by high-resolution strain measurement

Transient creep at very low strain rates （less than 10-10 s-1） is still unclear. The traditional uniaxial creep testing is less useful due to unsatisfied resolution strain （~10-6）. To study transient creep behavior at such low strain rates, a high-resolution strain measurement using the helicoid spring specimen technique was employed in a fine-grained Al-5356 alloy at temperatures ranging from 0.47Tm to 0.74Tm （Tm： melting point）. To clarify transient creep mechanism at such low strain rates, transmission electron microscopy （TEM） was used in microstructure observation of crept specimens. The abnormal transient creep, high temperature strengthening at T〉Tp （Tp： the phase transformation temperature, 0.58Tm） or intermediate temperature softening at 0.4Tm〈T￡Tp and double-normal type （creep curves including double work-hardening stages） at T=Tp, were firstly observed. The substructure observation in a crept specimen at T=0.58Tm and e=1×10-4 shows pile-up dislocations including many small jogs with equal interval, and dislocations emitted from grain boundaries. The b-Al3Mg2 phase dissolves under the condition of testing temperatures higher than 523 K, which causes solid-solution quantity of Mg atoms to increase. Therefore, the “abnormal transient creep” may be related to the difference of solid solution strengthening caused by phase change during the creep tests.