An improved strain-softening constitutive model of granite considering the effect of crack deformation

This paper presents an improved strain-softening constitutive model considering the effect of crack deformation based on the triaxial cyclic loading and unloading test results.The improved model assumes that total strain is a combination of plastic,elastic,and crack strains.The constitutive relationship between the crack strain and the stress was further derived.The evolutions of mechanical parameters,i.e.strength parameters,dilation angle,unloading elastic modulus,and deformation parameters of crack,with the plastic strain and confining pressure were studied.With the increase in plastic strain,the cohesion,friction angle,dilation angle,and crack Poisson's ratio initially increase and subsequently decrease,and the unloading elastic modulus and the crack elastic modulus nonlinearly decrease.The increasing confining pressure enhances the strength and unloading elastic modulus,and decreases the dilation angle and Poisson's ratio of the crack.The theoretical triaxial compressive stress-strain curves were compared with the experimental results,and they present a good agreement with each other.The improved constitutive model can well reflect the nonlinear mechanical behavior of granite.

AN APPLICATION OF SPI TECHNIQUE FOR STUDING STRA DISTRIBUTION AT CRACK TIP

A computerized digital speckle-interferometry(SPI)system has been set up to determine the in-plane distribution of displacement and strain at crack tip of CF specimens.The principle and the experimental method of this technique are described in detail.The effect of corrosion factors on plastic deformation at crack tip in CF process has been examined by comparing the near-tip strain fields of steel A537 before and after hydrogen charging,and of pure copper before and after applying an anodic current in 3.5% NaCl. The results shows that the clasic finite element mathematical models are not suitable to describe the near-tip deformation under the experimental conditions.Hydrogen charging made the crack tip plasticity decreased for steel A537 and the anodic dissolution enhance the near tip deformation of pure copper specimen.

AN IN SITU STUDY ON DEFORMATION TWINNING NEAR CRACK TIP IN TWO－PHASE TiAl－BASE ALIOY

An in situ study of twinning at crack tip in a TiAl-base alloy has been performed.The result shows that twinning with long shear vector(2/6) [112] can generate on(111) plane, even though usually it is very difficult to occur because of the high energy barrier. It was further shown that (1/6) [112](111) twinning is considerably easier to generate. Furthermore,(1/2)<110) ordinary dislocations were very active and dominated nearly the whole plastic zone, in spite of low Schmid factors. On the other hand, however <101) and (1/2) <112] superdislocations with higher Schmid factors can hardly be observed.

Study on Hot Deformation Cracks of Steel D2 Using Processing Map

The hot deformation behaviors of steel D2 in the range of 900 ℃ to 1 160 ℃ and strain rate range of 0.01 s -1 to 10 s -1 have been studied by using Processing Map developed on the basis of dynamic materials model. The efficiency of energy dissipation η is taken as a function of temperature and strain rate to obtain a Processing Map. In the Processing Map of steel D2, there are two zones of cracking susceptivity with high dissipation efficiency η of 46 % and 63 % respectively. One zone is in the range of 900 ℃ to 980 ℃ and the strain rate range of 0.01 s -1 to 0.06 s -1 , and the other from 1 140 ℃ to 1 160 ℃ and 8 s -1 to 10 s -1 . The experiment proves that there are microstructural brittle transgranular fractures and macroscopic thermal cracks in the two zones respectively. The map also revealed that deformation in these two zones is of instable flowing , so these two zones should be avoided when choosing hot deformation conditions.

Testing the intraplate origin of mega-earthquakes at subduction margins

The disastrous Mw 9.3 （seismic moment 1.0 × 10^30 dyn/cm） earthquake that struck northwest Sumatra on 26 December 2004 and triggered -30 m high tsunami has rejuvenated the quest for identi- fying the forcing behind subduction related earthquakes around the world. Studies reveal that the stron- gest part （elastic core） of the oceanic lithosphere lie between 20 and 60 km depth beneath the upper （- 7 km thick） crustal layer, and compressive stress of GPa order is required to fail the rock-layers within the core zone. Here we present evidences in favor of an intraplate origin of mega-earthquakes right within the strong core part （at the interface of semi-brittle and brittle zone）, and propose an alternate model exploring the flexing zone of the descending lithosphere as the nodal area for major stress accumulation. We believe that at high confining pressure and elevated temperature, unidirectional cyclic compressive stress loading in the flexing zone results in an increase of material yield strength through strain hardening, which transforms the rheology of the layer from semi-brittle to near-brittle state. The increased compres- sive stress field coupled with upward migration of the neutral surface （of zero stress fields） under non- coaxial deformation triggers shear crack. The growth of the shear crack is initially confined in the near-brittle domain, and propagates later through the more brittle crustal part of the descending oceanic lithosphere in the form of cataclastic failure,

Experimental investigation of asphalt mixture containing Linz-Donawitz steel slag

Standard asphalt mixtures for road infrastructures consist of natural aggregate and bitumen. A number of research efforts have successfully investigated the possibility of replacing the conventional aggregate skeleton with industrial by-products such as slag originating from steel production process. However, little is known on the effect of steel slag on the mixtures performance properties such as resistance to low-temperature cracking and to permanent deformation, stiffness and fatigue. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation on the fundamental performance properties of different types of asphalt mixtures prepared with 100% LD slag aggregate and a conventional asphalt mixture containing natural Gabbro aggregate. Sophisticated testing methods were used to evaluate the key performance parameters for the set of asphalt mixtures investigated. In this study, low temperature cracking was addressed through thermal stress restrained specimen tests. Penetration tests and cyclic compression tests were used to evaluate the response of asphalt binder and asphalt mixture to permanent deformation due repeated loading, respectively. The cyclic indirect tensile test was selected for investigating both stiffness properties and fatigue resistance. For this purpose the complex stiffness modulus was measured to quantify material stiffness under different temperature and loading conditions providing information on the visco-elasto-plastic material behavior. Fatigue tests were used to determine the progressive and localized material damage caused by cyclic loading. The experimental results indicate that asphalt mixtures prepared with LD slag are suitable for asphalt pavement construction and that in most cases they perform better than conventional asphalt mixtures prepared with Gabbro aggregate.

Assessment of Elasticity,Plasticity and Resistance to Machining-induced Damage of Porous Pre-sintered Zirconia Using Nanoindentation Techniques

Porous pre-sintered zirconia is subject to white machining during which its elasticity, plasticity and resistance to machining-induced damage determine its machinability and final quality. This study used nanoindentation techniques and the Sakai＇s series elastic and plastic deformation model to extract the resistance to plastic deformation from the plane strain modulus and the contact hardness for presintered zirconia. The modulus and the resistance to plasticity were used to calculate the relative amount of elasticity and plasticity. The fracture energy and the normalized indentation absorbed energy were used to deconvolute the resistance to machining-induced cracking based on the Sakai-Nowak model. All properties were extracted at a 10 mN peak load and loading rates of 0.1-2 mN/s to determine the loading rate effects on these properties. We found that the resistance to plasticity and the resistance to machining-induced cracking were independent of the loading rate （ANOVA, p 〉 0.05）. The elastic and plastic displacements depended on the loading rate through power laws. This loading rate-dependent deformation behaviour was explained by the maximum shear stress generated underneath the indenter and the indentation energy. The plastic deformation components and the indentation absorbed energy at all loading rates were higher than the elastic deformation components and the elastic strain energy, respectively. Finally, we established the linkage among the pore structure, indentation behaviour and machinability of pre-sintered zirconia.