Wellbore breakout is one of the critical issues in drilling due to the fact that the related problems result in additional costs and impact the drilling scheme severely.However,the majority of such wellbore breakout a...Wellbore breakout is one of the critical issues in drilling due to the fact that the related problems result in additional costs and impact the drilling scheme severely.However,the majority of such wellbore breakout analyses were based on continuum mechanics.In addition to failure in intact rocks,wellbore breakouts can also be initiated along natural discontinuities,e.g.weak planes and fractures.Furthermore,the conventional models in wellbore breakouts with uniform distribution fractures could not reflect the real drilling situation.This paper presents a fully coupled hydro-mechanical model of the SB-X well in the Tarim Basin,China for evaluating wellbore breakouts in heavily fractured rocks under anisotropic stress states using the distinct element method(DEM)and the discrete fracture network(DFN).The developed model was validated against caliper log measurement,and its stability study was carried out by stress and displacement analyses.A parametric study was performed to investigate the effects of the characteristics of fracture distribution(orientation and length)on borehole stability by sensitivity studies.Simulation results demonstrate that the increase of the standard deviation of orientation when the fracture direction aligns parallel or perpendicular to the principal stress direction aggravates borehole instability.Moreover,an elevation in the average fracture length causes the borehole failure to change from the direction of the minimum in-situ horizontal principal stress(i.e.the direction of wellbore breakouts)towards alternative directions,ultimately leading to the whole wellbore failure.These findings provide theoretical insights for predicting wellbore breakouts in heavily fractured rocks.展开更多
The quantitative evaluation of errors involved in a particular numerical modelling is of prime importance for the effectiveness and reliability of the method. Errors in Distinct Element Modelling are generated mainly ...The quantitative evaluation of errors involved in a particular numerical modelling is of prime importance for the effectiveness and reliability of the method. Errors in Distinct Element Modelling are generated mainly through three resources as simplification of physical model, determination of parameters and boundary conditions. A measure of errors which represent the degree of numerical solution 'close to true value' is proposed through fuzzy probability in this paper. The main objective of this paper is to estimate the reliability of Distinct Element Method in rock engineering practice by varying the parameters and boundary conditions. The accumulation laws of standard errors induced by improper determination of parameters and boundary conditions are discussed in delails. Furthermore, numerical experiments are given to illustrate the estimation of fuzzy reliability. Example shows that fuzzy reliability falls between 75%-98% when the relative standard errors of input data is under 10 %.展开更多
The thick layer and graded feeding technology of a belt roasting machine is an effective method for improving the production efficiency and quality index of pellet production,and a reasonable design of the mechanical ...The thick layer and graded feeding technology of a belt roasting machine is an effective method for improving the production efficiency and quality index of pellet production,and a reasonable design of the mechanical structure of the layer is the basis for optimizing the heat and mass transfer performance of the layer.Janssen effect and von Mises yield criterion were used to establish a simplified mathematical model describing the elastic and plastic deformation of the green pellet under the action of an external force.The mechanical characteristics of extrusion,contact,and elastic-plastic deformation between green pellet particles in the material layer of the belt roasting machine were modeled using EDEM software.For a green pellet size of 12 mm,as the layer height increases from 300 to 1000 mm,the maximum vertical pressure on the pellets increases from 11.64 to 24.01 N,and the porosity decreases from 27.04%to 22.01%.As the layer height increases,the contact between the green pellets becomes more intense,and the force chain structure of the layer becomes more stable;the Janssen effect is observed when the layer reaches 700 mm.The compressive strength of the green pellets is linearly related to the particle size,and the compressive strength increases with an increase in particle size.At a layer height of 600 mm,as the particle size of the green pellets increases from 8 to 20 mm,the maximum vertical pressure increases from 7.54 to 44.16 N,and the porosity increases from 23.20%to 31.47%,while the yield per unit of the layer decreased by 12.1%.Small particles have a more stable force chain structure,larger comparative area,and higher production efficiency;however,their compressive strength is lower.Large particles have higher compressive strength and good permeability in the layer,but the production efficiency is relatively low.In actual production,a variety of factors should be integrated to optimize the feeding,and a multi-granularity graded feeding is the most ideal feeding.展开更多
This letter mainly aims to investigate the mechanical behavior within shear bands in regolith both under the Earth and the Moon conditions via the distinct element method, in which a novel contact model considering in...This letter mainly aims to investigate the mechanical behavior within shear bands in regolith both under the Earth and the Moon conditions via the distinct element method, in which a novel contact model considering interparticle van der Waals forces and rolling resistance is employed. The results show that for regolith under both conditions the stress paths are almost identical inside and outside the shear bands but void ratio, average pure rotation rate, and strain paths are rather distinct with dilation, particle rotation and the second invariant of strain tensor mainly occurring within the bands. However, the regolith under the Moon condition has higher peak strength and more significant strain localization than those under the Earth condition.展开更多
The Australian love of 'heritage' buildings (most of them are unreinforced masonry (URM)) means that greater attention is required to secure their performance under seismic or impact loading in the future. A r...The Australian love of 'heritage' buildings (most of them are unreinforced masonry (URM)) means that greater attention is required to secure their performance under seismic or impact loading in the future. A research project has been carried out to develop a new, economic and high strength retrofitting technique for masonry structures. A series of experimental testing on URM walls retrofitted with an innovative technique by cable system have been conducted. In this paper, an analytical model which is based on distinct element method (DEM) is developed to simulate the behaviour of retrofitted walls. In DEM, a solid is represented as an assembly of discrete blocks. Joints are modelled as interface between distinct bodies. It is a dynamic process and specially designed to model the behaviour of discontinuities. In order to assist the practising engineers to design this new retrofitted wall system, a simple mechanical model was also developed to predict the strength of the retrofitted walls. The results obtained from this simple mechanical model are compared with those from both experiments and distinct element model.展开更多
The reaction of earth to pull-out process of frictional rock bolts was here modeled by the distinct element method (DEM). Ten frictional bolts were prepared;the expanding shells of five bolts included convex edges and...The reaction of earth to pull-out process of frictional rock bolts was here modeled by the distinct element method (DEM). Ten frictional bolts were prepared;the expanding shells of five bolts included convex edges and the others had the shells with concave bits. The strength of bolts was measured by applying a standard pull-out test;the results confirmed that the strength of shells with convex edges was remarkably more than the strength of other shells. Furthermore, a two-dimensional DEM model of the test was developed by a particle flow code;the obtained results showed that the reaction of rock particles to the contacts occurring between the convex edges and earth was considerably more than those of the concave bits. In the other words, the convex edges transferred the pull-out force into a large area of the surrounded rock, causing these bolts to have the highest resistance against earth movements.展开更多
A numerical method for simulating the stability of particle-packing structures is presented. The packing structures were modeled on the basis of face-centered cubic (fcc) and body-centered cubic (bcc) structures, and ...A numerical method for simulating the stability of particle-packing structures is presented. The packing structures were modeled on the basis of face-centered cubic (fcc) and body-centered cubic (bcc) structures, and the stability of these structures was investigated using the distinct element method. The interaction between the particles was simplified by considering repulsive, adhesive, and damping forces, and the stability against the gravitational force was simulated. The results under a certain set of parameters showed characteristic deformation when the particles were arranged in an fcc array. Focusing on the local structure, the resulting model was divided into several domains: The bottom base, four top corners, and intermediate domains. The bottom base notably became a body-centered tetragonal (bct) structure, which corresponds to a uniaxially compressed bcc structure. Conversely, the models based on the bcc arrangement were structurally stable, as no specific deformation was observed, and a monotonously compressed bct structure was obtained. Consequently, the bcc arrangement is concluded to be more stable against uniaxial compression, such as the gravitational force, in a particle-packing system.展开更多
Since the design of the subsoiler is a complex work,the interaction between the subsoiler and soil was investigated by using Distinct Element Method(DEM)in this study.Based on the traditional discrete element theory,t...Since the design of the subsoiler is a complex work,the interaction between the subsoiler and soil was investigated by using Distinct Element Method(DEM)in this study.Based on the traditional discrete element theory,the 3D model of soil particles and the subsoiler were established after considering the liquid bridge force between soil particles.The operating resistance curves of the subsoiler were achieved after the DEM simulation at a speed of 1 m/s,and three depths of 180 mm,220 mm and 260 mm,respectively.The simulation curves agreed well with the field experimental results based on relative errors of 2.96%,14.95%and 7.15%,respectively,at three depths.All these data proved that it was feasible and favorable to analyze the performance of the subsoiler by using the DEM and it is of important significance for studying and further optimizing the structure of the subsoiler.展开更多
This paper presents a numerical investigation on the strain localization of an idealized sand in biaxial compression tests using the distinct element method(DEM).In addition to the dilatancy and material frictional an...This paper presents a numerical investigation on the strain localization of an idealized sand in biaxial compression tests using the distinct element method(DEM).In addition to the dilatancy and material frictional angle,the principal stress field,and distributions of void ratio,particle velocity,and the averaged pure rotation rate(APR)in the DEM specimen are examined to illustrate the link between microscopic and macroscopic variables in the case of strain localization.The study shows that strain localization of the granular material in the tests proceeds with localizations of void ratio,strain and APR,and distortions of stress field and force chains.In addition,both thickness and inclination of the shear band change with the increasing of axial swain,with the former valued around 10-14 times of mean grain diameter and the later overall described by the Mohr-Coulomb theory.展开更多
The expanded distinct element method(EDEM)was used to investigate the crack growth in rock-like materials under uniaxial compression.The tensile-shear failure criterion and the Griffith failure criterion were implante...The expanded distinct element method(EDEM)was used to investigate the crack growth in rock-like materials under uniaxial compression.The tensile-shear failure criterion and the Griffith failure criterion were implanted into the EDEM to determine the initiation and propagation of pre-existing cracks,respectively.Uniaxial compression experiments were also performed with the artificial rock-like samples to verify the validity of the EDEM.Simulation results indicated that the EDEM model with the tensile-shear failure criterion has strong capabilities for modeling the growth of pre-existing cracks,and model results have strong agreement with the failure and mechanical properties of experimental samples.The EDEM model with the Griffith failure criterion can only simulate the splitting failure of samples due to tensile stresses and is incapable of providing a comprehensive interpretation for the overall failure of rock masses.Research results demonstrated that sample failure primarily resulted from the growth of single cracks(in the form of tensile wing cracks and shear secondary cracks)and the coalescence of two cracks due to the growth of wing cracks in the rock bridge zone.Additionally,the inclination angle of the pre-existing crack clearly influences the final failure pattern of the samples.展开更多
Controlled blasting techniques are used to control overbreak and to aid in the stability of the remaining rock formation. Presplitting is one of the most common methods which is used in many open pit mining and surfac...Controlled blasting techniques are used to control overbreak and to aid in the stability of the remaining rock formation. Presplitting is one of the most common methods which is used in many open pit mining and surface blast design. The purpose of presplitting is to form a fracture plane across which the radial cracks from the production blast cannot travel. The purpose of this study is to investigate of effect of presplitting on the generation of a smooth wall in continuum and jointed rock mass. The 2D distinct element code was used to simulate the presplitting in a rock slope. The blast load history as a function of time was applied to the inner wall of each blasthole. Important parameters that were considered in the analysis were stress tensor and fracturing pattern. The blast loading magnitude and blasthole spacing and jointing pattern were found to be very significant in the final results.展开更多
This paper presents a three-dimensional fully hydro-mechanical coupled distinct element study on fault reactivation and induced seismicity due to hydraulic fracturing injection and subsequent backflow process,based on...This paper presents a three-dimensional fully hydro-mechanical coupled distinct element study on fault reactivation and induced seismicity due to hydraulic fracturing injection and subsequent backflow process,based on the geological data in Horn River Basin,Northeast British Columbia,Canada.The modeling results indicate that the maximum magnitude of seismic events appears at the fracturing stage.The increment of fluid volume in the fault determines the cumulative moment and maximum fault slippage,both of which are essentially proportional to the fluid volume.After backflow starts,the fluid near the joint intersection keeps flowing into the critically stressed fault,rather than backflows to the wellbore.Although fault slippage is affected by the changes of both pore pressure and ambient rock stress,their contributions are different at fracturing and backflow stages.At fracturing stage,pore pressure change shows a dominant effect on induced fault slippage.While at backflow stage,because the fault plane is under a critical stress state,any minor disturbance would trigger a fault slippage.The energy analysis indicates that aseismic deformation takes up a majority of the total deformation energy during hydraulic fracturing.A common regularity is found in both fracturing-and backflow-induced seismicity that the cumulative moment and maximum fault slippage are nearly proportional to the injected fluid volume.This study shows some novel insights into interpreting fracturing-and backflowinduced seismicity,and provides useful information for controlling and mitigating seismic hazards due to hydraulic fracturing.展开更多
To retrofit and strengthen existing unreinforced masonry (URM) structures to resist the potential earthquake damages has become an important issue in Australia. In order to secure the performance of URM under seismic ...To retrofit and strengthen existing unreinforced masonry (URM) structures to resist the potential earthquake damages has become an important issue in Australia. In order to secure the performance of URM under seismic loading in the future, a research project was carried out aimed at developing a simple and high strength seismic retrofitting technique for masonry structures. A series of experimental testing on URM walls retrofitted with an innovative technique by cable system have been conducted. The results indicated that both the strength and ductility of the tested speci-mens were significantly enhanced with the technique. An analytical model which is based on Dis-tinct Element Method (DEM) has also been developed to simulate the behaviour of URM walls be-fore and after retrofitting. The model is then further developed by applying a seismic wave to the wall to simulate the wall behavior under earthquake loads before and after retrofitting.展开更多
Reliable estimates of slope stability are essential for safe design and planning of road cut hill slopes which accommo-date a number of tourist destinations around the world. The failure of cut slopes along these hill...Reliable estimates of slope stability are essential for safe design and planning of road cut hill slopes which accommo-date a number of tourist destinations around the world. The failure of cut slopes along these hills puts human life in grave danger and it is also disastrous for the economy. In the present study, a section of 100 m high jointed basalt hill slope has been analyzed numerically in a distinct element code, which is apt for simulating the behavior for jointed rock. The analysis was carried out for both the dry and saturated conditions. The distinct element analysis of the hill slope demonstrates it to be marginally stable under dry condition, while for the saturated condition, the hill slope fails along well defined joint planes.展开更多
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.52074312 and 52211530097)CNPC Science and Technology Innovation Foundation(Grant No.2021DQ02-0505).
文摘Wellbore breakout is one of the critical issues in drilling due to the fact that the related problems result in additional costs and impact the drilling scheme severely.However,the majority of such wellbore breakout analyses were based on continuum mechanics.In addition to failure in intact rocks,wellbore breakouts can also be initiated along natural discontinuities,e.g.weak planes and fractures.Furthermore,the conventional models in wellbore breakouts with uniform distribution fractures could not reflect the real drilling situation.This paper presents a fully coupled hydro-mechanical model of the SB-X well in the Tarim Basin,China for evaluating wellbore breakouts in heavily fractured rocks under anisotropic stress states using the distinct element method(DEM)and the discrete fracture network(DFN).The developed model was validated against caliper log measurement,and its stability study was carried out by stress and displacement analyses.A parametric study was performed to investigate the effects of the characteristics of fracture distribution(orientation and length)on borehole stability by sensitivity studies.Simulation results demonstrate that the increase of the standard deviation of orientation when the fracture direction aligns parallel or perpendicular to the principal stress direction aggravates borehole instability.Moreover,an elevation in the average fracture length causes the borehole failure to change from the direction of the minimum in-situ horizontal principal stress(i.e.the direction of wellbore breakouts)towards alternative directions,ultimately leading to the whole wellbore failure.These findings provide theoretical insights for predicting wellbore breakouts in heavily fractured rocks.
文摘The quantitative evaluation of errors involved in a particular numerical modelling is of prime importance for the effectiveness and reliability of the method. Errors in Distinct Element Modelling are generated mainly through three resources as simplification of physical model, determination of parameters and boundary conditions. A measure of errors which represent the degree of numerical solution 'close to true value' is proposed through fuzzy probability in this paper. The main objective of this paper is to estimate the reliability of Distinct Element Method in rock engineering practice by varying the parameters and boundary conditions. The accumulation laws of standard errors induced by improper determination of parameters and boundary conditions are discussed in delails. Furthermore, numerical experiments are given to illustrate the estimation of fuzzy reliability. Example shows that fuzzy reliability falls between 75%-98% when the relative standard errors of input data is under 10 %.
基金support from the Outstanding Youth Fund of Anhui Province(Grant No.2208085J19).
文摘The thick layer and graded feeding technology of a belt roasting machine is an effective method for improving the production efficiency and quality index of pellet production,and a reasonable design of the mechanical structure of the layer is the basis for optimizing the heat and mass transfer performance of the layer.Janssen effect and von Mises yield criterion were used to establish a simplified mathematical model describing the elastic and plastic deformation of the green pellet under the action of an external force.The mechanical characteristics of extrusion,contact,and elastic-plastic deformation between green pellet particles in the material layer of the belt roasting machine were modeled using EDEM software.For a green pellet size of 12 mm,as the layer height increases from 300 to 1000 mm,the maximum vertical pressure on the pellets increases from 11.64 to 24.01 N,and the porosity decreases from 27.04%to 22.01%.As the layer height increases,the contact between the green pellets becomes more intense,and the force chain structure of the layer becomes more stable;the Janssen effect is observed when the layer reaches 700 mm.The compressive strength of the green pellets is linearly related to the particle size,and the compressive strength increases with an increase in particle size.At a layer height of 600 mm,as the particle size of the green pellets increases from 8 to 20 mm,the maximum vertical pressure increases from 7.54 to 44.16 N,and the porosity increases from 23.20%to 31.47%,while the yield per unit of the layer decreased by 12.1%.Small particles have a more stable force chain structure,larger comparative area,and higher production efficiency;however,their compressive strength is lower.Large particles have higher compressive strength and good permeability in the layer,but the production efficiency is relatively low.In actual production,a variety of factors should be integrated to optimize the feeding,and a multi-granularity graded feeding is the most ideal feeding.
基金supported by China National Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists (51025932)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51179128)Program of Shanghai Academic Chief Scientist (11XD1405200)
文摘This letter mainly aims to investigate the mechanical behavior within shear bands in regolith both under the Earth and the Moon conditions via the distinct element method, in which a novel contact model considering interparticle van der Waals forces and rolling resistance is employed. The results show that for regolith under both conditions the stress paths are almost identical inside and outside the shear bands but void ratio, average pure rotation rate, and strain paths are rather distinct with dilation, particle rotation and the second invariant of strain tensor mainly occurring within the bands. However, the regolith under the Moon condition has higher peak strength and more significant strain localization than those under the Earth condition.
文摘The Australian love of 'heritage' buildings (most of them are unreinforced masonry (URM)) means that greater attention is required to secure their performance under seismic or impact loading in the future. A research project has been carried out to develop a new, economic and high strength retrofitting technique for masonry structures. A series of experimental testing on URM walls retrofitted with an innovative technique by cable system have been conducted. In this paper, an analytical model which is based on distinct element method (DEM) is developed to simulate the behaviour of retrofitted walls. In DEM, a solid is represented as an assembly of discrete blocks. Joints are modelled as interface between distinct bodies. It is a dynamic process and specially designed to model the behaviour of discontinuities. In order to assist the practising engineers to design this new retrofitted wall system, a simple mechanical model was also developed to predict the strength of the retrofitted walls. The results obtained from this simple mechanical model are compared with those from both experiments and distinct element model.
文摘The reaction of earth to pull-out process of frictional rock bolts was here modeled by the distinct element method (DEM). Ten frictional bolts were prepared;the expanding shells of five bolts included convex edges and the others had the shells with concave bits. The strength of bolts was measured by applying a standard pull-out test;the results confirmed that the strength of shells with convex edges was remarkably more than the strength of other shells. Furthermore, a two-dimensional DEM model of the test was developed by a particle flow code;the obtained results showed that the reaction of rock particles to the contacts occurring between the convex edges and earth was considerably more than those of the concave bits. In the other words, the convex edges transferred the pull-out force into a large area of the surrounded rock, causing these bolts to have the highest resistance against earth movements.
文摘A numerical method for simulating the stability of particle-packing structures is presented. The packing structures were modeled on the basis of face-centered cubic (fcc) and body-centered cubic (bcc) structures, and the stability of these structures was investigated using the distinct element method. The interaction between the particles was simplified by considering repulsive, adhesive, and damping forces, and the stability against the gravitational force was simulated. The results under a certain set of parameters showed characteristic deformation when the particles were arranged in an fcc array. Focusing on the local structure, the resulting model was divided into several domains: The bottom base, four top corners, and intermediate domains. The bottom base notably became a body-centered tetragonal (bct) structure, which corresponds to a uniaxially compressed bcc structure. Conversely, the models based on the bcc arrangement were structurally stable, as no specific deformation was observed, and a monotonously compressed bct structure was obtained. Consequently, the bcc arrangement is concluded to be more stable against uniaxial compression, such as the gravitational force, in a particle-packing system.
基金This study was funded by the National Science and Technology Supporting Plan(No.2011BAD29B08)the“111”Project(No.B12007).
文摘Since the design of the subsoiler is a complex work,the interaction between the subsoiler and soil was investigated by using Distinct Element Method(DEM)in this study.Based on the traditional discrete element theory,the 3D model of soil particles and the subsoiler were established after considering the liquid bridge force between soil particles.The operating resistance curves of the subsoiler were achieved after the DEM simulation at a speed of 1 m/s,and three depths of 180 mm,220 mm and 260 mm,respectively.The simulation curves agreed well with the field experimental results based on relative errors of 2.96%,14.95%and 7.15%,respectively,at three depths.All these data proved that it was feasible and favorable to analyze the performance of the subsoiler by using the DEM and it is of important significance for studying and further optimizing the structure of the subsoiler.
基金This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.50679057 and 10972158).
文摘This paper presents a numerical investigation on the strain localization of an idealized sand in biaxial compression tests using the distinct element method(DEM).In addition to the dilatancy and material frictional angle,the principal stress field,and distributions of void ratio,particle velocity,and the averaged pure rotation rate(APR)in the DEM specimen are examined to illustrate the link between microscopic and macroscopic variables in the case of strain localization.The study shows that strain localization of the granular material in the tests proceeds with localizations of void ratio,strain and APR,and distortions of stress field and force chains.In addition,both thickness and inclination of the shear band change with the increasing of axial swain,with the former valued around 10-14 times of mean grain diameter and the later overall described by the Mohr-Coulomb theory.
文摘The expanded distinct element method(EDEM)was used to investigate the crack growth in rock-like materials under uniaxial compression.The tensile-shear failure criterion and the Griffith failure criterion were implanted into the EDEM to determine the initiation and propagation of pre-existing cracks,respectively.Uniaxial compression experiments were also performed with the artificial rock-like samples to verify the validity of the EDEM.Simulation results indicated that the EDEM model with the tensile-shear failure criterion has strong capabilities for modeling the growth of pre-existing cracks,and model results have strong agreement with the failure and mechanical properties of experimental samples.The EDEM model with the Griffith failure criterion can only simulate the splitting failure of samples due to tensile stresses and is incapable of providing a comprehensive interpretation for the overall failure of rock masses.Research results demonstrated that sample failure primarily resulted from the growth of single cracks(in the form of tensile wing cracks and shear secondary cracks)and the coalescence of two cracks due to the growth of wing cracks in the rock bridge zone.Additionally,the inclination angle of the pre-existing crack clearly influences the final failure pattern of the samples.
文摘Controlled blasting techniques are used to control overbreak and to aid in the stability of the remaining rock formation. Presplitting is one of the most common methods which is used in many open pit mining and surface blast design. The purpose of presplitting is to form a fracture plane across which the radial cracks from the production blast cannot travel. The purpose of this study is to investigate of effect of presplitting on the generation of a smooth wall in continuum and jointed rock mass. The 2D distinct element code was used to simulate the presplitting in a rock slope. The blast load history as a function of time was applied to the inner wall of each blasthole. Important parameters that were considered in the analysis were stress tensor and fracturing pattern. The blast loading magnitude and blasthole spacing and jointing pattern were found to be very significant in the final results.
基金supported by the Key Innovation Team Program of Innovation Talents Promotion Plan by Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2016RA4059)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41672268 and 41772286)。
文摘This paper presents a three-dimensional fully hydro-mechanical coupled distinct element study on fault reactivation and induced seismicity due to hydraulic fracturing injection and subsequent backflow process,based on the geological data in Horn River Basin,Northeast British Columbia,Canada.The modeling results indicate that the maximum magnitude of seismic events appears at the fracturing stage.The increment of fluid volume in the fault determines the cumulative moment and maximum fault slippage,both of which are essentially proportional to the fluid volume.After backflow starts,the fluid near the joint intersection keeps flowing into the critically stressed fault,rather than backflows to the wellbore.Although fault slippage is affected by the changes of both pore pressure and ambient rock stress,their contributions are different at fracturing and backflow stages.At fracturing stage,pore pressure change shows a dominant effect on induced fault slippage.While at backflow stage,because the fault plane is under a critical stress state,any minor disturbance would trigger a fault slippage.The energy analysis indicates that aseismic deformation takes up a majority of the total deformation energy during hydraulic fracturing.A common regularity is found in both fracturing-and backflow-induced seismicity that the cumulative moment and maximum fault slippage are nearly proportional to the injected fluid volume.This study shows some novel insights into interpreting fracturing-and backflowinduced seismicity,and provides useful information for controlling and mitigating seismic hazards due to hydraulic fracturing.
文摘To retrofit and strengthen existing unreinforced masonry (URM) structures to resist the potential earthquake damages has become an important issue in Australia. In order to secure the performance of URM under seismic loading in the future, a research project was carried out aimed at developing a simple and high strength seismic retrofitting technique for masonry structures. A series of experimental testing on URM walls retrofitted with an innovative technique by cable system have been conducted. The results indicated that both the strength and ductility of the tested speci-mens were significantly enhanced with the technique. An analytical model which is based on Dis-tinct Element Method (DEM) has also been developed to simulate the behaviour of URM walls be-fore and after retrofitting. The model is then further developed by applying a seismic wave to the wall to simulate the wall behavior under earthquake loads before and after retrofitting.
文摘Reliable estimates of slope stability are essential for safe design and planning of road cut hill slopes which accommo-date a number of tourist destinations around the world. The failure of cut slopes along these hills puts human life in grave danger and it is also disastrous for the economy. In the present study, a section of 100 m high jointed basalt hill slope has been analyzed numerically in a distinct element code, which is apt for simulating the behavior for jointed rock. The analysis was carried out for both the dry and saturated conditions. The distinct element analysis of the hill slope demonstrates it to be marginally stable under dry condition, while for the saturated condition, the hill slope fails along well defined joint planes.
