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At least 109 records · Page 6

Mixing of the Connecticut River Plume During Ambient Flood Tides: Spatial Heterogeneity and Contributions of Bottom–Generated and Interfacial Mixing

The Connecticut River plume is influenced by energetic ambient tides in the Long Island Sound receiving waters. The objectives of this modeling study are (a) characterizing the spatial heterogeneity of turbulent buoyancy fluxes, (b) partitioning turbulent buoyancy fluxes into bottom-generated and interfacial shear contributions, and (c) quantifying contributions to plume-integrated mixing within the tidal plume. The plume formed during ambient flood tides under low river discharge, spring tides, and no winds is analyzed. Turbulent buoyancy fluxes (B) and depth-integrated B through the plume (Bd) are characterized by pronounced spatial heterogeneity. Strong mixing (Bd ~ 10 –5 -10 –4 m 3 /s 3 ) occurs near the mouth, in the nearfield plume turning region, over shoals, and nearshore shallow areas. Low to moderate mixing (Bd ~ 10 –8 -10 –6 m 3 /s 3 ) occupies half the plume. Buoyancy fluxes are first partitioned based on the depth of the shear stress minimum between plume-generated and bottom-generated shear maxima. Four other tested partitioning methods are based on open channel flow and stratified shear flow parameterizations. Interfacial and bottom-generated shear contribute to different areas of intense and moderate mixing. All methods indicate a significant plume mixing role for bottom-generated mixing, but interfacial mixing is a bigger contributor. Plume-integrated total and interfacial mixing peak at max ambient flood and the timing of peak bottom-generated mixing varies among partitioning methods. Two-thirds of the mixing occurs in concentrated intense mixing areas. A parameter space with the ambient tidal Froude number and plume thickness to depth ratio as axes indicates many tidally modulated plumes are moderately to dominantly influenced by bottom-generated tidal mixing.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

An Eulerian crystal plasticity framework for modeling large anisotropic deformations in energetic materials under shocks

Here, this paper demonstrates a novel Eulerian computational framework for modeling anisotropic elastoplastic deformations of organic crystalline energetic materials (EM) under shocks. While Eulerian formulations are advantageous for handling large deformations, constitutive laws in such formulations have been limited to isotropic elastoplastic models, which may not fully capture the shock response of crystalline EM. The present Eulerian framework for high-strain rates, large deformation material dynamics of EM incorporates anisotropic isochoric elasticity via a hypo-elastic constitutive law and visco-plastic single-crystal models. The calculations are validated against atomistic calculations and experimental data and benchmarked against Lagrangian (finite element) crystal plasticity computations for shock-propagation in a monoclinic organic crystal, octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7 tetrazocine (β-HMX). The Cauchy stress components and the resolved shear stresses calculated using the present Eulerian approach are shown to be in good agreement with the Lagrangian computations for different crystal orientations. The Eulerian framework is then used for computations of shock-induced inert void collapse in β-HMX to study the effects of crystal orientations on hotspot formation under different loading intensities. The computations show that the hotspot temperature distributions and the collapse profiles are sensitive to the crystal orientations at lower impact velocities (viz., 500 m/s); when the impact velocity is increased to 1000 m/s, the collapse is predominantly hydrodynamic and the role of anisotropy is modest. The present methodology will be useful to simulate energy localization in shocked porous energetic material microstructures and other situations where large deformations of single and polycrystals govern the thermomechanical response.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Correction to: Investigating the rheology of fluidized and non-fluidized gas-particle beds: implications for the dynamics of geophysical flows and substrate entrainment

We report natural geophysical mass flows are among the most complex granular systems and their dynamics are often modified by the presence of an interstitial fluid. Prediction of their runout requires the development of models estimating the solid stresses in these hazardous currents wherein excess pore-fluid pressure can develop. We use discrete element modelling (DEM-CFD) with a Coarse-Graining post-processing technique (CG) to investigate the rheology of unsteady gas-particle fluidized to non-fluidized granular beds placed on horizontal and inclined planes. Similar to fluidized beds immersed in viscous fluids, the effective friction coefficient of air-fluidized beds can be defined as a function of the classic μ(I)-rheology and the non-dimensional fluid or solid pressure to explain the failure and dynamics of granular flows with excess pore pressure on inclines. However, dilation imposed by fluid drag and particle collisions in gas-particle fluidized beds can drastically change its effective frictional properties. In contrast with the common assumption in water-particle flows that granular temperature is negligible, in our gas-particle simulations, the contribution of the velocity fluctuations to the stress tensor is significant. Hence, the shear stress is found to be non-zero even when the flow is fully fluidized in the inertial regime. These results suggest the need to better understand velocity fluctuations to predict the effective viscosity of sheared fluidized mixtures and are relevant for many applications. Notably, a unified approach is useful for many geophysical flows that encompass a range of fluidization conditions in a single flow such as pyroclastic density currents and snow avalanches.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Estimation of micro-Hall-Petch coefficients for prismatic slip system in Mg-4Al as a function of grain boundary parameters

Grain size strengthening, referred to as the Hall-Petch effect, is a common strategy to improve the yield strength of magnesium (Mg) alloys. Several experimental studies have reported that the Hall-Petch slope strongly depends on the texture of the alloy. This effect arises from altering grain boundaries (GBs) resistance to different slip systems to transfer across adjacent grains. The grain boundary barrier strength of certain grain boundaries to basal slip, referred to as basal micro-Hall-Petch, was investigated in the previous work. Here in this study, the micro-Hall-Petch coefficient values for the prismatic slip $(k^{prismatic}_{μ})$ in Mg-4Al and their correlation with the grain boundary parameters were investigated. An experimental method was developed to initiate the prismatic slip band at low-stress levels. High-resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD) was used to measure the residual stress tensor, from which the resolved shear stress ahead of blocked prismatic slip bands was computed for seven different grain boundaries. $(k^{prismatic}_{μ})$ values for each individual GB were calculated by coupling the stress profile information with a continuum dislocation pile-up model. The $(k^{prismatic}_{μ})$ values vary from 0.138 MPa.m 1/2 to 0.685 MPa. m 1/2 which are almost three times larger than the calculated values for the basal micro-Hall-Petch. The $(k^{prismatic}_{μ})$ values were correlated with the GB parameters, and a functional relationship depending on the two most effective angles, the angle between the traces of the slip planes on the GB plane ($\phi$) and the angle between incoming and outgoing slip directions (κ), was proposed to estimate the Hall-Petch barrier for prismatic slip system. The work provides coefficients that can be supplied as input to crystal plasticity models to couple the effect of texture and grain size effectively.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Pseudo-viscous modeling of transport in dense granular flows for thermal energy storage applications

Dense, granular flows were examined to effectively capture and model bulk viscous properties in thin packed beds. A modified Couette cell with particle image velocimetry was used to experimentally determine pseudo-viscosity properties of four particulate media with varying morphologies: (1) iron oxide-coated SiO 2 particles, (2) CARBOBEAD CP30-60 particles, (3) CARBOBEAD CP40-100 particles, and (4) Al 2 O 3 beads. The pseudo-viscosity functions were fitted using a power law to correlate the measured shear stress as a function of measured shear rate. The pseudo-viscous functions were used as inputs to computation fluid dynamics models for a single-phase viscous fluid to predict granular flow profiles. Steady-state free surface velocity profiles at angular velocities <7 rad/s predicted by the model were in good agreement with the experimental particle image velocimetry measurements, resulting in Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.97 for iron-oxide coated SiO 2 particles and 0.95 for CP30-60 particles. As a result, this alternative approach to measuring pseudo-viscous properties under shearing and modeling bulk transport behavior of granular flow using computation fluid dynamics model offered significant reduction in computational load compared to discrete element methods.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

The formation and evolution of Ni 2 Cr precipitates in Ni–Cr model alloys as a function of stoichiometry characterized by synchrotron x-ray diffraction

Ni-based alloys containing significant amounts of Cr, may precipitate new phases during long-term service at elevated temperatures. In Ni–Cr model alloys, the formation of Ni 2 Cr has been found to impact the material properties, including the strength and ductility after isothermal aging below the critical temperature of 590°C. In this work, we quantify the formation and evolution of long-range ordering in four Ni–Cr binary model alloys (Ni/Cr = 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4) after isothermal aging up to 10,000h at temperatures between 373 and 475°C. The alloys were characterized by hardness testing and synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction to quantify the impact of Ni 2 Cr phase fraction and precipitate size on mechanical properties. After 500h of isothermal aging, the formation of Ni 2 Cr was detected in all four alloys at 475°C. In the stochiometric alloy samples (Ni/Cr = 2.0), the formation of Ni 2 Cr was found after 500 and 3000h aging at 418 and 373°C, respectively. We found that the matrix lattice contraction and Ni 2 Cr phase fraction both saturate after early aging times. This is in stark contrast to the hardness and Ni 2 Cr precipitate size that both continue to increase with increasing aging time. Our results highlight that changes in hardness correlate linearly with Ni 2 Cr precipitate size rather than phase fraction. This important structure-property relationship can potentially help define Ni–Cr-based component lifetimes directly through an understanding of how Ni 2 Cr formation impacts strength and ductility. Here, we find that a precipitation hardening model for critical resolved shear stress with weakly coupled dislocations shows good agreement with the material property changes quantified from experimental measurements.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Fracture toughness evaluation for Zr-4 clad tubing structure with pellet inserts

Applying fracture mechanics approach to spent nuclear fuel (SNF) system reliability investigation is warranted due to the inherent flaws and hydride structures existed in a SNF system after nuclear reactor operation. However, none of the existing fracture toughness data deal with fuel cladding specific geometry or spent fuel material conditions, such as cladding structure with the pellet-inserts and the associated pellet clad mechanical interactions induced mixed-mode damage mechanisms. Thus, the development of an intrinsic fracture mechanics approach that is suitable for SNF materials is needed. Due to thin wall and small dimension of clad tubing structure, the spiral notch torsion test (SNTT) method of small specimen approach was used to estimate the clad tubing structure fracture toughness. The estimated fracture toughness for Zr-4 cladding with alumina-pellet inserts are presented in this report. For SNTT samples with a short or medium crack length, between 5.4-mm and 8-mm, the estimate JIQ upon fracture initiation for the baseline Zr-4 cladding is at 50 kJ/m2 with 2-sigma uncertainty of 3.26 kJ/m2, and the associated KIQ is at 67.46 MPa√m. For SNTT samples with a long crack length, around 13-mm, the crack initialization is deviated from that of the Mode-I tensile fracture and appears to be a mixed-mode fracture of Mode I – tensile stress and Mode III – out of plane shear stress; the estimated JMQ is at 18.9 kJ/m2, the associated KMQ is at 41.4 MPa√m.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Transport of Compressed Woody Biomass: Correlating Rheology and Microcompounder Measurements

Transport of milled solid biomass can be problematic in biomass conversion processes due to the material’s high cohesiveness, low bulk density, and poor flowability. Here, the goal is to investigate the flow behavior of compressed biomass under conditions similar to compression-screw feeders. To mimic the flow of woody biomass inside a compression-screw feeder, two lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks were fed to a co-rotating twin-screw microcompounder. Force and screw speed from the microcompounder were correlated to viscosity in a traditional rheometer, where low-density polyethylene served as a control. The deformation of compressed biomass in a lab-scale compounder is strongly dependent on screw speed and moisture content. Shear stress in woody biomass decreased with the shear rate, indicating negative plastic viscosity. Moreover, viscosity decreased one order of magnitude as screw speed increased from 10 to 90 rpm. Increasing moisture from 10 to 50% reduced the viscosity of the compressed biomass by 60%.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Fracture toughness evaluations for spent nuclear fuel dry storage canister welds and spent nuclear fuel clad-pellet structures

Integrity of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) interim storage canisters is very important to the safety of the back-end nuclear fuel cycle. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) potential of interim storage canister has been considered as a high priority. Because no post-weld heat treatment was required for forming these canisters, the high tensile residual stress existed within these canister welds. This can change the fracture resistance capacity significantly as well as increase SCC potential. Due to relative thin shell thickness of a canister weldment, the spiral notch torsion test (SNTT) method was used to estimate the canister weldment fracture toughness. SNTT was developed to measure the intrinsic fracture toughness of structural materials using small specimens. The SNTT method has been applied to a wide variety of structural materials, such as low-alloy steels, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, ceramics, concrete, and composites. The SNTT system operates by applying pure torsion to cylindrical specimens with a notch line that spirals around the specimen at a 45° pitch. In order to carry out pure torsion load mode, biaxial tension/torsion tester was developed accordingly to perform SNTT protocol. Moreover, applying fracture mechanics approach to SNF system reliability investigation is warranted due to the inherent flaws and hydride structures existed in a SNF system after nuclear reactor operation. However, none of the existing fracture toughness data deal with fuel cladding specific geometry or spent fuel material conditions, such as cladding structure with the pellet-inserts and the associated pellet clad mechanical interactions induced mixed-mode damage mechanisms. Thus, the development of an intrinsic fracture mechanics approach that is suitable for SNF materials is needed. Furthermore, due to thin wall and small dimension of clad tubing structure, the SNTT method was used to estimate the clad tubing structure fracture toughness. Fracture testing were performed on the received stainless steel canister weldment, most SNTT weld samples fracture initiation sites are at heat-affected zone (HAZ) regions. The estimated fracture toughness J Q ’ for the baseline SS304 steel is at 283 kJ/m². The estimated JQ’ for the SS304/308 weld and baseline metals are 148 kJ/m 2 and 459 kJ/m 2 , respectively. Out of cell fracture testing for spent fuel structure were carried out on the surrogate rods made of Zr-4 clad and alumina inserts, the estimated fracture toughness values for baseline Zr-4 cladding with alumina-pellet inserts are: (1) For SNTT samples with a short or medium crack length, between 5.4-mm and 8-mm, the estimate J IQ upon fracture initiation for the baseline Zr-4 cladding is at 50 kJ/m 2 with 2-sigma uncertainty of 3.26 kJ/m 2 , and the associated K IQ is at 67.46 MPa$\sqrt{m}$; and (2) For SNTT samples with a long crack length, around 13-mm, the crack initialization is deviated from that of the Mode-I tensile fracture and appears to be a mixed-mode fracture of Mode I - tensile stress and Mode III - out of plane shear stress; the estimated J MQ is at 18.9 kJ/m 2 , the associated K MQ is at 41.4 MPa$\sqrt{m}$.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Superhydrophobic Array Devices for the Enhanced Formation of 3D Cancer Models

During the metastatic cascade, cancer cells travel through the bloodstream as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) to a secondary site. Clustered CTCs have greater shear stress and treatment resistance, yet their biology remains poorly understood. We therefore engineered a tunable superhydrophobic array device (SHArD). The SHArD-C was applied to culture a clinically relevant model of CTC clusters. Using our device, we cultured a model of cancer cell aggregates of various sizes with immortalized cancer cell lines. These exhibited higher E-cadherin expression and are significantly more capable of surviving high fluid shear stress-related forces compared to single cells and model clusters grown using the control method, helping to explain why clustering may provide a metastatic advantage. Additionally, the SHArD-S, when compared with the AggreWell 800 method, provides a more consistent spheroid-forming device culturing reproducible sizes of spheroids for multiple cancer cell lines. Overall, we designed, fabricated, and validated an easily tunable engineered device which grows physiologically relevant three-dimensional (3D) cancer models containing tens to thousands of cells.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Role of Fe in long-range ordered Ni 2 Cr precipitates in Ni-Cr-Fe model alloys during isothermal aging

The precipitation of new phases during long-term service at elevated temperatures is a concern for the thermal stability of engineering alloys. In Ni-Cr-based alloys, e.g., Alloy 690, the formation of long-range ordered Ni 2 Cr causes embrittlement and may impact the lifetime of nuclear power plant components. In this work, we quantify the formation and evolution of Ni 2 Cr precipitation in eleven Ni-Cr-Fe model alloys with 0, 5, 7, and 10wt % Fe contents, and with Ni/Cr atomic ratios of 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4. These alloys were isothermally aged up to 10,000h at temperatures between 330 and 475°C. The alloys were characterized by synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction and Vickers hardness testing to quantify Ni 2 Cr precipitate size, and the impact of precipitate size on the mechanical properties as a function of Fe content. After 10,000 h of aging at 475°C and 418°C, the formation of Ni 2 Cr was observed in all alloys with 0 and 5wt % Fe. After 10,000h of aging at 418°C, Ni 2 Cr precipitates were also observed in the 7wt % Fe containing Ni/Cr=2.0 sample. Further, no clear evidence of Ni 2 Cr was observed in any of the 10wt % Fe samples at any time and temperature combination. We find that the face-centered cubic matrix lattice contraction and Vickers hardness are correlated with the Ni 2 Cr formation. The greatest change in hardness and lattice contraction occurs in stoichiometric alloys (Ni/Cr=2.0) with 0wt % Fe at 475°C. The rate of change in the material properties for the 5wt % Fe alloys is reduced, however the magnitude of changes is similar to 0wt % Fe alloys. A precipitation hardening model developed for Ni-Cr alloys based on critical resolved shear stress with weakly coupled dislocations shows a clear link between Ni 2 Cr precipitate size and hardness. This trend held across all alloys with Ni 2 Cr formation regardless of Fe concentration. This important structure-property relationship can potentially help define Ni-Cr-Fe-based component lifetimes directly through an understanding of how Ni 2 Cr formation impacts mechanical properties as a function of Fe content.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Adaptive Determination of the Optimal Exchange Location in Wall-Modeled Large-Eddy Simulation

Wall-modeled large-eddy simulation introduces a modeling interface (or exchange location) separating the wall-modeled layer from the rest of the domain. The current state-of-the-art is to rely on user expertise when choosing where to place this modeling interface, whether this choice is tied to the grid or not. This paper presents a postprocessing algorithm that determines the exchange location systematically. The algorithm is based on a model for the error in the predicted wall shear stress and a model for the computational cost, and then finds the exchange location that minimizes a combination of the two. Here, the algorithm is tested both a priori and a posteriori using an equilibrium wall model for the flow over a wall-mounted hump, a boundary layer in an adverse pressure gradient, and a shock/boundary-layer interaction. The algorithm produces exchange locations that mostly agree with what an experienced user would suggest, with thinner wall-modeled layers in nonequilibrium flow regions and thicker wall-modeled layers where the boundary layer is closer to equilibrium. This suggests that the algorithm should be useful in simulations of realistic and highly complex geometries.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Assessment of Machine Learning Wall Modeling Approaches for Large Eddy Simulation of Gas Turbine Film Cooling Flows: An a Priori Study

Here, in this work, a priori analysis of machine learning (ML) strategies is carried out with the goal of data-driven wall modeling for large eddy simulation (LES) of gas turbine film cooling flows. High-fidelity flow datasets are extracted from wall-resolved LES (WRLES) of flow over a flat plate interacting with the coolant flow supplied by a single row of 7-7-7 shaped cooling holes inclined at 30 degrees with the flat plate at different blowing ratios (BR). The WRLES are performed using the high-order Nek5000 spectral element computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver. Light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) is employed as the ML algorithm for the data-driven wall model. Parametric tests are conducted to systematically assess the influence of a wide range of input flow features (velocity components, velocity gradients, pressure gradients, and fluid properties) on the accuracy of ML wall model with respect to prediction of wall shear stress. In addition, the use of spatial stencil and time delay is also explored within the ML wall modeling framework. It is shown that features associated with gradients of the streamwise and spanwise velocity components have a major impact on the prediction fidelity of wall model, while the effect of gradients of wall-normal velocity component is found to be negligible. Moreover, adding flow feature information from an x-y-z spatial stencil significantly improves the ML model accuracy and generalizability compared to just using local flow features from the matching location. Overall, highest prediction accuracy is achieved when both spatial stencil and time delay features are incorporated within the data-driven wall modeling paradigm.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Hydrogen effects on the deformation and slip localization in a single crystal austenitic stainless steel

Hydrogen is known to embrittle austenitic stainless steels, which are widely used in high-pressure hydrogen storage and delivery systems, but the mechanisms that lead to such material degradation are still being elucidated. The current work investigates the deformation behavior of single crystal austenitic stainless steel 316L through combined uniaxial tensile testing, characterization and atomistic simulations. Thermally precharged hydrogen is shown to increase the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) without previously reported deviations from Schmid’s law. Molecular dynamics simulations further expose the statistical nature of the hydrogen and vacancy contributions to the CRSS in the presence of alloying. Slip distribution quantification over large in-plane distances (> 1 mm), achieved via atomic force microscopy (AFM), highlights the role of hydrogen increasing the degree of slip localization in both single and multiple slip configurations. The most active slip bands accumulate significantly more deformation in hydrogen precharged specimens, with potential implications for damage nucleation. For $\langle$110$\rangle$ tensile loading, slip localization further enhances the activity of secondary slip, increases the density of geometrically necessary dislocations and leads to a distinct lattice rotation behavior compared to hydrogen-free specimens, as evidenced by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) maps. Finally, the results of this study provide a more comprehensive picture of the deformation aspect of hydrogen embrittlement in austenitic stainless steels.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Evaluation of intracoronary hemodynamics identifies perturbations in vorticity

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is highly prevalent and associated with adverse events. Challenges have emerged in the treatment of intermediate coronary artery stenoses. These lesions are often interrogated with fractional flow reserve (FFR) testing to determine if a stenosis is likely to be causative for ischemia in a cardiac territory. This invasive test requires insertion of a pressure wire into a coronary vessel. Recently computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been used to noninvasively assess fractional flow reserve in vessels reconstructed from medical imaging data. However, many of these simulations are unable to provide additional information about intravascular hemodynamics, including velocity, endothelial shear stress (ESS), and vorticity. We hypothesized that vorticity, which has demonstrated utility in the assessment of ventricular and aortic diseases, would also be an important hemodynamic factor in CAD. Three-dimensional (3D), patient-specific coronary artery geometries that included all vessels >1 mm in diameter were created from angiography data obtained from 10 patients who underwent diagnostic angiography and FFR testing (n = 9). A massively parallel CFD solver (HARVEY) was used to calculate coronary hemodynamic parameters including pressure, velocity, ESS, and vorticity. These simulations were validated by comparing velocity flow fields from simulation to both velocities derived from in vitro particle image velocimetry and to invasively acquired pressure wire-based data from clinical testing. There was strong agreement between findings from CFD simulations and particle image velocimetry experimental testing (p < 0.01). CFD-FFR was also highly correlated with invasively measured FFR (ρ = 0.77, p = 0.01) with an average error of 5.9 ± 0.1%. CFD-FFR also had a strong inverse correlation with the vorticity (ρ = -0.86, p = 0.001). Simulations to determine the effect of the coronary stenosis on intravascular hemodynamics demonstrated significant differences in velocity and vorticity (both p < 0.05). Further evaluation of an angiographically normal appearing non-FFR coronary vessel in patients with CAD also demonstrated differences in vorticity when compared with FFR vessels (p < 0.05). The use of highly accurate 3D CFD-derived intravascular hemodynamics provides additional information beyond pressure measurements that can be used to calculate FFR. Vorticity is one parameter that is modified by a coronary stenosis and appears to be abnormal in angiographically normal vessels in patients with CAD, highlighting a possible use-case in preventative screening for early coronary disease.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Overview of the SCEC/USGS Community Stress Drop Validation Study Using the 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquake Sequence

We present initial findings from the ongoing Community Stress Drop Validation Study to compare spectral stress-drop estimates for earthquakes in the 2019 Ridgecrest, California, sequence. This study uses a unified dataset to independently estimate earthquake source parameters through various methods. Stress drop, which denotes the change in average shear stress along a fault during earthquake rupture, is a critical parameter in earthquake science, impacting ground motion, rupture simulation, and source physics. Spectral stress drop is commonly derived by fitting the amplitude-spectrum shape, but estimates can vary substantially across studies for individual earthquakes. Sponsored jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Statewide (previously, Southern) California Earthquake Center our community study aims to elucidate sources of variability and uncertainty in earthquake spectral stress-drop estimates through quantitative comparison of submitted results from independent analyses. The dataset includes nearly 13,000 earthquakes ranging from M 1 to 7 during a two-week period of the 2019 Ridgecrest sequence, recorded within a 1° radius. Here, in this article, we report on 56 unique submissions received from 20 different groups, detailing spectral corner frequencies (or source durations), moment magnitudes, and estimated spectral stress drops. Methods employed encompass spectral ratio analysis, spectral decomposition and inversion, finite-fault modeling, ground-motion-based approaches, and combined methods. Initial analysis reveals significant scatter across submitted spectral stress drops spanning over six orders of magnitude. However, we can identify between-method trends and offsets within the data to mitigate this variability. Averaging submissions for a prioritized subset of 56 events shows reduced variability of spectral stress drop, indicating overall consistency in recovered spectral stress-drop values.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Extended Barton–Bandis model for rock joints under cyclic loading: Formulation and implicit algorithm

In this paper, the Barton–Bandis model for rock joints is extended to cyclic loading conditions, without any new material parameter. Also developed herein is an implicit solution algorithm for the extended Barton–Bandis model, which can also be used for the original Barton–Bandis model for which an implicit algorithm has been unavailable. To this end, we first cast the Barton–Bandis model into an incremental elasto-plastic framework, deriving an expression for the elastic shear stiffness being consistent with the original model formulation. We then extend the model formulation to cyclic loading conditions, incorporating the dependence of shear stress and dilation on the joint position and the shearing direction. The extension is achieved by introducing a few state-dependent variables which can be calculated with the existing material parameters. For robust and accurate utilization of the model, we also develop an implicit algorithm based on return mapping, which is unconditionally stable and guarantees the satisfaction of the strength criterion. We verify that the proposed model formulation and algorithm produce virtually the same results as the original Barton–Bandis model under monotonic shearing conditions. Here, we then validate the extended Barton–Bandis model against experimental data on natural rock joints under cycling loading conditions. The present work thus enables the Barton–Bandis model, which has been exceptionally popular in research and practice, to be applicable to a wider range of problems in rock mechanics and rock engineering.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗