scholarly journals Evolution of b-Value and Fractal Dimension of Acoustic Emission Events During Shear Rupture of an Immature Fault in Granite

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinglin Lei

The present study investigated the evolutions of b-value and fractal dimension of acoustic emission (AE) events during shear rupture of a naturally-created rough fracture in a granite specimen under triaxial compression. Acoustic emission signals were monitored by 16 sensors mounted directly on the surface of the specimen, and AE waveforms were sampled at 16 bits and 25 MHz. Reliable hypocenters were determined using P-wave arrival times picked up from the waveforms. Acoustic emission magnitude was determined from the maximum amplitude monitored by two peak detectors, which have a relative magnitude range of 0 to 2.75. A three-dimensional X-ray computed tomography scan was performed after the test to explore the fracture geometry. Acoustic emission activity was initiated during hydrostatic compression. With increasing differential stress, AEs demonstrated an increasing event rate, a decrease (from approximately 1.8 to 1.6) with a subsequent precursory increase (from 1.6 to 1.8) in fractal dimension, a quick decrease in b-value (from 1.0 to approximately 0.5), and a quick increase in fractal dimension (from 1.8 to 2.0). The exponentially increasing event rate, gradually decreasing b-value, and slowly increasing fractal dimension may be an intermediate-term indication of fault reactivation. In contrast, a progressively increasing event rate, a rapid drop in b-value, and a rapid increase in fractal dimension may facilitate short-term prediction of large events, which reflect the rupture of large patches. Acoustic emission hypocenters were clustered on the entire fracture surface. The present study sheds some light on detecting early signs of fault reactivation by monitoring injection-induced seismicity in areas with faults of different maturity.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinglin Lei ◽  
Shinian Li ◽  
Liqiang Liu

In this study, the b-values for acoustic emission (AE) events during stick-slip cycles of pre-cut faults in granite (as an analogue of unfavorably oriented immature faults) under triaxial compression (confining pressure: 40 MPa) are investigated. Using a multi-channel AE waveform recording system and two peak detectors, we recorded AE waveforms at 16 bits and at a sampling rate of 25 MHz, as well as the maximum amplitude of AE events with a dynamic range of 55 dB. For stick-slip events, the b-value decreases from 1.2 to 1.5 to approximately 0.6 as the shear stress increases, and then quickly jumps back to 1.0 to 1.3 immediately prior to the dynamic stress drop. The minimum b-value coincides with the maximum event rate and a stress level of 70 to 95% of the shear strength. It is also observed that the AE activity during each cycle was linked with the pre-failure fault slip, which accounts for 30% of the dynamic slip. Our results on b-value evaluation preceding repeated stick-slips can be used as an indicator of the degree of fault maturity and shear stress acting on the fault, which is important in seismic hazard assessment and earthquake prediction, especially for the injection-induced seismicity for fields in which reactivated shear rupture of unfavorable and immature faults or tensile fractures is important.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Zhandong Su ◽  
Ke Geng ◽  
Fubiao Zhou ◽  
Jinzhong Sun ◽  
Huayan Yu

Understanding the acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of rocks that have undergone freeze-thaw cycling is of great significance for the use of AE technology to monitor the stability of rock masses in cold regions. A series of freeze-thaw cycling experiments and triaxial compression AE tests of granite samples were performed. The results show that, with an increasing number of freeze-thaw cycles, the P-wave velocity and peak AE intensity of granite show a substantial downward trend. The AE ringing counts during triaxial compression can be divided into three stages: abrupt period, calm period, and failure period. The overall change of the characteristic AE signal of granite samples that underwent different freeze-thaw cycles is the same. The AE signal during the destruction of granite occurs in clear dual dominant frequency bands. The peak frequency increases with increasing load time, and this trend becomes less clear as the number of freeze-thaw cycles increases. Overall, the peak frequency distribution tends to change from high to low with an increasing number of freeze-thaw cycles. The results provide basic data for rock mass stability monitoring and prediction, which is of great significance for engineering construction and management in cold regions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 155014772098611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianzuo Wang ◽  
Linxiang Wang ◽  
Fei Xue ◽  
Mengya Xue

To explore the development mechanism of cracks in the process of rock failure, triaxial compression tests with simultaneous acoustic emission monitoring were performed on granite specimens using the MTS rock mechanics test system. The frequency-domain information of the acoustic emission signal was obtained by the fast Fourier transform. The Gutenberg–Richter law was used to calculate the acoustic emission signals and obtain the b-value dynamic curve in the loading process. Combined with the stiffness curve of granite specimens and acoustic emission signal in the time domain and frequency domain, the crack development characteristics in different stages were analyzed. The results showed that the acoustic emission signals of granite samples under triaxial compression can be divided into four stages: quiet period 1, active stage 1, quiet period 2, and active stage 2. b-value attained its maximum value in the active phase 2 when it is close to the sample loss, and then drops rapidly, which means the propagation of cracks and the formation of large cracks. The acoustic emission signal’s dominant frequency was not more than 500 kHz, mostly concentrated in the medium-frequency band (100–200 kHz), which accounted for more than 80%. The proportion of signals in each frequency band can reflect the distribution of the three kinds of cracks, while the change in low-frequency signals can reflect the breakthrough of microcracks and the formation time of macrocracks in granite samples. By fully analyzing the characteristics of acoustic emission signals in the time domain and frequency domain, the time and conditions of producing large cracks can be determined accurately and efficiently.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105678952199119
Author(s):  
Kai Yang ◽  
Qixiang Yan ◽  
Chuan Zhang ◽  
Wang Wu ◽  
Fei Wan

To explore the mechanical properties and damage evolution characteristics of carbonaceous shale with different confining pressures and water-bearing conditions, triaxial compression tests accompanied by simultaneous acoustic emission (AE) monitoring were conducted on carbonaceous shale rock specimens. The AE characteristics of carbonaceous shale were investigated, a damage assessment method based on Shannon entropy of AE was further proposed. The results suggest that the mechanical properties of carbonaceous shale intensify with increasing confining pressure and degrade with increasing water content. Moisture in rocks does not only weaken the cohesion but also reduce the internal friction angle of carbonaceous shale. It is observed that AE activities mainly occur in the post-peak stage and the strong AE activities of saturated carbonaceous shale specimens appear at a lower normalized stress level than that of natural-state specimens. The maximum AE counts and AE energy increase with water content while decrease with confining pressure. Both confining pressure and water content induce changes in the proportions of AE dominant frequency bands, but the changes caused by confining pressure are more significant than those caused by water content. The results also indicate that AE entropy can serve as an applicable index for rock damage assessment. The damage evolution process of carbonaceous shale can be divided into two main stages, including the stable damage development stage and the damage acceleration stage. The damage variable increases slowly accompanied by a few AE activities at the first stage, which is followed by a rapid growth along with intense acoustic emission activities at the damage acceleration stage. Moreover, there is a sharp rise in the damage evolution curve for the natural-state specimen at the damage acceleration stage, while the damage variable develops slowly for the saturated-state specimen.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Blai Casals ◽  
Karin A. Dahmen ◽  
Boyuan Gou ◽  
Spencer Rooke ◽  
Ekhard K. H. Salje

AbstractAcoustic emission (AE) measurements of avalanches in different systems, such as domain movements in ferroics or the collapse of voids in porous materials, cannot be compared with model predictions without a detailed analysis of the AE process. In particular, most AE experiments scale the avalanche energy E, maximum amplitude Amax and duration D as E ~ Amaxx and Amax ~ Dχ with x = 2 and a poorly defined power law distribution for the duration. In contrast, simple mean field theory (MFT) predicts that x = 3 and χ = 2. The disagreement is due to details of the AE measurements: the initial acoustic strain signal of an avalanche is modified by the propagation of the acoustic wave, which is then measured by the detector. We demonstrate, by simple model simulations, that typical avalanches follow the observed AE results with x = 2 and ‘half-moon’ shapes for the cross-correlation. Furthermore, the size S of an avalanche does not always scale as the square of the maximum AE avalanche amplitude Amax as predicted by MFT but scales linearly S ~ Amax. We propose that the AE rise time reflects the atomistic avalanche time profile better than the duration of the AE signal.


2005 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. L. Shkuratnik ◽  
Yu. L. Filimonov ◽  
S. V. Kuchurin

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 775-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangzhi Yin ◽  
Hu Qin ◽  
Gun Huang ◽  
Youchang Lv ◽  
Zhixu Dai

Geofluids ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kang Zhao ◽  
Shuijie Gu ◽  
Yajing Yan ◽  
Keping Zhou ◽  
Qiang Li ◽  
...  

Many deep underground excavation practices show that the size and distribution of in situ stress are the main factors resulting in the deformation and instability of the surrounding rock structure. The in situ stress measured by the Kaiser effect of rock is used by engineers because of its economy and convenience. However, due to the lack of quantitative judgment basis in determining the Kaiser point position, there is a large artificial error in the practical application. In response to the problem, this study systematically investigates the characteristics of rock acoustic emission curve on the basis of the fractal theory and establishes an accurate and simple interpretation method for determining the Kaiser point position. The indoor rock acoustic emission test was carried out by drilling a rock sample at a mine site. By using the conventional tangent method, the cumulative ringing count rate-time-stress curve of rock acoustic emission is analyzed to preliminarily determine the time range of Kaiser point appearance. Considering that the fractal dimension of the rock Kaiser point is lower than the adjacent point, the minimum point of the fractal dimension of this time range can be determined from the fractal dimension-time-stress curve. Such determined point is the Kaiser point. The size of the in situ stress is calculated using an analytical method. Based on the value of the in situ stress, the distribution of the in situ stress in the mining area is further analyzed using the geological structure of the mine. The maximum principal stress is 19.38 MPa, with a direction of N (30°-40°) E, and the minimum principal stress is 8.02 MPa with a direction of N (50°-60°) W. The maximum and minimum principal stresses are approximately in the horizontal plane. The intermediate principal stress is 11.73 MPa in vertically downward. These results are basically consistent with the distribution statistical law of the measured in situ stress fields in the world. The results presented in the study could provide a reference for the later mining, stability evaluation, and support of the surrounding rock.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Peng ◽  
Sheng-Qi Yang

High temperature treatment has a significant influence on the mechanical behavior and the associated microcracking characteristic of rocks. A good understanding of the thermal damage effects on rock behavior is helpful for design and stability evaluation of engineering structures in the geothermal field. This paper studies the mechanical behavior and the acoustic emission (AE) characteristic of three typical rocks (i.e., sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous), with an emphasis on how the difference in rock type (i.e., porosity and mineralogical composition) affects the rock behavior in response to thermal damage. Compression tests are carried out on rock specimens which are thermally damaged and AE monitoring is conducted during the compression tests. The mechanical properties including P-wave velocity, compressive strength, and Young’s modulus for the three rocks are found to generally show a decreasing trend as the temperature applied to the rock increases. However, these mechanical properties for quartz sandstone first increase to a certain extent and then decrease as the treatment temperature increases, which is mainly attributed to the high porosity of quartz sandstone. The results obtained from stress–strain curve, failure mode, and AE characteristic also show that the failure of quartz-rich rock (i.e., quartz sandstone and granite) is more brittle when compared with that of calcite-rich rock (i.e., marble). However, the ductility is enhanced to some extent as the treatment temperature increases for all the three examined rocks. Due to high brittleness of quartz sandstone and granite, more AE activities can be detected during loading and the recorded AE activities mostly accumulate when the stress approaches the peak strength, which is quite different from the results of marble.


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