Predicting excavation damage zone depths in brittle rocks

During the construction of an underground excavation, damage occurs in the surrounding rock mass due in large part to stress changes. While the predicted damage extent impacts profile selection and support design, the depth of damage is a critical aspect for the design of permeability sensitive excavations, such as a deep geological repository(DGR) for nuclear waste. Review of literature regarding the depth of excavation damage zones(EDZs) indicates three zones are common and typically related to stress induced damage. Based on past developments related to brittle damage prediction using continuum modelling, the depth of the EDZs has been examined numerically. One method to capture stress induced damage in conventional engineering software is the damage initiation and spalling limit(DISL) approach. The variability of depths predicted using the DISL approach has been evaluated and guidelines are suggested for determining the depth of the EDZs around circular excavations in brittle rock masses. Of the inputs evaluated, it was found that the tensile strength produces the greatest variation in the depth of the EDZs. The results were evaluated statistically to determine the best fit relation between the model inputs and the depth of the EDZs. The best correlation and least variation were found for the outer EDZ and the highly damaged zone(HDZ) showed the greatest variation. Predictive equations for different EDZs have been suggested and the maximum numerical EDZ depths, represented by the 68% prediction interval, agreed well with the empirical evidence. This suggests that the numerical limits can be used for preliminary depth prediction of the EDZs in brittle rock for circular excavations.

An improved model of damage depth of shock-melted metal in microspall under triangular wave loading

Damage depth is an important dynamic parameter for describing the degree of material damage and is also a key fundamental issue in the field of impact compression technology.The present work is dedicated to the damage depth of shock-melted metal in microspall under triangular wave loading,and an improved model of damage depth considering the material's compressibility and relative movement is proposed.The damage depth obtained from the proposed model is in good agreement with the laser-driven shock loading experiment.Compared with the previous model,the proposed model can predict the damage depth of shock-melted metal in microspall more accurately.Furthermore,two-groups of the smoothed particle hydrodynamics(SPH)simulations are carried out to investigate the effects of peak stress and decay length of the incident triangular wave on the damage depth,respectively.As the decay length increases,the damage depth increases linearly.As the peak stress increases,the damage depth increases nonlinearly,and the increase in damage depth gradually slows down.The results of the SPH simulations adequately reproduce the results of the proposed model in terms of the damage depth.Finally,it is found that the threshold stress criterion can reflect the macroscopic characteristics of microspall of melted metal.

The Coupled Effect of Temperature Changes and Damage Depth on Natural Frequencies in Beam-Like Structures

A significant amount of research is concerned with dynamic modal parameters for damage detection of structural conditions due to their simplicity in use and feasibility.However,their use for damage detection should be performed with special attention,particularly in operational and environmental conditions subjected to temperature changes.Beams in construction industries experience different loading types,such as temperature changes leading to crack initiation and propagation.Changed physical and dynamic properties such as natural frequencies and mode shapes indicate that damage has occurred within the structures.In this study,vibration analysis of cantilever and cantilever simply supported beams has been carried out on intact and damaged beams to investigate the coupled effect of temperature changes and damage depth on natural frequencies.A numerical analysis of beams is completed using ANSYS software.The results of numerical simulation are validated using two other studies from literature.Numerical results revealed that in order to perform a successful damage assessment using the frequency shift,the vibration modes should be selected properly.In addition,an increase in temperature results in a decrease in structural frequencies.The assessment of the effect of damage depth on natural frequencies also confirms that when damage depth is increased,there is a significant decrease in natural frequency responses.

Monte Carlo Si mulation of Damage Depth in Focused Ion Beam Milling Si_3N_4 Thin Film

The damage properties of Focused Ion Beam(FIB) milling Si3N4 thin film are investigated by the detailed analyzing images of nanoholes and simulation of Monte Carlo. The damage depth in the Si3N4 thin film for two different ion species(Gallium and Arsenic) under various parameters(ion energy, angle of incidence) are investigated by Monte Carlo method. The simulations show the damage depth increases with the increasing ion energy, the damage depth is dependent on the angle of incident ion, the curves of the damage depth for Ga ion and As ion at 30 keV nearly superpose, while the damage depth for Ga with 90 keV ion is more than that for As ion with the same energy.