Analytical solution for the effective elastic properties of rocks with the tilted penny-shaped cracks in the transversely isotropic background

Seismic prediction of cracks is of great significance in many disciplines,for which the rock physics model is indispensable.However,up to now,multitudinous analytical models focus primarily on the cracked rock with the isotropic background,while the explicit model for the cracked rock with the anisotropic background is rarely investigated in spite of such case being often encountered in the earth.Hence,we first studied dependences of the crack opening displacement tensors on the crack dip angle in the coordinate systems formed by symmetry planes of the crack and the background anisotropy,respectively,by forty groups of numerical experiments.Based on the conclusion from the experiments,the analytical solution was derived for the effective elastic properties of the rock with the inclined penny-shaped cracks in the transversely isotropic background.Further,we comprehensively analyzed,according to the developed model,effects of the crack dip angle,background anisotropy,filling fluid and crack density on the effective elastic properties of the cracked rock.The analysis results indicate that the dip angle and background anisotropy can significantly either enhance or weaken the anisotropy degrees of the P-and SH-wave velocities,whereas they have relatively small effects on the SV-wave velocity anisotropy.Moreover,the filling fluid can increase the stiffness coefficients related to the compressional modulus by reducing crack compliance parameters,while its effects on shear coefficients depend on the crack dip angle.The increasing crack density reduces velocities of the dry rock,and decreasing rates of the velocities are affected by the crack dip angle.By comparing with exact numerical results and experimental data,it was demonstrated that the proposed model can achieve high-precision estimations of stiffness coefficients.Moreover,the assumption of the weakly anisotropic background results in the consistency between the proposed model and Hudson's published theory for the orthorhombic rock.

Mixed-Alkali Effect on Thermal Property and Elastic Behavior in Borosilicate Glasses

We investigated the mixed alkali effect on the thermal properties and elastic response to temperature in the borosilicate glasses system with the composition of 70.65Si O_(2)·21.09B_(2)O_(3)·1.88Al_(2)O_(3)·(6.38-x)Li_(2)O·x Na_(2)O glasses,where x=0.00,1.595,3.19,4.785,and 6.38.Except for the expected positive and negative deviations from linearity for the coefficients of thermal expansion,room temperature E and G,we observed a new mixed alkali efiect on the response of elastic moduli to temperature.Fourier transform infrared spectra were obtained to elucidate the possible structural origin of the mixed alkali efiects.This work provides a valuable insight into the structural and mechanical properties of mixed-alkali borosilicate glasses.

Theoretical prediction of effective elastic constants for new intermetallic compound porous material

Based on microstructure analysis of the new Ti-A1 intermetallic compound porous material, a micromechanics model of heterogeneous Plateau porous structure was established and calculation formulas of elastic constants （including effective elastic modulus, effective shear elastic modulus and effective Poisson ratio） were derived by the energy method for this porous material. Calculation results show that both the effective elastic modulus and effective shear elastic modulus increase with the increase of the relative density while the effective Poisson ratio decreases. Compared with the currently-existing hexagonal honeycomb model and micromechanics model of composite materials, the micromechanics model of heterogeneous Plateau porous structure in this study is more suitable for characterizing the medium-density porous material and more accurate for predicting the effective elastic constants of the medium-density porous material. Moreover, the obtained explicit expressions of the effective elastic constants in term of the relative density rather than the microstructural parameters for the uniform and regular Plateau porous structure are more convenient to engineering application.

Surface effect and non-local elasticity in wave propagation of functionally graded piezoelectric nano-rod excited to applied voltage

A non-local solution for a functionally graded piezoelectric nano-rod is pre- sented by accounting the surface effect. This solution is used to evaluate the charac- teristics of the wave propagation in the rod structure. The model is loaded under a two-dimensional （2D） electric potential and an initially applied voltage at the top of the rod. The mechanical and electrical properties are assumed to be variable along the thick- ness direction of the rod according to the power law. The Hamilton principle is used to derive the governing differential equations of the electromechanical system. The effects of some important parameters such as the applied voltage and gradation of the material properties on the wave characteristics of the rod are studied.

Size effect of the elastic modulus of rectangular nanobeams:Surface elasticity effect

The size-dependent elastic property of rectangular nanobeams （nanowires or nanoplates） induced by the surface elas- ticity effect is investigated by using a developed modified core-shell model. The effect of surface elasticity on the elastic modulus of nanobeams can be characterized by two surface related parameters, i.e., inhomogeneous degree constant and surface layer thickness. The analytical results show that the elastic modulus of the rectangular nanobeam exhibits a distinct size effect when its characteristic size reduces below 1 O0 nm. It is also found that the theoretical results calculated by a mod- ified core-shell model have more obvious advantages than those by other models （core-shell model and core-surface model） by comparing them with relevant experimental measurements and computational results, especially when the dimensions of nanostructures reduce to a few tens of nanometers.

Alloying effects of V on stability,elastic and electronic properties of TiFe2 via first-principles calculations

The alloying effects of V on structural,elastic and electronic properties of TiFe_2 phase were investigated by the first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory.The calculated energy properties including cohesive energy and formation enthalpy indicate V atom would preferentially substitute on 6h sites of Fe atoms in the lattice of TiFe_2 to form the intermetallic Ti_4Fe_7(V).The calculated results of polycrystalline elastic parameters confirm that the plasticity of TiFe_2 would be improved with the addition of V.By discussing the percentage of elastic anisotropy,anisotropy in linear bulk modulus and directional dependence of elastic modulus,it is revealed that the anisotropy of TiFe_2 and Ti_4Fe_7(V) is small.Finally,the density of states,charge density distribution and Mulliken population for TiFe_2 and Ti_4Fe_7(V) were calculated,suggesting there is a mixed bonding with metallic,covalent and ionic nature in TiFe_2 and Ti_4Fe_7(V) compounds.These results also clarify that the reason for the improvement of plasticity with the addition of V in TiFe_2 is the weakened bonding of covalent feature between Ti and V atoms.

MECHANISMS UNDERLYING TWO KINDS OF SURFACE EFFECTS ON ELASTIC CONSTANTS

Recently, people are confused with two opposite variations of elastic modulus with decreasing size of nano scale sample： elastic modulus either decreases or increases with decreasing sample size. In this paper, based on intermolecular potentials and a one dimensional model, we provide a unified understanding of the two opposite size effects. Firstly, we analyzed the microstructural variation near the surface of an fcc nanofilm based on the Lennard-Jones potential. It is found that the atomic lattice near the surface becomes looser in comparison with the bulk, indicating that atoms in the bulk are located at the balance of repulsive forces, and the elastic moduli decrease with the decreasing thickness of the film accordingly. In addition, the decrease in moduli should be attributed to both the looser surface layer and smaller coordination number of surface atoms. Furthermore, it is found that both looser and tighter lattice near the surface can appear for a general pair potential and the governing mechanism should be attributed to the surplus of the nearest force to all other long range interactions in the pair potential. Surprisingly, the surplus can be simply expressed by a sum of the long range interactions and the sum being positive or negative determines the looser or tighter lattice near surface respectively. To justify this concept, we examined ZnO in terms of Buckingham potential with long range Coulomb interactions. It is found that compared to its bulk lattice, the ZnO lattice near the surface becomes tighter, indicating the atoms in the bulk are located at the balance of attractive forces, owing to the long range Coulomb interaction. Correspondingly, the elastic modulus of one-dimensional ZnO chain increases with decreasing size. Finally, a kind of many-body potential for Cu was examined. In this case, the surface layer becomes tighter than the bulk and the modulus increases with deceasing size, owing to the long range repulsive pair interaction, as well as the cohesive many-body interaction caused by the electron redistribution.

Density-functional theory study of the effect of pressure on the elastic properties of CaB_6

Under high pressure, the long believed single-phase material CaB6 was latterly discovered to have a new phase tI56. Based on the density-functional theory, the pressure effects on the structural and elastic properties of CaB6 are obtained. The calculated bulk, shear, and Young’s moduli of the recently synthesized high pressure phase tI56-CaB6 are larger than those of the low pressure phase. Moreover, the high pressure phase of CaB6 has ductile behaviors, and its ductility increases with the increase of pressure. On the contrary, the calculated results indicate that the low pressure phase of CaB6 is brittle. The calculated Debye temperature indicates that the thermal conductivity of CaB6 is not very good. Furthermore, based on the Christoffel equation, the slowness surface of the acoustic waves is obtained.

Frequency equations of nonlocal elastic micro/nanobeams with the consideration of the surface effects

A nonlocal elastic micro/nanobeam is theoretically modeled with the consideration of the surface elasticity, the residual surface stress, and the rotatory inertia,in which the nonlocal and surface effects are considered. Three types of boundary conditions, i.e., hinged-hinged, clamped-clamped, and clamped-hinged ends, are examined. For a hinged-hinged beam, an exact and explicit natural frequency equation is derived based on the established mathematical model. The Fredholm integral equation is adopted to deduce the approximate fundamental frequency equations for the clamped-clamped and clamped-hinged beams. In sum, the explicit frequency equations for the micro/nanobeam under three types of boundary conditions are proposed to reveal the dependence of the natural frequency on the effects of the nonlocal elasticity, the surface elasticity, the residual surface stress, and the rotatory inertia, providing a more convenient means in comparison with numerical computations.

Effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere from joint inversion in western China and its implications

The western China lies in the convergence zone between Eurasian and Indian plates.It is an ideal place to study the lithosphere dynamics and tectonic evolutions on the continental Earth.The lithospheric strength is a key factor in controlling the lithosphere dynamics and deformations.The effective elastic thickness(T_(e))of the lithosphere can be used to address the lithospheric strength.Previous researchers only used one of the admittance or coherence methods to investigate the T_(e) in the western China.Moreover,most of them ignored the internal loads of the lithosphere during the T_(e) calculation,which can produce large biases in the T_(e) estimations.To provide more reliable T_(e) estimations,we used a new joint inversion method that integrated both admittance and coherence techniques to compute the T_(e) in this study,with the WGM2012 gravity data,the ETOPO1 topographic data,and the Moho depths from the CRUST1.0 model.The internal loads are considered and investigated using the load ratio(F).Our results show that the joint inversion method can yield reliable T_(e) and F values.Based on the analysis of T_(e) and F distributions,we suggest(1)the northern Tibetan Plateau could be the front edge of the plate collision of Eurasian and Indian plates;(2)the southern and part of central Tibetan Plateau have a strong lithospheric mantle related to the rigid underthrusting Indian plate;(3)the southeastern Tibetan Plateau may be experiencing the delamination of lithosphere and upwelling of asthenosphere.

Electro-mechanical coupling wave propagating in a locally resonant piezoelectric/elastic phononic crystal nanobeam with surface effects

The model of a "spring-mass" resonator periodically attached to a piezoelectric/elastic phononic crystal(PC) nanobeam with surface effects is proposed, and the corresponding calculation method of the band structures is formulized and displayed by introducing the Euler beam theory and the surface piezoelectricity theory to the plane wave expansion(PWE) method. In order to reveal the unique wave propagation characteristics of such a model, the band structures of locally resonant(LR) elastic PC Euler nanobeams with and without resonators, the band structures of LR piezoelectric PC Euler nanobeams with and without resonators, as well as the band structures of LR elastic/piezoelectric PC Euler nanobeams with resonators attached on PZT-4, with resonators attached on epoxy, and without resonators are compared. The results demonstrate that adding resonators indeed plays an active role in opening and widening band gaps. Moreover, the influence rules of different parameters on the band gaps of LR elastic/piezoelectric PC Euler nanobeams with resonators attached on epoxy are discussed, which will play an active role in the further realization of active control of wave propagations.

Effects of fracture distribution and length scale on the equivalent continuum elastic compliance of fractured rock masses

Fracture systems have strong influence on the overall mechanical behavior of fractured rock masses dueto their relatively lower stiffness and shear strength than those of the rock matrix. Understanding theeffects of fracture geometrical distribution, such as length, spacing, persistence and orientation, isimportant for quantifying the mechanical behavior of fractured rock masses. The relation betweenfracture geometry and the mechanical characteristics of the fractured rock mass is complicated due tothe fact that the fracture geometry and mechanical behaviors of fractured rock mass are stronglydependent on the length scale. In this paper, a comprehensive study was conducted to determine theeffects of fracture distribution on the equivalent continuum elastic compliance of fractured rock massesover a wide range of fracture lengths. To account for the stochastic nature of fracture distributions, threedifferent simulation techniques involving Oda＇s elastic compliance tensor, Monte Carlo simulation （MCS）,and suitable probability density functions （PDFs） were employed to represent the elastic compliance offractured rock masses. To yield geologically realistic results, parameters for defining fracture distributionswere obtained from different geological fields. The influence of the key fracture parameters andtheir relations to the overall elastic behavior of the fractured rock mass were studied and discussed. Adetailed study was also carried out to investigate the validity of the use of a representative elementvolume （REV） in the equivalent continuum representation of fractured rock masses. A criterion was alsoproposed to determine the appropriate REV given the fracture distribution of the rock mass.

Investigation of Electronic, Elastic and Dynamic Properties of AgNbO3 and AgTaO3 under Pressure: Ab Initio Calculation

Based on the density functional theory within the local density approximation (LDA), we studied the electronic, elastic, and dynamic properties of AgNbO3 and AgTaO3 compounds under pressure. The elastic constants, optic and static dielectric constants, born effective charges, and dynamic properties of AgNbO3 and AgTaO3 in cubic phase were studied as pressure dependences with the ab initio method. For these compounds, we have also calculated the bulk modulus, Young’s modulus, shear modulus, Vickers hardness, Poisson’s ratio, anisotropy factor, sound velocities, and Debye temperature from the obtained elastic constants. In addition, the brittleness and ductility properties of these compounds were estimated from Poisson’s ratio and Pugh’s rule (G/B). Our calculated values also show that AgNbO3 (0.37) and AgTaO3 (0.39) behave as ductile materials and steer away from brittleness by increasing pressure. The calculated values of Vicker hardness for both compounds indicate that they are soft materials. The results show that band gaps, elastic constants, elastic modules, and dynamic properties for both compounds are sensitive to pressure changes. We have also made some comparisons with related experimental and theoretical data that is available in the literature.

THE GENERAL SOLUTION OF SECOND ORDER EFFECTS IN ELASTIC HALF-SPACE ACTED UPON BY A NON-UNIFORM SHEAR LOAD

This paper is a continuation of [1]. A closed form solution to the second order elasticity problem, when an isotropic compressible elastic half-space undergoes a deformation owing to a non-uniformly distributed shear load, is presented. The method of integral transform is employed to determine the solutions.

THE ILLUSTRATION CALCULATIONS OF SECOND ORDER EFFECTS IN ELASTIC HALF-SPACE ACTED UPON BY A NON-UNIFORM SHEAR LOAD

This paper is a continuation of [1]. An example is discussed in derail to illustrate the second order effects. Numerical calculations for the second order elastic material for the z-direction displacement and the stress t(rz) are carried out. It is found that the second order effect is to reduce z-direction displacement and to decrease t(rz)inside the circle but to increase its value outside the circle.

EFFECTIVE ELASTIC MODULI OF AN INHOMOGENEOUS MEDIUM WITH CRACKS

In the present paper, the effective elastic moduli of an inhomogeneous medium with cracks are derived and obtained by taking into account its microstructural properties which involve the shape, size and distribution of cracks and the interaction between cracks. Numerical results for the periodic microstructure of different dimensions are presented. From the results obtained, it can be found that the distribution of cracks has a significant effect on the effective elastic moduli of the material.

EFFECTIVE ELASTIC MODULI OF INHOMOGENEOUS SOLIDS BY EMBEDDED CELL MODEL

An embedded cell model is presented to obtain the effective elastic moduli for three-dimensional two-phase composites which is an exact analytic formula without any simplified approximation and can be expressed in an explicit form. For the different cells such as spherical inclusions and cracks surrounded by sphere and oblate ellipsoidal matrix, the effective elastic moduli are evaluated and the results are compared with those from various micromechanics models. These results show that the present model is direct, simple and efficient to deal with three-dimensional two-phase composites.

ELASTIC EFFECT IN DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF PLASTIC CANTILEVER BEAMS TO IMPACT

A lumped masses-springs model is proposed to analyze the dynamic response of an elastic-plastic cantilever beam resulting from impact. The numerical results are in good agreement with those by finite-element approaches. The simplified model can catch the most essential features of elastic-plastic response of beams; in particular, it demonstrates the effect of elastic deformation on the distribution of bending moment and energy dissipation, and provides valuable quatitative results.

Research on the influence of flexible wheelset rotation effect on wheel rail contact force

Purpose-Under the high-speed operating conditions,the effects of wheelset elastic deformation on the wheel rail dynamic forces will become more notable compared to the low-speed condition.In order to meet different analysis requirements and selecting appropriate models to analyzing the wheel rail interaction,it is crucial to understand the influence of wheelset flexibility on the wheel-rail dynamics under different speeds and track excitations condition.Design/methodology/approach-The wheel rail contact points solving method and vehicle dynamics equations considering wheelset flexibility in the trajectory body coordinate system were investigated in this paper.As for the wheel-rail contact forces,which is a particular force element in vehicle multibody system,a method for calculating the Jacobian matrix of the wheel-rail contact force is proposed to better couple the wheel-rail contact force calculation with the vehicle dynamics response calculation.Based on the flexible wheelset modeling approach in this paper,two vehicle dynamic models considering the wheelset as both elastic and rigid bodies are established,two kinds of track excitations,namely normal measured track irregularities and short-wave irregularities are used,wheel-rail geometric contact characteristic and wheel-rail contact forces in both time and frequency domains are compared with the two models in order to study the influence of flexible wheelset rotation effect on wheel rail contact force.Findings-Under normal track irregularity excitations,the amplitudes of vertical,longitudinal and lateral forces computed by the flexible wheelset model are smaller than those of the rigid wheelset model,and the virtual penetration and equivalent contact patch are also slightly smaller.For the flexible wheelset model,the wheel rail longitudinal and lateral creepages will also decrease.The higher the vehicle speed,the larger the differences in wheel-rail forces computed by the flexible and rigid wheelset model.Under track short-wave irregularity excitations,the vertical force amplitude computed by the flexible wheelset is also smaller than that of the rigid wheelset.However,unlike the excitation case of measured track irregularity,under short-wave excitations,for the speed within the range of 200 to 350 km/h,the difference in the amplitude of the vertical force between the flexible and rigid wheelset models gradually decreases as the speed increase.This is partly due to the contribution of wheelset's elastic vibration under short-wave excitations.For low-frequency wheel-rail force analysis problems at speeds of 350 km/h and above,as well as high-frequency wheel-rail interaction analysis problems under various speed conditions,the flexible wheelset model will give results agrees better with the reality.Originality/value-This study provides reference for the modeling method of the flexible wheelset and the coupling method of wheel-rail contact force to the vehicle multibody dynamics system.Furthermore,by comparative research,the influence of wheelset flexibility and rotation on wheel-rail dynamic behavior are obtained,which is useful to the application scope of rigid and flexible wheelset models.

Effective elastic moduli of in-situ A356/TiB_2 composites

The effective elastic moduli （EEM） of A356/TiB2 composites formed by gravity casting and adjusted pressure casting （APC） were measured and compared. The results show that the EEM of A356/TiB2 composites are improved obviously by TiB2 particles and affected by forming methods. The EEM of the specimens formed by APC are higher than those in the gravity casting case. For 9.5%A356/TiB2（volume fraction）, the EEM of the specimens formed by APC reaches 93GPa, which is 9GPa higher than those in the gravity casting case. An analytic model is established to explain the mechanics of the EEM of composites reinforced with TiB2 particles.