Physical meaning and prediction efficiency of the load/unload response ratio of rocks in strain-weakening phase before failure

Rock experiment results indicate that the load/unload response ratio (LURR) of rocks expressed via strain energy may have singular or negative value after the stress in the rock reaches its maximum before rock failure or when the rock goes into the strain-weakening phase. The universality of this phenomenon is discussed. Expressed via strain or strain energy and the travel time of P wave, the variation form of the reciprocal of LURR during the process of rock failure preparation is derived. The results show that after a sharp decrease the reciprocal of LURR reaches its minimum when the main fracture of the rock is about to appear. This feature can be taken as an indication that the rock main fracture is impending.

The tempo-spatial evolution characteristics of the load/unload response ratio before strong earthquakes in California of America and its predicting implications

In this paper, the tempo-spatial evolution characteristics of the load/unload response ratio (namely LURR or Y value) before strong earthquakes with magnitude over 6 during 1976~1994 in California of America are studied in detail. The results show that there appear some high-Y regions cohering with the regional tectonic trend in a great area 3~4 years before strong earthquakes and these high-Y regions migrate from the periphery to the epicenter region at a speed of tens of kilometers per year. The load/unload response ratio (LURR) anomalies near the epicenter region characterizes a type of (ascend ? descend( and appear and increase steeply until one year or less before most earthquakes. (Positive( earthquakes form usually a concentration area; in and near which the main shock occurs. We have analyzed the different and same characters of earthquakes between California of American and the Chinese mainland. Basing on these results, we discuss the approach and method how to predict and estimate the three parameters (place, time and magnitude) of a strong earthquake in California of American by applying the characteristics of the LURR.

Physical Prediction Model of Compound Hydrodynamic Unload-Load Response Ratio and Its Application in Reservoir Colluvium Landslide

It is well known that the deformation and damage of reservoir colluvium landslides are often determined by the combined dynamics of reservoir water level change and rainfall.Based on the systematic analysis of the change law of reservoir water level,rainfall and displacements of reservoir colluvium landslide,this paper proposes the compound hydrodynamic action of rainfall and reservoir water as the unload-load parameter,and the landslide displacement as the unload-load response parameter.Based on this,a physical prediction model of the compound hydrodynamic unload-load response ratio of reservoir colluvium landslide was established,and the quantitative relationship between the compound hydrodynamic unload-load response ratio and its stability evolution was in-depth analyzed and determined.On the basis of the above research,taking Shuping landslide,a typical hydrodynamic pressure landslide as an example,the unload-load response ratio model is used to systematically evaluate and predict the stability evolution law and the change trend of the landslide under compound hydrodynamic action.The prediction result shows that the variation law of the compound hydrodynamic unload-load response ratio is consistent with the dynamic evolution law of its stability.Therefore,the above studies show that the compound hydrodynamic unload-load response ratio parameter is an effective displacement dynamic evaluation parameter for reservoir colluvium landslides,so it can be used in the prediction of the reservoir colluvium landslides.

Short-term and imminent anomalies of earthquake of load and unload response ratio of the well level to earth tides

In this paper, through the nonlinear response of rock strain and stress, we have analized the physical mechanism of loading and unloading response ratio of the well level to the earth tides,the respouse of an aquifer of confined well to bulk strain tide and showed two methods of the calculation of loading and unloading response ratio of the well level to the earth tides. We took the example of the Yu 01 well, which is near the epicenter of Heze M S 5.9 earthquake, calculated the response rate and loading and unloading response ratio of two kinds of the earth tides of it. The response rate and response ratio before the earthquake had the variation of increase.

The spatial temporal evolution characteristics of the load／unload response ratio（LURR） and its implications for predicting the three elements of earthquakes

The spatial temPOral evolution characteristics of the load/unload response ratio (Y) before strong earthquakes is studied in this paper. The results show that the regions of high value of Y migrate and converge to the impending earthquake epicenter from different directions before the occurrence of the event. Basing on this discovery, it is proposed that the method can be used to predict the three elements of an earthquake. It was applied to predict that an earthquake would occur in the western part of Yunnan Province, southwestern China. The three elements (time, space and magnitude) of the Menglian earthquake with Ms7.3 which occurred on July 12, 1995 in Yunnan Province tallied with our prediction.

Orientation effect on ground motion measurement for Mexican subduction earthquakes

The existence of the principal directions of the ground motion based on Arias intensity is well-known. These principal directions do not necessarily coincide with the orientations of recording sensors or with the orientations along which the ground motion parameters such as the peak ground acceleration and the pseudo-spectral acceleration （PSA） are maximum. This is evidenced by the fact that the maximum PSA at different natural vibration periods for horizontal excitations do not correspond to the same orientation. A recent analysis carried out for California earthquake records suggests that an orientation-dependent ground motion measurement for horizontal excitations can be developed. The main objective of this study is to investigate and provide seismic ground motion measurements in the horizontal plane, including bidirectional horizontal ground motions, for Mexican interplate and inslab earthquake records. Extensive statistical analyses of PSA are conducted for the assessment. The analysis results suggest that similar to the case of California records, the average behavior of the ratio of the PSA to the maximum resulting PSA can be approximated by a quarter of an ellipse in one quadrant; and that the ratio can be considered to be independent of the value of the maximum resulting PSA, earthquake magnitude, earthquake distance and the focal depth. Sets of response ratios and attenuation relationships that can be used to represent a bidirectional horizontal ground motion measurement for Mexican interplate and inslab earthquakes were also developed.

Resilience of hydraulic structures under significant impact of typhoons

Vulnerability to natural disasters falls into three categories： exposure, resistance, and resilience, where resilience mainly refers to the capability of a pressure-bearing system to recover by returning to its initial state, that is, the ability to adapt to disaster pressure. Resilience is a major subject of research on disaster prevention and mitigation. This research mainly focuses on the ability of the hydraulic structure to recover from the significant impacts of typhoons. According to the load/unload response ratio theory, the degree of instability by which nonlinear systems can be identified according to the difference between load and unload responses was analyzed. This analysis was used as a basis to study the resilience of a hydraulic structure. Taking the Yangtze River embankments under the impact of Typhoon Matsa as an example, the ability of the typical sections of different types of embankments to adapt to the significant impact of the typhoon, i.e., the resilience of the hydraulic structure, is described with the help of the load/unload response ratio （L）. The results of the calculated resilience reflect the actual conditions of the structure and can be used to determine the applicability of the embankment section. The load/unload response ratio theory is one of the effective tools for calculating the resilience of hydraulic structures under the significant impacts of typhoons.

The evolution characteristics of positive and negative earthquakes before strong quakes in Kanto area and the Hyugo earthquake in Japan

This paper studies the evolution charateristics of positive and negative quakes before Hyugo earthquake of M =7.2 and several strong quakes in Kanto area in Japan.The results show that the earthquakes over a certain megnitude are mainly positive ones a certain time before the main shock in or near the focal regions of most strong quakes,and form a concentratingintervals of positive quakes,The main quakes generally locate in or near the areas of positive quake distribution.Negative quakes often occur several months before the main shocks (not excluding positive ones), with the decrease of LURR (Loading/Unloading Response Ratio) values.It possibly shows that earthquake generating process has come to a short term stage.These characteristics may help to predict the time and location of the future earthquakes,and have been applied to the preliminary prediction of the time and the location of the earthquake of M =6.6 on Sep.11,1996 in Kanto area.

Characteristics of focal mechanisms in Chile subduction

We use the Centroid Moment Tensor （CMT） solution of the earthquakes occurred in Chile subduction to analyze the characteristics of focal mechanisms. We define the,angle between P, B, and T axes of focal mechanisms and three stress axes of tectonic stress field as the consistency parameter, to research the dynamic changes of focal mechanism pattern in earthquake preparation area before the 2010 Maule, Chile earthquake. The result shows that the consistency parameter decreases before the earthquake, and the area of the lower consistent parameter visually coincides with the distribution of aftershocks. This phenomenon is similar to the Load-Unload Response Ratio （LURR） decreases prior to the occurrence of macro-fracture happened in the acoustic emission experiments involving large rock specimens under tri-axial stress.

Experimental investigation and ANN modeling on improved performance of an innovative method of using heave response of a non-floating object for ocean wave energy conversion

To convert wave energy into usable forms of energy by utilizing heaving body, heaving bodies （buoys） which are buoyant in nature and float on the water surface are usually used. The wave exerts excess buoyancy force on the buoy, lifting it during the approach of wave crest while the gravity pulls it down during the wave trough. A hydraulic, direct or mechanical power takeoff is used to convert this up and down motion of the buoy to produce usable forms of energy. Though using a floating buoy for harnessing wave energy is conventional, this device faces many challenges in improving the overall conversion efficiency and survivability in extreme conditions. Up to the present, no studies have been done to harness ocean waves using a non-floating object and to find out the merits and demerits of the system. In the present paper, an innovative heaving body type of wave energy converter with a non-floating object was proposed to harness waves. It was also shown that the conversion efficiency and safety of the proposed device were significantly higher than any other device proposed with floating buoy. To demonstrate the improvements, experiments were conducted with non- floating body for different dimensions and the heave response was noted. Power generation was not considered in the experiment to observe the worst case response of the heaving body. The device was modeled in artificial neural network （ANN）, the heave response for various parameters were predicted, and compared with the experimental results. It was found that the ANN model could predict the heave response with an accuracy of 99%.

Effect of aspect ratio on triaxial compression of multi-sphere ellipsoid assemblies simulated using a discrete element method

Here, we present a numerical investigation of the mechanical behavior of ellipsoids under triaxial com- pression for a range of aspect ratios. Our simulations use a multi-sphere approach in a three-dimensional discrete element method. All assemblies were prepared at their densest condition, and triaxial compres- sion tests were performed up to extremely large strains, until a critical state was reached. The stress-strain relationship and the void ratio-strain behavior were evaluated. We found that the stress-dilatancy rela- tionship of ellipsoids with different aspect ratios could be expressed as a linear equation. In particular, the aspect ratio influenced the position of the critical state lines for these assemblies. Particle-scale char- acteristics at the critical state indicate that particles tend to be flat lying, and the obstruction of particle rotation that occurs with longer particles affects their contact mechanics. Lastly, anisotropic coefficients related to aspect ratio were investigated to probe the microscopic origins of the macroscopic behavior. A detailed analysis of geometrical and mechanical anisotropies revealed the microscopic mechanisms underlying the dependency of peak and residual strengths on aspect ratio.

Laboratory experiment on using non-floating body to generate electrical energy from water waves

This paper describes an innovative method of using a nonbuoyant body to harness ocean waves. All the point absorbers are buoyant in nature and move up due to buoyancy and come down because of gravity. The point absorbers are designed to move along the waves to make the device efficient. These devices face excessive stress during the rough weather on account of the extreme motion of waves and cause the total device failure. The present study shows that using a nonbuoyant body for conven tional point absorber principle is much efficient and safer than any other device proposed till today. A small scale wave energy converter with nonbuoyant body was designed, fabricated and tested in small scale wave maker. An electrical generator was coupled with the device to generate electrical energy from harnessed waves. The generator was electrically loaded and the generated power was measured. It was found from the experiments that the proposed device showed a significant improve ment in electricity generation and safety during extreme conditions. In addition to the electricity generation, the characteristics of the device were also studied by using various wave and device parameters.

Gas selectivity of SILAR grown CdS nano-bulk junction

Nano-particles of cadmium sulphide were deposited on cleaned copper substrate by an automated se- quential ionic layer adsorption reaction （SILAR） system. The grown nano-bulk junction exhibits Schottky diode behavior. The response of the nano-bulk junction was investigated under oxygen and hydrogen atmospheric condi- tions. The gas response ratio was found to be 198% for Oxygen and 34% for Hydrogen at room temperature. An increase in the operating temperature of the nano-bulk junction resulted in a decrease in their gas response ratio. A logarithmic dependence on the oxygen partial pressure to the junction response was observed, indicating a Temkin isothermal behavior. Work function measurements using a Kelvin probe demonstrate that the exposure to an oxy- gen atmosphere fails to effectively separate the charges due to the built-in electric field at the interface. Based on the benefits like simple structure, ease of fabrication and response ratio the studied device is a promising candidate for gas detection applications.