Interaction between in situ stress states and tectonic faults:A comment

Understanding the in situ stress state is crucial in many engineering problems and earth science research.The present article presents new insights into the interaction mechanism between the stress state and faults.In situ stresses can be influenced by various factors,one of the most important being the existence of faults.A fault could significantly affect the value and direction of the stress components.Reorientation and magnitude changes in stresses exist adjacent to faults and stress jumps/discontinuities across the fault.By contrast,the change in the stress state may lead to the transformation of faulting type and potential fault reactivation.Qualitative fault reactivation assessment using characteristic parameters under the current stress environment provides a method to assess the slip tendency of faults.The correlation between in situ stresses and fault properties enhances the ability to predict the fault slip tendency via stress measurements,which can be used to further refine the assessment of the fault reactivation risk.In the future,stress measurements at greater depths and long-term continuous real-time stress monitoring near/on key parts of faults will be essential.In addition,much attention needs to be paid to distinguishing the genetic mechanisms of abnormal stress states and the type and scale of stress variations and exploring the mechanisms of pre-faulting anomaly and fault reactivation.

Low voltage substrate current： a monitor for interface states generation in ultra-thin oxide n-MOSFETs under constant voltage stresses

The low voltage substrate current （Ib） has been studied based on generation kinetics and used as a monitor of interface states （Nit） generation for ultra-thin oxide n-MOSFETs under constant voltage stress. It is found that the low voltage Ib is formed by electrons tunnelling through interface states, and the variations of Ib（△Ib） are proportional to variations of Nit （△Nit）. The Nit energy distributions were determined by differentiating Nit（Vg）. The results have been compared with that measured by using gate diode technique.

Crack growth time dependence analysis of granite under compressive-shear stresses state

The curves of crack relative length lib and crack growth time t of granite were gained under compressive stresses state according to subcritical crack growth parameters and crack stability growth equation by double-torsion constant displacement load relaxa- tion method.The relations between crack relative length and the crack growth time were discussed under different stresses and different crack lengths.The results show that there is a turning point on curve of crack relative length//b and crack growth time of granite.The slope of curve is small when crack relative length is less than the vertical coordinate of the point,and crack grows stably in this case.Cracks grow,encounter and integrate catastro- phically when crack relative length is more than the vertical coordinate of the point,and there is not a gradual stage from crack stability growth to crack instability growth,i.e.rock mass instability is sudden.The curves of crack relative length lib and crack growth time t of granite move to right with decrease of stress σ_1 or crack length a,which implies that limit time increases consequently.The results correspond to practicality.

Tectonic Stress State Changes Before and After the Wenchuan M_s 8.0 Earthquake in the Eastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Crustal tectonic activities are essentially the consequences of the accumulation and release of in situ stress. Therefore, studying the stress state near active faults is important for understanding crustal dynamics and earthquake occurrences. In this paper, using in situ stress measurement results obtained by hydraulic fracturing in the vicinity of the Longmenshan fault zone before and after the Wenchuan Ms 8.0 earthquake and finite element modeling, the variation of stress state before and after the Wenchuan M. 8.0 earthquake is investigated. The results show that the shear stress, which is proportional to the difference between principal stresses, increases with depth and distance from the active fault in the calm period or after the earthquakes, and tends to approach to the regional stress level outside the zone influenced by the fault. This distribution appears to gradually reverse with time and the change of fault properties such as frictional strength. With an increase in friction coefficient, low stress areas are reduced and areas with increased stress accumulation are more obvious near the fault. In sections of the fault with high frictional strengths, in situ stress clearly increases in the fault. Stress accumulates more rapidly in the fault zone relative to the surrounding areas, eventually leading to a stress field that peaks at the fault zone. Such a reversal in the stress field between the fault zone and surrounding areas in the magnitude of the stress field is a potential indicator for the occurrence of strong earthquakes.

Effect of varying normal stress on stability and dynamic motion of a spring-slider system with rate- and state-dependent friction

Incorporating rate and state friction laws, stability of linearly stable （i.e., with stiffness greater than the critical value） spring-slider systems subjected to triggering perturbations was analyzed under variable normal stress condition, and comparison was made between our results and that of fixed normal stress cases revealed in previous studies. For systems associated with the slip law, the critical mag- nitude of rate steps for triggering unstable slips are found to have a similar pattern to the fixed normal stress case, and the critical velocity steps scale with a/（b - a） when k = kcr for both cases. The rate-step boundaries for the variable normal stress cases are revealed to be lower than the fixed normal stress case by 7 %-16 % for a relatively large ct = 0.56 with （b - a）/a ranging from 0.25 to 1, indicating easier triggering under the variable normal stress condition with rate steps. The difference between fixed and variable normal stress cases decreases when the α value is smaller. In the same slip- law-type systems, critical displacements to trigger instability are revealed to be little affected by the variable normal stress condition. When k 〉 kcr（V,）, a spring-slider system with the slowness law is much more stable than with the slip law,suggesting that the slowness law fits experimental data better when a single state variable is adopted. In stick-slip motions, the variable normal stress case has larger stress drops than the constant normal stress case. The variable normal stress has little effect on the range of slip velocity in systems associated with the slowness law, whereas systems associated with the slip law have a slowest slip velocity immensely smaller than the fixed normal stress case, by ~ 10 orders of magnitude.

Effect of stress state on deformation and fracture of nanocrystalline copper:Molecular dynamics simulation

Deformation in a microcomponent is often constrained by surrounding joined material making the component under mixed loading and multiple stress states. In this study, molecular dynamics （MD） simulation are conducted to probe the effect of stress states on the deformation and fracture of nanocrystalline Cu. Tensile strain is applied on a Cu single crystal, bicrystal and polycrystal respectively, under two different tension boundary conditions. Simulations are first conducted on the bicrystal and polycrystal models without lattice imperfection. The results reveal that, compared with the performance of simulation models under free boundary condition, the transverse stress caused by the constrained boundary condition leads to a much higher tensile stress and can severely limit the plastic deformation, which in return promotes cleavage fracture in the model. Simulations are then performed on Cu single crystal and polycrystal with an initial crack. Under constrained boundary condition, the crack tip propagates rapidly in the single crystal in a cleavage manner while the crack becomes blunting and extends along the grain boundaries in the polycrystal. Under free boundary condition, massive dislocation activities dominate the deformation mechanisms and the crack plays a little role in both single crystals and polycrystals.

2-D elastic FEM simulation on stress state in the deep part of a subducted slab

Based upon some simplified numerical models, a 2-D plain strain elastic FEM program is compiled to study the distributions of the stress fields produced by the volume change of the phase transformation from olivine to spinel, by the volume change from temperature variation, and by density difference and boundary action in a piece of subducted slab located in transition zone of the mantle. Thermal stress could explain the fault plane solutions of deep focus earthquakes, but could not explain the distribution of deep seismicity. When large extent metastable olivine is included, the stress field produced by the density difference contradicts with the results of fault plane solutions and with the distribution of deep seismicity. Although the stress produced by volume change of the phase transformation from olivine to spinel dominates the stress state, its main direction is different from the observed results. We conclude that the deep seismicity could not be simply explained by elastic simulation.

Inversion of breakout data from inclined boreholes for stress state of the upper crust in Jizhong depression

The forward and inverse problems of studying crustal stress state from breakout data of inclined boreholes are concisely stated. direction of the maximum horizontal principal stress (compressive) and relative magnitudes of the horizontal stresses to the vertical stress in the upper crust in two regions of the Jizhong depression, the North of China, are obtained by analyzing the breakout data of 6 inclined wells. To get stable results in the analysis wesearched for the unknown parameters both forwardly and inversely. The results show that the maximum azimuths of the horizontal Principal compressive stresses in the central and southern part of the Jizhong depressionare N86°E and N77°E, respeCtively, while the relative magnitudes of the three principal stresses in the uppercrust (about 1000-4000 m) of the depression are variable. In the centra; part of the Jizhong depression we havefound SH : Sv: SK= 1. 38: 1. 00: 0. 57, where SH, SV and Sh are the maximum horizontal, vertical and minimum horizontal stress, resistively. This indicates that the present stress regime in this area is of strike-slipfaulting type. In the southern part of the depreSSion we have obtained SH: Sv: Sh=0. 80: 1. 00 1 0. 62, indicating a normal faulting stress regime in the shallow Part Of the crust.

Earth Core’s stresses variation in Central Asian earthquakes region

Tecto nic stresses of Ce ntral Asia(limited by geographic coo rdinates 36-46°N,56-76°E)over the rece nt times are modeled based on moment elasticity,taking into account the focal mechanism of earthquakes.Numerical results obtained by the method of boundary integral equations.The relief of the earth’s surface,built on the map of Central Asia used to verify the solution of the inverse elasticity problem.The moment elasticity equations are simplified by assumingωk=εijkμi,j,which makes it possible to return to classical theory of elasticity,with the difference that the stress tensor ceases to be symmetricσij≠σji.Based on the specifics of the geodynamic formulation of problems,the three-dimensional model reduced to a two-dimensional model for averaged stresses and displacements.According to the results,a displacement field was constructed,which is fully consistent with the movements of the earth’s surface,established by the GPS method.The model makes it possible to determine stresses variations in the region from earthquakes occurring in Central Asia.

Hydromechanical behaviors of andesite under different stress states during fluid injection

Water reinjection into the formation is an indispensable operation in many energy engineering practices.This operation involves a complex hydromechanical(HM)coupling process and sometimes even causes unpredictable disasters,such as induced seismicity.It is acknowledged that the relative magnitude and direction of the principal stresses significantly influence the HM behaviors of rocks during injection.However,due to the limitations of current testing techniques,it is still difficult to comprehensively conduct laboratory injection tests under various stress conditions,such as in triaxial extension stress states.To this end,a numerical study of HM changes in rocks during injection under different stress states is conducted.In this model,the saturated rock is first loaded to the target stress state under drainage conditions,and then the stress state is maintained and water is injected from the top to simulate the formation injection operation.Particular attention is given to the difference in HM changes under triaxial compression and extension stresses.This includes the differences in the pore pressure propagation,mean effective stress,volumetric strain,and stress-induced permeability.The numerical results demonstrate that the differential stress will significantly affect the HM behaviors of rocks,but the degree of influence is different under the two triaxial stress states.The HM changes caused by the triaxial compression stress states are generally greater than those of extension,but the differences decrease with increasing differential stress,indicating that the increase in the differential stress will weaken the impact of the stress state on the HM response.In addition,the shear failure potential of fracture planes with various inclination angles is analyzed and summarized under different stress states.It is recommended that engineers could design suitable injection schemes according to different tectonic stress fields versus fault occurrence to reduce the risk of injection-induced seismicity.

Effect of hydrogen content and stress state on room-temperature mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy

This work aims to investigate the effects of hydrogen content(in the range of 0%-0.5%,mass fraction)and stress state (tension and compression)on the room-temperature mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy through mechanical properties tests. The effects of hydrogen content on microstructure evolution of Ti-6Al-4V alloy is also examined by optical microscopy,X-ray diffractometry,transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.The results show that hydrogen content and stress state have important effects on the room-temperature mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy.Tensile strength and ultimate elongation decrease with increasing the hydrogen content,while compressive strength and ultimate reduction are improved after hydrogenation.The reason is that the intergranular deformation dominates at the state of tension.Hydrogen atoms in solid solution and hydrides at grain boundaries increase with increasing the hydrogen content and they can promote the initiation and propagation of cracks along grain boundaries.While the intragranular deformation dominates at the state of compression.The plastic beta phase and hydrides increase with increasing the hydrogen content and they improve the ultimate reduction and compressive strength.

THE DEPENDENCE OF WIND STRESS ON SEA STATE

Based on up to date literature, this paper details the evolution of wave dependence of wind stress.Some typical models of the dependence of wind stress on waves are described in detail. Although there isno universally accepted theory and model, recent studies indicate that the wind strees strongly dependson the development state of sea waves, i. e., young seas are rougher than mature seas, in other words, thewind stress decreases with increasing wave age.

Experimental study of seepage characteristics of single rock fracture based on stress states and stress history

Through seepage tests under different loading and unloading confining pressures and different hydraulic gradients,the authors studied the effects of stress states and stress history on fracture permeability evolution for single granite fracture and sandstone fracture. The results show that there exists a linear relationship between the seepage discharge and osmotic pressure in sandstone fissure under each level of confining pressure. With the increasing in the confining pressure,the permeability of the fracture decreases,but the decreasing rate is changeing. During the unloading process,the fracture seepage velocity cannot be fully recovered to the size of the loading process. Therefore,in the unloading process of the confining pressure,the recovery of fracture permeability shows obvious hysteresis effects. The flow rate of the fracture remains unchanged during five cycles of loading and unloading processes of the confining pressure. In each cycle,the evolution character of the flow rate with the confining pressure remains unchanged. These experiments show that the seepage characteristics of sandstone and granite fractures are not the same under the same stress state.

Effect of intermediate principal stress on strength of soft rock under complex stress states

A series of numerical simulations of conventional and true triaxial tests for soft rock materials using the three-dimensional finite difference code FLAC3D were presented. A hexahedral element and a strain hardening/softening constitutive model based on the unified strength theory(UST) were used to simulate both the consolidated-undrained(CU) triaxial and the consolidated-drained(CD) true triaxial tests. Based on the results of the true triaxial tests simulation, the effect of the intermediate principal stress on the strength of soft rock was investigated. Finally, an example of an axial compression test for a hard rock pillar with a soft rock interlayer was analyzed using the two-dimensional finite difference code FLAC. The CD true triaxial test simulations for diatomaceous soft rock suggest the peak and residual strengths increase by 30% when the effect of the intermediate principal stress is taken into account. The axial compression for a rock pillar indicated the peak and residual strengths increase six-fold when the soft rock interlayer approached the vertical and the effect of the intermediate principal stress is taken into account.

Effect of Poisson’s ratio on stress state in the Wenchuan M_S8.0 earthquake fault

The Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake occurred on the Longmenshan fault which inclines at a dip angle exceeding 60 degrees. Since most thrust earthquakes occur on faults with dip angles of about 30 degrees, it is enigmatic why the Wenchuan earthquake occurred on such a steep fault. In this study we use a simple finite element model to investigate how the stress state in the fault changes with the variation of Poisson＇s ratio. The results show that, with the Poisson＇s ratio in the fault increasing, the magnitudes of the principal stresses increase and the maximum Shear stress decrease, and, especially, the angle between the maximum principal stress and the fault plane decreases, which will enhance the driving force to overcome the frictional resistance on the fault. The increase of Poisson＇s ratio in the fault may be an important factor to affect the occurrence of the fault earthquakes with large angles between maximum principal stress and fault plane.

DETERMINATION OF STATES OF STRESS AND STRAIN AT POLE OF HYDRAULIC BULGE ORTHOTROPIC SHEET SAMPLE

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2-D viscoelastic FEM simulation on stress state in the deep part of a subducted slab

The characteristics of the stress fields in deep subducting slabs are studied using viscoelastic plain strain finite element method. When introducing the new rheology structure given by Karato, et al into our computation, there emerge two regions with great shear stress just below the olivine-spinel phase transition zone, which encompass the low viscosity zone below the lower tip of the metastable wedge. Further, the directions of the main compressional stress of these two regions are all along the dip direction of the slab. These are in accordance with the seismic observations that there are two deep seismic zones in a slab and the directions of the main compressional stress in these two seismic zones are along the dip direction of the slab. Smaller effective viscosity probably caused by smaller grain size in the phase transformation zone does not have great influence on the stress state in the deep part of the slab. There is the maximum of shear stress at the transition region from olivine to spinel and the direction of the main compressional stress in this region is roughly perpendicular to the trend of the phase boundary no matter whether there exists metastable wedge, which nevertheless do not correspond to some well-known seismic observations.

THE ANALYSES OF THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRESS STRUCTURE NEAR THE CRACK TIP OF MODE Ⅰ CT SPECIMENS IN ELASTICPLASTIC STATE(Ⅱ)—THE ANALYSES OF THE STRESS STRUCTURE

Based on [1], the stress structures of the smooth region and shear lip of the specimens have been investigated in the paper.The characteristics of the stress structure in the smooth region have been found that the variable z can separated out; the stresses in the midsection can be obtained by the plane strain FEM results or HRR structure modified by the stress triaxiality. The effects of load level and thickness on the stress structure can be reflected by the distribution of CTOD along the thickness direction. The obtained expressions of the stresses are very simple and visualized. The analyses of the stress structure in the shear lip show that the stresses can be obtained by different methods of interpolation to a certain precise degree.A new degree parameter of the plane strain state has been put forward and studied. The parameter can reflect relatively well the variation of the kind and thickness of the specimen as well as the load level. The fracture parameter has also been investigated to be sure that it can be obtained by modified CTOD with the stress triaxiality.

Reexamining the Seismological Implications of the Present-day Stress State of the Yingxiu-Beichuan Fault after the Wenchuan Earthquake

The present-day stress state of the Yingxiu-Beichuan fault after the Wenchuan earthquake was re-estimated using measured in-situ stress data obtained after the Wenchuan earthquake. The results reveal that the gradient coefficients of principal stresses versus depth decrease from south to north along the Yingxiu-Beichuan fault, revealing that the stress level decreases from south to north. The consistency between the present-day stress levels and surface ruptures generated during the earthquake indicates that the accumulated tectonic stress beneath the Yingxiu-Beichuan fault before the Wenchuan earthquake was relieved in form of surface ruptures. This resulted in the stress remaining high in the southern section of the Yingxiu-Beichuan fault but relatively low in the northern section. Abnormal high pore pressure conditions and an extremely low frictional coefficient play important role in the interpretation of the stress field adjustment and seismic events observed after the Wenchuan earthquake along this fault, according to the estimation results using the Coulomb frictional-failure theory incorporating frictional coefficients ranging from 0.4 to 1.0. To accurately estimate the seismological hazard of the Yingxiu-Beichuan fault by analyzing fault instability using the Coulomb frictional-failure theory, much attention should be focused on the pore pressure conditions and the evolution state of the frictional coefficient under the present-day stress state.