Increasing Critical Sensitivity of the Load/Unload Response Ratio before Large Earthquakes with Identified Stress Acclumulation Pattern

The Load/Unload Response Ratio (LURR) method is proposed for short-to-intermediate-term earthquake prediction [Yin, X.C., Chen, X.Z., Song, Z.P., Yin, C., 1995. A New Approach to Earthquake Prediction — The Load/Unload Response Ratio (LURR) Theory, Pure Appl. Geophys., 145, 701–715]. This method is based on measuring the ratio between Benioff strains released during the time periods of loading and unloading, corresponding to the Coulomb Failure Stress change induced by Earth tides on optimally oriented faults. According to the method, the LURR time series usually climb to an anomalously high peak prior to occurrence of a large earthquake. Previous studies have indicated that the size of critical seismogenic region selected for LURR measurements has great influence on the evaluation of LURR. In this study, we replace the circular region usually adopted in LURR practice with an area within which the tectonic stress change would mostly affect the Coulomb stress on a potential seismogenic fault of a future event. The Coulomb stress change before a hypothetical earthquake is calculated based on a simple back-slip dislocation model of the event. This new algorithm, by combining the LURR method with our choice of identified area with increased Coulomb stress, is devised to improve the sensitivity of LURR to measure criticality of stress accumulation before a large earthquake. Retrospective tests of this algorithm on four large earthquakes occurred in California over the last two decades show remarkable enhancement of the LURR precursory anomalies. For some strong events of lesser magnitudes occurred in the same neighborhoods and during the same time periods, significant anomalies are found if circular areas are used, and are not found if increased Coulomb stress areas are used for LURR data selection. The unique feature of this algorithm may provide stronger constraints on forecasts of the size and location of future large events.

岩石中地震波速度和衰减的应力变化响应研究

Stress change is one of key factors in seismic nucleating and triggering; therefore for understanding and forecasting earthquakes, it is necessary to research on stress status and its changes in rocks. Propagating in underground structures, wave velocity and attenuation contain information on stress changes of the Earth’s interior. For a better understanding of relationship between seismic data and stress changes, modeling and ultrasonic test supply significant references. In this article, acoustoelastic theory is introduced to explain nonlinear elastic characteristics of rocks. Based on the acoustoelastic theory, a solid-fluid coupled model is given to calculate velocity under different stress for porous and liquid fulfilled rocks. Except for the stress-velocity relationship, effects of pore pressure induced stress changes on ultrasonic coda attenuation are also studied. Intrinsic attenuation quality factors are calculated for a comparison purpose. Finally, the relationship between elastic constants and stress changes is thoroughly investigated, a mixture model from two phases of Hooke media is introduced to explain the differences between dynamic and static moduli, a relation among wave length, wave velocities and elastic moduli considering dimension of microstructure, dimension and state of surface between phases is presented. The most important aspect of this work is exploring and establishing relationships between the seismic properties of rocks and changes of their stress conditions, which will have its application in earthquake forecast and seismic hazard.

Static Shape Control Employing Displacement-Stress Dual Criteria

An approach employing displacement-stress dual criteria for static shape control is presented. This approach is based on normal displacement control, and stress modification is considered in the whole optimization process to control high stress in the local domain. Analysis results show that not only is the stress reduced but al so that the controlled surface becomes smoother than before.

An Effective Method of Determining the Residual Stress Gradients in a Micro-Cantilever

A method of determining the micro-cantilever residual stress gradients by studying its deflection and curvature is presented. The stress gradients contribute to both axial load and bending moment, which, in prebuckling regime, cause the structural stiffness change and curving up/down, respectively. As the axial load corresponds to the even polynomial terms of stress gradients and bending moment corresponds to the odd polynomial terms, the deflection itself is not enough to determine the axial load and bending moment. Curvature together with the deflection can uniquely determine these two parameters. Both linear analysis and nonlinear analysis of micro-cantilever deflection under axial load and bending moment are presented. Because of the stiffening effect due to the nonlinearity of (large) deformation, the difference between linear and nonlinear analyses enlarges as the micro-cantilever deflection increases. The model developed in this paper determines the resultant axial load and bending moment due to the stress gradients. Under proper assumptions, the stress gradients profile is obtained through the resultant axial load and bending moment.

Surface Stress Induced By Adatoms Adsorption On Solid Surfaces

Based on the statistical thermodynamics theory, a theoretical model of adsorbate induced surface stress of adatoms adsorption on solid surface is presented. For the low coverage, the interaction between the adsorbed molecules is entirely negligible and the adsorption induced surface stress is found to be the function of the coverage and the adsorption energy change with strain. For the high coverage, the adsorbate-adsorbate interaction contributes to the adsorption-induced surface stress effectively. In the case of carbon adsorption on the Ni(100) surface, the value of 0.5 is obtained as a characteristic coverage to decide whether to take the interaction between the adsorabtes into consideration and the results also show that the adsorption induces a compressive surface stress.

Interface Layer Effect On The Stress Distribution Of A Wafer-Bonded Bilayer Structure

The interface layer plays an important role in stress transfer in composite structures. However, many interface layer properties such as the modulus, thickness, and uniformity are difficult to determine. The model developed in this article links the influence of the interface layer on the normal stress distribution along the layer thickness with the layer surface morphology before bonding. By doing so, a new method of determining the interfacial parameter(s) is suggested. The effects of the layer thickness and the surface roughness before bonding on the normal stress distribution and its depth profile are also discussed. For ideal interface case with no interfacial shear stress, the normal stress distribution pattern can only be monotonically decreased from the interface. Due to the presence of interfacial shear stress, the normal stress distribution is much more complex, and varies dramatically with changes in the properties of the interface layer, or the dimensions of the bonding layers. The consequence of this dramatic stress field change, such as the shift of the maximum stress from the interface is also addressed. The size-dependent stress distribution in the thickness direction due to the interface layer effect is presented. When the interfacial shear stress is reduced to zero, the model presented in this article is also demonstrated to have the same normal stress distribution as obtained by the previous model, which does not consider the interface layer effect.

A field model interpretation of crack initiation and growth behavior in ferroelectric ceramics: change of poling direction and boundary condition

Strain energy density expressions are obtained from a field model that can qualitatively exhibit how the electrical and mechanical disturbances would affect the crack growth behavior in ferroelectric ceramics. Simplification is achieved by considering only three material constants to account for elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric effects. Cross interaction of electric field (or displacement) with mechanical stress (or strain) is identified with the piezoelectric effect; it occurs only when the pole is aligned normal to the crack. Switching of the pole axis by 90degrees and 180degrees is examined for possible connection with domain switching. Opposing crack growth behavior can be obtained when the specification of mechanical stress sigma(infinity) and electric field E-infinity or (sigma(infinity), E-infinity) is replaced by strain e and electric displacement D-infinity or (epsilon(infinity), D-infinity). Mixed conditions (sigma(infinity),D-infinity) and (epsilon(infinity),E-infinity) are also considered. In general, crack growth is found to be larger when compared to that without the application of electric disturbances. This includes both the electric field and displacement. For the eight possible boundary conditions, crack growth retardation is identified only with (E-y(infinity),sigma(y)(infinity)) for negative E-y(infinity) and (D-y(infinity), epsilon(y)(infinity)) for positive D-y(infinity) while the mechanical conditions sigma(y)(infinity) or epsilon(y)infinity are not changed. Suitable combinations of the elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric material constants could also be made to suppress crack growth. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Fracture behavior of axisymmetrical bars under high triaxial stress and large strain cyclic loading

Axisymmetric notched bars with notch roots of large and small radii were tested under large strain cyclic loading. The main attention is focused on the fracture behaviour of steels having cycles to failure within the range 1-100. Our study shows that a gradual transition from a static ductile nature to one of fatigue cleavage can be observed and characterized by the Coffin-Manson formula in a generalized form. Both the triaxial tensile stress within the central region of specimens and static damage caused by the first increasing load have effects on the final failure event. A generalized cyclic strain range parameter DELTAepsilon is proposed as a measure of the numerous factors affecting behaviour. Fractographs are presented to illustrate the behaviour reported in the paper.

Structure and residual stress in gamma-LiAlO2, layer fabricated by vapor transport equilibration on (0001)sapphire

gamma-LiAlO2 layers with a highly preferred (1 0 0) orientation were prepared by vapor transport equilibration (VTE) technique on (0 0 0 1) sapphire substrate. Microststructure of the gamma-LiAlO2 layers was studied by XRD and SEM. In the temperature range from 750 to 1100 degrees C, the residual stress in the gamma-LiAlO2 layers varied from tensile to compressive with the increase of VTE temperature, and the critical point of the change between tensile and compressive stress is around 975 degrees C. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of ytterbia content on residual stress and microstructure of Y2O3-ZrO2 thin films prepared by EB-PVD

Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) thin films with different Y2O3 molar contents (0, 3, 7, and 12 mol%) are deposited on BK7 substrates by electron-beam evaporation technique. The effects of different Y2O3 contents on residual stresses and structures of YSZ thin films are studied. Residual stresses are investigated by means of two different techniques: the curvature measurement and x- ray diffraction method. It is found that the evolution of residual stresses of YSZ thin films by the two different methods is consistent. Residual stresses of films transform from compressive stress into tensile stress and the tensile stress increases monotonically with the increase of Y2O3 content. At the same time, the structures of these films change from the mixture of amorphous and monoclinic phases into high temperature cubic phase. The variations of residual stress correspond to the evolution of structures induced by adding of Y2O3 content.

Environmental enrichment and chronic restraint stress in ICR mice: Effects on prepulse inhibition of startle and Y-maze spatial recognition memory

In most studies regarding the improving or therapeutical effects induced by enriched environment (EE), EE was performed after the stress treatment or in patients with certain diseases. In the current study, the effects of chronic restraint stress (6 h/day) in mice living in an enriched environment or standard environment (SE) were tested. Mice were randomly divided into 4 groups: non-stressed or stressed mice housed in SE or EE conditions (SE, stress + SE, EE, stress + EE). Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle was tested after the 2 weeks or 4 weeks stress and/or EE treatment and 1 or 2 weeks withdrawal from the 4 weeks treatment. After the 4 weeks treatment, spatial recognition memory in Y-maze was also tested. The results showed that EE increased PPI in stressed and non-stressed mice after 2 weeks treatment. No effect of EE on PPI was found after the 4 weeks treatment. 4 weeks chronic restraint stress increased PPI in mice housed in standard but not EE conditions. Stressed mice showed deficits on the 1 h delay version of the Y-maze which could be prevented by living in an enriched environment. Our results indicated that living in an enriched environment reversed the impairing effects of chronic restraint stress on spatial recognition memory. However, EE did not change the effects of stress on PPI. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Studies of tetragonal PbTiO3 subjected to uniaxial stress along the c-axis

Tetragonal PbTiO3 under uniaxial stress along the c-axis is investigated from first-principles. The structural parameters, polarization, and squares of the lowest optical phonon frequencies for E(1TO) and A(1)(1TO) modes at Gamma show abrupt changes near a stress sigma(c) of 1.04 GPa, which is related to the dramatic change of elastic constant c(33) resulting from the uniaxial stress applied along the c-axis. We also find that the uniaxial compressive stress could enhance the piezoelectric stress coefficients, whereas the uniaxial tensile stress could enhance the piezoelectric strain coefficients. It is also found that when the magnitude of uniaxial compressive stress sigma(33) is greater than 12 GPa, PbTiO3 is transformed to the paraelectric tetragonal phase.

Photoluminescence energy and fine structure splitting in single quantum dots by uniaxial stress

We report a photoluminescence (PL) energy red-shift of single quantum dots (QDs) by applying an in-plane compressive uniaxial stress along the [110] direction at a liquid nitrogen temperature. Uniaxial stress has an effect not only on the confinement potential in the growth direction which results in the PL shift, but also on the cylindrical symmetry of QDs which can be reflected by the change of the full width at half maximum of PL peak. This implies that uniaxial stress has an important role in tuning PL energy and fine structure splitting of QDs.

Static and dynamic electric field domain formation in a doped GaAs/AlAs superlattice

We have observed the transition from static to dynamic electric field domain formation induced by a transverse magnetic field and the sample temperature in a doped GaAs/AlAs superlattice. The observations can be very well explained by a general analysis of instabilities and oscillations of the sequential tunnelling current in superlattices based solely on the magnitude of the negative differential resistance region in the tunnelling characteristic of a single barrier. Both increasing magnetic field and sample temperature change the negative differential resistance and cause the transition between static and dynamic electric field domain formation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.