Detection and targeted control of regional stress field for coal burst prevention

As coal burst normally occurs in the area of high stress concentration,it is of significance to study the features of regional stress field in coal mines.Primitive stress field,mining-induced stress field and their coupling effect are investigated through the methods of theoretical analysis,field measurement,numerical simulation and wave velocity CT inversion,and the relationship among regional stress field,high-energy seismic events and coal bursts are analyzed.Investigation of the 3#mining district in Xingcun coal mine shows that:(1)Though stress concentration changes in the mining process,several special areas witnesses stress concentration in the whole mining process,such as the rise pillar area,several syncline axis areas and large fault areas;(2)Coal burst occurrence and high-energy seismic events have a close relationship with regional stress field.Coal bursts and high-energy seismic events tend to occur in areas of stable stress concentration,such as the rise area,several syncline axis areas and large fault areas.Targeted control of stress field for coal burst prevention is developed based on stress field detection.The process of targeted control of stress field for coal burst prevention is:detection of regional stress field based mainly on wave velocity CT,identification of stress concentration,implementation of destress measures to control the identified stress concentration.This method of stress field control was applied to LW3306 working face in Xingcun coal mine and coal burst hazards were effectively controlled in LW3306.

Influence of regional background stress fields on the spontaneous rupture of the major faults around Xiluodu dam,China

Simulations of the spontaneous rupture of potential earthquakes in the vicinity of reservoir dams can provide accurate parameters for seismic resilience assessment,which is essential for improving the seismic performance of reservoir dams.In simulations of potential spontaneous ruptures,fault geometry,regional stress fields,constitutive parameters of the fault friction law,and many other factors control the slip rate,morphology,and dislocation of the rupture,thereby affecting the simulated ground motion parameters.The focus of this study was to elucidate the effects of the background stress field on the nucleation and propagation of spontaneous ruptures based on the factors influencing potential M>7 earthquake events on the Leibo Middle Fault(LBMF)and the Mabian-Yanjing Fault(MB-YJF)in the Xiluodu dam(XLD)region.Our simulation results show that the magnitude of the regional background stress field plays a decisive role in whether a destructive earthquake exceeding the critical magnitude will occur.We found that the direction and magnitude of the regional stress significantly affect the range of rupture propagation on the fault plane,and fault geometry affects the spatial distribution of the rupture range.Under the same regional stress field magnitude and orientation,a more destructive,high-magnitude earthquake is more likely to occur on the LBMF than on the MB-YJF.

Variation of stress field in the source region around a strong shock：an example

An earthquake with magnitude 6.6 occurred on November 16,1983 in the Kaoiki,Hawii.The hierarchical clustering analyses were made by stages for the focal mechanism solutions of 74 earthquakes with M≥3.0 in this area from 1977 to 1985,it was found that each type of focal mechanism is roughly with invariable percentage,and that the strike-slip events including the mainshock,which did not appear in other stages,occurred in the stage around M=6.6 mainshock.The dominant types in the other stages were depressed in the period around the mainshock. This is a believable precursor phenomena.orientation of the principal axes of stress field was inversed by fitting slip vector based on the focal mechanisms in the different periods.The results show that the stress field around the main shock with M=6.6 was more stable,its maximum and minimum principal axes is nearly horizontal in EW and NS direction respectively,the middle one is nearly vertical.The middle principal axis of stress field in the other periods appeared to be horizontal and the corresponding seismic rupture horizontally slip with a small dip.The significant difference between the stress field of source region in the period around the strong shock and that in the other periods shows that the seismogeny and occurrence of the strong shock were controlled by the variation of stress field.The characteristic environment factors of Kaoiki region and its effects were discussed.

Ambient tectonic shear stress field in Southern California and seismic hazard regions

ccording to the fracture mechanics rupture model of earthquakes put forward by us, several equations to compute tectonic ambient shear stress value τ0 have been derived [equations (1), (2), (3), (5)].τ0 values for intermediate and small earthquakes occurred in Chinese mainland and Southern California have been calculated by use of these equations. The results demonstrate that the level and distribution of τ0 are closely related to the location where large earthquakes will occur, i.e. the region with higher level of τ0 will be prone to occur large earthquakes and the region with lower level will usually occur small earthquakes. According to the spatial distribution of τ0 , the seismic hazard regions or the potential earthquake source regions can in some degree be determined. According to the variation of τ0 with time, the large earthquake occurrence time can be roughly estimated. According to the distribution of τ0 in Southern California and variation with time, three high stress level regions are determined, one (Goldfield area) of them is the present seismic hazard region.

Piezomagnetic In-situ Stress Monitoring and its Application in the Longmenshan Fault Zone

The relative change of in-situ stress is an inevitable outcome of differential movement among the crust plates. Conversely, changes of in-situ stress can also lead to deformation and instability of crustal rock mass, trigger activity of faults, and induce earthquakes. Hence, monitoring real-time change of in-situ stress is of great significance. Piezomagnetic in-situ stress monitoring has good and longtime applications in large engineering constructions and geoscience study fields in China. In this paper, the new piezomagnetic in-situ stress monitoring system is introduced and it not only has overall improvements in measuring cell＇s structure and property, stressing and orienting way, but also enhances integration and intelligence of control and data transmission system, in general, which greatly promotes installing efficiency of measuring probe and quality of monitoring data. This paper also discusses the responses of new piezomagnetic system in large earthquake events of in-situ stress monitoring station at Qiaoqi of Baoxing and Wenxian of Gansu. The monitoring data reflect adjustments and changes of tectonic stress field at the southwestern segment of and the northern area near the Longmenshan fault zone, which shows that the new system has a good performance and application prospect in the geoscience field. Data of the Qiaoqi stress-monitoring station manifest that the Lushan Earthquake did not release stress of the southwestern segment of the Longmenshan fault zone adequately and there still probably exists seismic risk in this region in the future. Combined with absolute in-situ stress measurement, carrying out long-term in-situ stress monitoring in typical tectonic position of important regions is of great importance for researchers to assess and study regional crust stability.

Quantitative Assessment and Zonation of Regional Crustal Stability in China

On the basis of the synthetic analysis of present regional tectonic stress field in China, this paper follows three steps to do crustal stability assessment: (1) zonation of preevaluation area for regional crustal stability assessment and zonation; (2) choice, taking value and weight distribution of quantitative evaluation indices and determination of evaluation standards; (3) assessment and zonation of regional crustal stability using fuzzy mathematics in China.

A quantitative research for present-time crustal motion in Fujian Province, China and its marginal sea── Synthetical analysis of GPS measurement, fault deformation survey, leveling and focal mechanism solution

Based on the Chinese mainland GPS network (1994~1996), Fujian GPS network (1995~1997), cross fault deformation network (1982-1998), precise leveling network (1973~1980) and focal mechanism solutions of the recent several tens years, we synthetically and quantitatively studied the present-time crustal motion of the southeast coast of Chinese mainland-Fujian and its marginal sea. We find that this area with its mainland together moves toward SE with a rather constant velocity of 11 .2±3.0 mm/a. At the same time, there is a motion from the Quanzhou bay pointing to hinterland, with a major orientation of NW, extending toward two sides, and with an average velocity of 3.0±2.6 mm/a. The faults orienting NE show compressing motions, and the ones orienting NW show extending motions. The present-time strain field derived from crustal deformation is consistent with seismic stress field derived from the focal mechanism solutions and the tectonic stress field derived from geology data. The principal stress of compression orients NW (NWW) - SE (SEE). Demarcated by the NW orienting faults of the Quanzhou bay and Jinjiang-Yongan, the crustal motions show regional characteristics f the southwest of Fujian and the boundary of Fujian and Guangdong are areas of rising, the northeast of Fujian are areas of sinking. The horizontal strain rate and the fault motion of the former are both greater than the later. The side-transferring motion of Hymalaya collision zone and the compression of the west pacific subduction zone affect the motion of the research area. The amount of motion affected by the former is larger than the later, but the former is homogeneous and the later is not, which indicates that the events of strong earthquakes in this region relate more directly with western pacific subduction zone.