1st Edition

Meso-Scale Shear Physics in Earthquake and Landslide Mechanics

Edited By Yossef H. Hatzor, Jean Sulem, Ioannis Vardoulakis Copyright 2009
    294 Pages
    by CRC Press

    294 Pages
    by CRC Press

    The identification of meso-scale phenomena – occurring between microscopic and continuum length scales – has been one of the most exciting developments in rock mechanics in the last decade. Meso-scale phenomena are considered as the bridge between the two length scales in understanding shear between material interfaces as well as particulate systems and in studying material response. Examples are the initiation of seismic slip along fault planes at great depths at rates nearing shock conditions, and the initiation and rapid runout of landslides near the earth’s surface. Additionally, the basic physics of thermo-poro-mechanical coupling can be elucidated through a meso-scale mechanics approach as a means of understanding the loss of shearing resistance when water and heat are trapped inside almost impervious clay layers under great pressure.

    This book presents a collection of 21 current, peer-reviewed articles on shear physics at the meso-scale in earthquake and landslide mechanics, authored by leading international experts in the field. Contributions are grouped in 5 chapters, discussing (1) the dynamics of frictional slip, (2) fault gauge mechanics, (3) experimental fault zone mechanics, (4) granular shear and liquefaction, and (5) landslides’ dynamics.

    This research area has broad applications to the fields of earth sciences and geoengineering, with immediate bearing on our understanding of both earthquake and landslide mechanics, two geological processes that pose great risk to man kind worldwide.

    I. Dynamics of frictional slip

    1. Thermo- and hydro-mechanical processes along faults during rapid slip J.R. Rice, E.M. Dunham & H. Noda
    2. Slip sequences in laboratory experiments as analogues to earthquakes associated with a fault edge S.M. Rubinstein, G. Cohen, J. Fineberg & Z. Reches
    3. On the mechanism of junction growth in pre-sliding A. Ovcharenko, G. Halperin & I. Etsion
    4. Nanoseismic measurement of the localized initiation of sliding friction G. McLaskey & S.D. Glaser
    5. Weakly nonlinear fracture mechanics: Experiments and theory E. Bouchbinder, A. Livne & J. Fineberg

    II. Fault gauge mechanics

    6. The effect of mineral decomposition as a mechanism of fault weakening during seismic slip J. Sulem & V. Famin
    7. Thermal mechanisms and friction laws determining the stability and localization during slip weakening of shallow faults E. Veveakis, S. Alevizos & I. Vardoulakis
    8. Cataclastic and ultra-cataclastic shear using breakage mechanics I. Einav & G.D. Nguyen

    III. Experimental fault zone mechanics

    9. Strain localization in granular fault zones at laboratory and tectonic scales C.J. Marone & A. Rathbun
    10. Some new experimental observations on fracture roughness anisotropy G. Grasselli
    11. Constraints on faulting mechanisms using 3D measurements of natural faults A. Sagy & E.E. Brodsky
    12. Nonlinear elasticity and scalar damage rheology model for fractured rocks V. Lyakhovsky & Y. Hamiel
    13. Damage rheology and stable versus unstable fracturing of rocks Y. Hamiel, V. Lyakhovsky, O. Katz, Y. Fialko & Z. Reches
    14. Micro-scale roughness effects on the friction coefficient of granite surfaces under varying levels of normal stress O. Biran , Y.H. Hatzor & A. Ziv

    IV. Granular shear and liquefaction

    15. Friction in granular media J.C. Santamarina & H. Shin
    16. What controls the effective friction of shearing granular media? M. Nataliya, L. Goren, D. Sparks & E. Aharonov
    17. Pore pressure development and liquefaction in saturated sand S. Frydman, M. Talesnick, A. Mehr & M. Tsesarsky
    18. Characterizing localization processes during liquefaction using inverse analyses of instrumentation arrays R. Kamai & R. Boulanger
    19. On seismic P- and S-wave velocities in unconsolidated sediments: Accounting for non-uniform contacts and heterogeneous stress fields in the effective media approximation R. Bachrach & P. Avseth

    V. Dynamics of landslides

    20. Thermo-poro-mechanical effects in landslide dynamics L. Goren, E. Aharonov & M. Anders
    21. Mechanisms of fluid overpressurization related to instability of slopes on active volcanoes D. Elsworth, B. Voight & J. Taron

    Biography

    Yossef H. Hatzor, Jean Sulem, Ioannis Vardoulakis