Early assessment of seismic hazard in terms of Voronezh massif-Moscow Depression contact

Purpose is to develop a system approach for early assessment of areas being of high seismic hazard and characterizing by low stability of rock mass relative to external loads. Methods. Well cores have been assessed down to 30 depth and seismic observations have been accumulated. Complexes of field geophysics methods have been applied for the research as well as remote sensing materials, digital model of surface relief, and techniques of qualitative and quantitative interpretation. Findings. Seismic hazard map has been formed in terms of seismic intensification and ground displacement units. The abovementioned is quite reliable but a cost-based result involving early assessments of high seismic hazard areas to infill network of geophysical measurements in the neighbourhood of the areas for their further quantitative characterization. It has been identified that rare well network and definite geophysical lines, run under conditions of a complex terrain, cannot localize the areas of high seismic hazard to focus builders on the enforcement of certain components of the erected structures. It has been defined that end result of the prognostic developments takes a shape of mapping of local areas with the decreased stability of upper share of the geological section supported by further measurements by means of a common depth point method (CDP). Comparison of potential secondary earthquake sources with high permeability zones makes it possible to predict highly reliable areas of the increased seismic magnitude. Originality.For the first time, interpretation techniques have been adapted to describe parametrically nonpotential geofields (i.e. optical density of remote basis; and relative elevation), accepted during the steps of potential field processing, with the use of wave analogies. Practical implications.The methods have been developed helping optimize field geological and geophysical operations in terms of area and well number as well as measuring stakes under the conditions of the limited prior data amount.

A cable supporting test under impact loading based on 5G-IoT

Reliable supporting effect is of utmost important for the deep mining roadway to prevent the hazards during deep mining activities. Traditional supporting equipment are not satisfying in the absence of the energy-absorbing capacity, whereas the Constant-Resistance-Large-Deformation (CRLD) cable, which can endure a large deformation of 2 m and provide a constant resistance in the meantime, would be a reasonable choice. To verify the CRLD performance of the new cable and highlight its energy-absorbing capacity under impact loading, this paper designed an in situ blasting test in a discarded deep roadway, which is divided into four sections and reinforced by the traditional and CRLD cables, respectively. Firstly, a numerical study of the blasting testis is carried out, the CRLD cable element is proposed, based on the existing one of the FLAC3D software, and a static pullout test is simulated to verify the new element, the adapted impact loading is estimated and the dynamic calculation is performed. Furthermore, under the blasting, which releases the energy of the 1st seismic magnitude, the monitored axial forces of the cables are transmitted in real time using 5G-IoT, and the supporting effects of the two types of cables are compared. According to the numerical and experimental results, the CRLD cable is proven reliable to support the deep roadway, at least shocked by the released energy corresponding to the 1st seismic magnitude.

Complexities of underground mining seismic sources

This paper presents a numerical investigation on the influence of the mining environment on seismic sources, with a focus on pillar failure mechanisms in tabular mining. We investigate the influence of the mining stope (underground excavation or void) on seismic inversions for the scalar moment, corner frequency, source radius, stress drop and moment tensor using synthetic events created within elastodynamic numerical modelling software, WAVE3D. The main objective is to determine whether the source parameters calculated from the recorded waveforms are due to a combination of the stope source and the pillar sources, rather than being related only to crushing of the pillar or shearing in the pillar footwall. The main finding is that the presence of stopes, and types of pillars, have a significant impact on the seismic moment and other source parameters. This is important since the moment is viewed as a robust parameter on which seismic magnitude is often based; however, this study indicates that moments calculated for pillar failure in a tabular stoping environments are less representative of the shearing or crushing source than originally thought. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fracture dynamics of solid materials: from particles to the globe’.

Application of Butterworth high pass filter as an approximation of Wood Anderson seismometer frequency response to earthquake signal recording

The method for generating maximum amplitude and signal to noise ratio values by using second order high pass Butterworth filter on local seismic magnitude scale calculations is proposed. The test data are signals from local earthquake that have been occurred in Sunda Strait on April 8th 2012. Based on the experimental results, a 8 Hz cutoff frequency and a gain of 2200 of second order Butterworth high pass filter as an approach to simulating the frequency response of Wood Anderson seismometer can provide maximum amplitude value, SNR, and the magnitude better than simulated Wood Anderson frequency response.

A UK local seismic magnitude scale, MLP, using P-wave amplitudes

SUMMARY A local seismic magnitude scale, MLP, has been developed for the United Kingdom (UK) using automated measurements of 8902 half peak-to-peak vertical component seismic P-wave displacement amplitudes from 630 earthquakes. The measurement time window increases with source-to-receiver range such that MLP is sensitive to the dominant phase within the P-wavetrain at a given distance. To avoid contamination due to low-frequency noise, the P-wave amplitude measurements are made in the 1.5–30 Hz passband. A least-squares inversion was undertaken to estimate source size, distance and station effects. The distance effect values suggest that P-wave amplitude attenuation across the UK is low when compared to other tectonically stable regions. The station effects are broadly consistent with UK geology, with signal amplification observed within the sediments towards the south-east of the country. MLP has been tied to the UK local magnitude scale routinely estimated by the British Geological Survey (BGS, determined using S waves, and here denoted MLBGS). For earthquakes with MLBGS > 3, MLP exhibits a closer correspondence to the moment magnitude than MLBGS (i.e. MLP≈Mw). It is tentatively suggested that this reduction in bias is caused by the P-wave scale being less affected by along-path attenuation. The difference with respect to physical source scaling helps explain the divergence of the MLBGS and MLP scales at ML > 3. MLP allows a robust estimate of event size to be made for small events which predominantly generate P waves, for example, near-surface explosions. MLP values have been calculated for 239 explosive events, mostly mining blasts and munitions disposal. Although there is significant scatter, explosive events exhibit elevated MLP values compared to MLBGS, consistent with explosions generating proportionally more compressional wave energy than earthquakes. For example, 33 explosions at sea exhibit a median MLP–MLBGS value of 0.50 mag units. Despite its sensitivity to P-wave amplitude, MLP is not a more consistent estimator of explosive source size than MLBGS; the magnitude residuals (station estimate − event estimate) are slightly less for MLBGS compared to MLP. This is primarily due to variability of the P-wave amplitudes that cannot be explained by a 1-D distance correction. MLP should be considered as an additional tool for characterizing small seismic events within the UK.

Study on Sloshing Effect of Vertical Storage Tank With Displacement Seismic Excitation

A 1:4 scale seismic simulation shaking table experiment was designed and performed to study the sloshing wave height response of a storage tank under displacement due to seismic excitation, wherein a 1000 m3 vertical storage tank was used to compare the sloshing wave height for different tanks with different foundations. Under different foundation forms, the tank motion includes sway and roll. Meanwhile, the design code and finite element method were used to compare with the experiment for mutual verification. The results show that the peak value of the sloshing wave height is at its minimum at the center, and the maximum is near the tank wall when the model tank was excited to the ground motion with the predominant frequency range from 0.29 and 0.32 Hz, and the floating roof can significantly reduce the sloshing wave height. For different input conditions with equivalent seismic magnitude, the wave heights were notably different, so the design should use multiple seismic waves as inputs. The acceleration values were different when different foundations were used, but there was little effect on the sloshing wave height. Besides, the sloshing wave heights measured in the experiment were close to those calculated using standard equations and finite element results, which proves that the three can verify each other.

Seismic activity rate of Mars, based on 420 Sols of InSight data

<p>We present an updated estimate of the seismic activity rate of Mars after seven months of high-quality recording of the InSight SEIS instrument. The instrument has been deployed fully on Sol 60 (February 2, 2019) and has been recording with excellent performance since then. The first distant marsquake was observed on Sol 105 (March 14), the first local event on Sol 128 (April 7). From then until early January 2020 (Sol 400), 23 likely events and another 13 candidate events have been observed. Due to a strong diurnal variation in background noise and the generally low magnitude of the activity (compared to Earth), events have been observed only in few low-noise periods of the day. The change of seasons varied the duration of these low-noise periods over the mission, with a magnitude and time-dependent effect on detectability of events and the quantitative estimation of event rates and moment release.</p><p>We present a statistical analysis of the global seismic activity level based on a preliminary seismic magnitude model, weighted by the temporal evolution of the ambient noise over half a Martian year. The resulting number of events smaller magnitude 3 is roughly consistent with the pre-mission estimate of Golombek (1992) and the medium model of Knapmeyer et al. (2006), however, as of now, there is a statistically significant lack of events above magnitude 3.5. This hints at a distribution that is skewed towards smaller events, compared to terrestrial global averages.</p>

Development of a Pipeline Post Seismic Response Screening Process

US pipeline operators may receive USGS automated earthquake notifications. In most of these cases, the seismic event poses little threat to pipeline assets. However, until an analysis is performed there can be uncertainty as to when and what actions should be taken. The paper describes the development and implementation of a simplified screening process to assess the effects of seismic events on buried pipelines. A design basis was established based on a literature review of seismic models, seismic-pipeline interactions, von Mises equivalent pipeline stress limits, standards, regulations, and practices that are currently used to assess seismic effects on buried pipelines. This design basis was used to develop a screening tool that provides a simple “pass/no pass” determination and is based on the readily obtained attributes (seismic magnitude and pipeline distance from the earthquake epicenter). “No Pass” scenarios are sub-divided into medium or high threat categories, with the latter likely needing to be evaluated on a more detailed basis. General guidelines and charts have been developed and incorporated into a general procedure to assess when and what actions should be taken.