Damage Zone (damage + zone)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Isotopic and petrological evidence of fluid,rock interaction at a Tethyan ocean,continent transition in the Alps: implications for tectonic processes and carbon transfer during early ocean formation

GEOFLUIDS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 4 2007
A. ENGSTRÖM
Abstract We report overprinting stable isotope evidence of fluid,rock interaction below two detachment faults along which mantle rocks were exhumed to the seafloor, between the respective landward and seaward limits of oceanic and continental crust, at a Tethyan ocean,continent transition (OCT). This OCT, which is presently exposed in the Tasna nappe (south-eastern Switzerland) is considered an on-land analogue of the well-studied Iberian OCT. We compare our results with the fault architecture (fault core,damage zone,protolith) described by Caine et al. [Geology (1996) Vol. 24, pp. 1025,1028]. We confirm the existence of a sharp boundary between the fault core and damage zone based on isotopic data, but the boundary between the damage zone and protolith is gradational. We identify evidence for: (1) pervasive isotopic modification to 8.4 ± 0.1, which accompanied or post-dated serpentinization of these mantle rocks at an estimated temperature of 67,109°C, (2) either (i) partial isolation of some highly strained regions [fault core(s) and mylonite] from this pervasive isotopic modification, because of permeability reduction (Caine et al.) or (ii) subsequent isotopic modification caused by structurally channelled flow of warm fluids within these highly strained regions, because of permeability enhancement, and (3) isotopic modification, which is associated with extensive calcification at T = 54,100°C, primarily beneath the younger of the two detachment faults and post-dating initial serpentinization. By comparing the volumetric extent of calcification with an experimentally verified model for calcite precipitation in veins, we conclude that calcification could have occurred in response to seawater infiltration, with a calculated flux rate of 0.1,0.2 m year,1 and a minimum duration of 0.2,4.0 × 104 years. The associated time-averaged uptake flux of carbon during this period was 8,120 mol m,2 year,1. By comparison with the estimated area of exhumed mantle rocks at the Iberian OCT, we calculate a maximum annual uptake flux for carbon of 2,30 Tg year,1. This is an order of magnitude greater than that for carbon exchange at the mid-ocean ridges and 0.1,1.4% of the global oceanic uptake flux for carbon. [source]


FAULT-RELATED SOLUTION CLEAVAGE IN EXPOSED CARBONATE RESERVOIR ROCKS IN THE SOUTHERN APENNINES, ITALY

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGY, Issue 2 2001
A. Billi
The deformation associated with a number of kilometre-scale strike-slip fault zones which cut through outcropping carbonate rocks in the Southern Apennines was investigated at regional and outcrop scales. These faults trend roughly east-west and were studied at the Gargano Promontory on the Adriatic Coast (in the Apulian foreland) and in the Matese Mountains, about 120 km to the west (within the Apenninic fold-and-thrust belt). The fault zones are 200,300 m wide and typically comprise a core surrounded by a damage zone. Within fault cores, fault rocks (gouges and cataclasites) typically occur along master slip planes; in damage zones, secondary slip planes and solution cleavage are the most important planar discontinuities. The protolith carbonates surrounding the fault zone at Gargano show little deformation, but they are fractured in the Matese Mountains as a result of an earlier thrust phase. Cleavage surfaces in the damage zone of the studied faults are interpreted to be fault-propagation structures. Our field data indicate that cleavage-fault intersection lines are parallel to the normals of fault slip-vectors. The angle between a fault plane and the associated cleavage was found to be fairly constant (c. 40") at different scales of observation. Finally, the spacing of the solution cleavage surfaces appeared in general to be regular (with a mean of about 22 mm), although it was found to decrease slightly near a fault plane. These results are intended to provide a basis for predicting the architecture of fault zones in buried carbonate reservoirs using seismic reflection and borehole data. [source]


Quasi-brittle to ductile transition in impact-modified PVC

JOURNAL OF VINYL & ADDITIVE TECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2004
J. Yu
The toughness of impact-modified poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) compounds was examined by using a modified Charpy test. Increasing impact speed resulted in a quasi-brittle to ductile transition in all PVC compounds. In the quasi-brittle region, a PVC of 56,000 Mw fractured through a craze-like damage zone that could be described by a modified Dugdale model. Furthermore, the same molecular-weight PVC modified with either 10 pph (parts per hundred parts by weight) of chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) or 10 pph of methylmethacrylate-butadiene-styrene (MBS) impact modifier also conformed to the Dugdale model with the craze-like damage zone. The CPE effectively improved the impact performance of PVC by shifting the quasi-brittle to ductile transition to a higher loading rate. Compared to CPE, MBS was a better impact modifier, and its use resulted in a higher quasi-brittle to ductile transition loading rate in the same PVC matrix. Fracture initiation toughness of all the materials was described by the Hayes-Williams modification of the Dugdale model. The intrinsic brittle fracture energy obtained by extrapolation to zero craze length was determined only by the PVC matrix and was independent of the impact modifier. However, the kinetics of craze growth, and hence the response to rapid loading, depended on the impact modifier. Increasing the molecular weight of the PVC resin resulted in a more complex damage zone that was not amendable to the Dugdale analysis. J. Vinyl Addit. Technol. 10:11,16, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers. [source]


Fracture behavior of styrene-ethylene-propylene rubber-toughened polypropylene

POLYMER ENGINEERING & SCIENCE, Issue 9 2000
G.-X. Wei
The morphology and fracture behavior of isotactic polypropylene toughened by styrene-ethylene-propylene (PP/SEP) were investigated. The SEP rubber, having an average particle size of 0.2 µm, is found to be well dispersed in the PP matrix. The fracture toughness of SEP-modified PP is greatly improved. The toughening mechanism investigation shows that a widespread crazing zone is generated in the crack tip damage zone. An intense narrow damage band in the center of crazed zone is formed. Crazing and shear yielding are found to be the dominant toughening mechanisms in PP/SEP. The crazes are initiated only by large SEP particles in the blend. The small SEP particles (< 0.3 µm) can neither cavitate nor trigger crazing. As a result, large scale shear deformation is suppressed in this blend. These findings are consistent with the notion that the crack tip plane strain constraint has to be relieved in magnitude in order for the deviatoric stress to reach a critical value for widespread shear banding. [source]


Fracture and failure behavior of fabric-reinforced all-poly(propylene) composite (Curv®),

POLYMERS FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, Issue 2 2007
Gábor Romhány
Abstract The in-plane static fracture of a fabric reinforced all-poly(propylene) (all-PP, Curv®) composite was studied at ambient temperature using the concept of the linear elastic fracture mechanics. The apparent fracture toughness was determined on single-edge notched tensile specimens (SEN-T) considering the maximum load. The related values did not differ much from those determined by the resistance curve (KR) method. The crack growth, requested to construct the KR curves, was traced by the movement in the center of gravity of the cumulative amplitude of the located acoustic emission (AE) events. The quality of consolidation of the all-PP composite was reflected by the force-displacement curve (appearance of pop-in), course of the cumulative AE events during loading, extension and change of the estimated damage zone during fracture. The failure behavior was studied also by fractography and is discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


An exhumed palaeo-hydrocarbon migration fairway in a faulted carrier system, Entrada Sandstone of SE Utah, USA

GEOFLUIDS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2001
I. R. Garden
Abstract The Moab Anticline, east-central Utah, is an exhumed hydrocarbon palaeo-reservoir which was supplied by hydrocarbons that migrated from the Moab Fault up-dip towards the crest of the structure beneath the regional seal of the Tidwell mudstone. Iron oxide reduction in porous, high permeability aeolian sandstones records the secondary migration of hydrocarbons, filling of traps against small sealing faults and spill pathways through the Middle Jurassic Entrada Sandstone. Hydrocarbons entered the Entrada Sandstone carrier system from bends and other leak points on the Moab Fault producing discrete zones of reduction that extend for up to 400 m from these leak points. They then migrated in focused stringers, 2,5 m in height, to produce accumulations on the crest of the anticline. Normal faults on the anticline were transient permeability barriers to hydrocarbon migration producing a series of small compartmentalized accumulations. Exsolution of CO2 as local fault seals were breached resulted in calcite cementation on the up-dip side of faults. Field observations on the distribution of iron oxide reduction and calcite cements within the anticline indicate that the advancing reduction fronts were affected neither by individual slip bands in damage zones around faults nor by small faults with sand: sand juxtapositions. Faults with larger throws produced either sand: mudstone juxtapositions or sand: sand contacts and fault zones with shale smears. Shale-smeared fault zones provided seals to the reducing fluid which filled the structural traps to spill points. [source]


Thrust geometries in unconsolidated Quaternary sediments and evolution of the Eupchon Fault, southeast Korea

ISLAND ARC, Issue 3 2004
Young-Seog Kim
Abstract The Korean peninsula is widely regarded as being located at the relatively stable eastern margin of the Asian continent. However, more than 10 Quaternary faults have recently been discovered in and reported from the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula. One of these, the Eupchon Fault, was discovered during the construction of a primary school, and it is located close to a nuclear power plant. To understand the nature and characteristics of the Quaternary Eupchon Fault, we carried out two trench surveys near the discovery site. The fault system includes one main reverse fault (N20°E/40°SE) with approximately 4 m displacement, and a series of branch faults, cutting unconsolidated Quaternary sediments. Structures in the fault system include synthetic and antithetic faults, hanging-wall anticlines, drag folds, back thrusts, pop-up structures, flat-ramp geometries and duplexes, which are very similar to those seen in thrust systems in consolidated rocks. In the upper part of the fault system, several tip damage zones are observed, indicating that the fault system propagates upward and terminates in the upper part of the section. Pebbles along the main fault plane show a preferred orientation of long axes, indicating the fault trace. The unconformity surface between the Quaternary deposits and the underlying Tertiary andesites or Cretaceous sedimentary rocks is displaced by this fault with a reverse movement sense. The stratigraphic relationship shows normal slip sense at the lower part of the section, indicating that the fault had a normal slip movement and was reversely reactivated during the Quaternary. The inferred length of the Quaternary thrust fault, based on the relationship between fault length and displacement, is 200,2000 m. The current maximum horizontal compressive stress direction in this area is generally east-northeast,west-southwest, which would be expected to produce oblique slip on the Eupchon Fault, with reverse and right-lateral strike-slip components. [source]


FAULT-RELATED SOLUTION CLEAVAGE IN EXPOSED CARBONATE RESERVOIR ROCKS IN THE SOUTHERN APENNINES, ITALY

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGY, Issue 2 2001
A. Billi
The deformation associated with a number of kilometre-scale strike-slip fault zones which cut through outcropping carbonate rocks in the Southern Apennines was investigated at regional and outcrop scales. These faults trend roughly east-west and were studied at the Gargano Promontory on the Adriatic Coast (in the Apulian foreland) and in the Matese Mountains, about 120 km to the west (within the Apenninic fold-and-thrust belt). The fault zones are 200,300 m wide and typically comprise a core surrounded by a damage zone. Within fault cores, fault rocks (gouges and cataclasites) typically occur along master slip planes; in damage zones, secondary slip planes and solution cleavage are the most important planar discontinuities. The protolith carbonates surrounding the fault zone at Gargano show little deformation, but they are fractured in the Matese Mountains as a result of an earlier thrust phase. Cleavage surfaces in the damage zone of the studied faults are interpreted to be fault-propagation structures. Our field data indicate that cleavage-fault intersection lines are parallel to the normals of fault slip-vectors. The angle between a fault plane and the associated cleavage was found to be fairly constant (c. 40") at different scales of observation. Finally, the spacing of the solution cleavage surfaces appeared in general to be regular (with a mean of about 22 mm), although it was found to decrease slightly near a fault plane. These results are intended to provide a basis for predicting the architecture of fault zones in buried carbonate reservoirs using seismic reflection and borehole data. [source]


THE EVOLUTION OF A MODEL TRAP IN THE CENTRAL APENNINES, ITALY: FRACTURE PATTERNS, FAULT REACTIVATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF CATACLASTIC ROCKS IN CARBONATES AT THE NARNI ANTICLINE

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGY, Issue 2 2001
F. Storti
Recent hydrocarbon discoveries in the Southern Apennines of Italy have focussed attention on the importance of studying fracturing and cataclasis in carbonate rocks because of their fundamental impact on reservoir permeability and connectivity. The Narni Anticline in the central Apennines consists of a stack of easterly-verging carbonate thrust sheets compartmentalized by extensional and strike-slip fault zones. The structure provides afield analogue for studying the evolution of superimposed fold- and fault-related fractures in carbonate reservoir rocks. The fracture pattern at the Narni Anticline developed as a result of three mechanisms: (a) layer-parallel shortening predating folding and faulting; (b) thrust-related folding and further thrust breakthrough; and (c) extensional and strike-slip faulting. Along-strike (longitudinal) fractures developed during progressive rollover fault-propagation folding, and their intensity depends on the precise structural position within the fold: fracture intensity is high in the forelimb and low in the crest. The 3-D architecture of the mechanical anisotropy associated with thrusting, folding, and related fracturing constrained the location and geometry of subsequent extensional and strike-slip faulting. The superimposition in damage zones of a fault-related cleavage on the pre-existing fracture pattern, which is associated with layer-parallel shortening and thrust-related folding, resulted in rock fragmentation and comminution, and the development of cataclastic bands. The evolution of fracturing in the Narni Anticline, its role in constraining thrust breakthrough trajectories and the location of extensional and strike-slip faults, and the final development of low-permeability cataclastic bands, will be relevant to studies of known oilfields in the Southern Apennines, as well as for future exploration. [source]


Local and non-local ductile damage and failure modelling at large deformation with applications to engineering

PROCEEDINGS IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS & MECHANICS, Issue 1 2003
Bob Svendsen Prof. Dr.
The numerical analysis of ductile damage and failure in engineering materials is often based on the micromechanical model of Gurson [1]. Numerical studies in the context of the finite-element method demonstrate that, as with other such types of local damage models, the numerical simulation of the initiation and propagation of damage zones is strongly mesh-dependent and thus unreliable. The numerical problems concern the global load-displacement response as well as the onset, size and orientation of damage zones. From a mathematical point of view, this problem is caused by the loss of ellipticity of the set of partial di.erential equations determining the (rate of) deformation field. One possible way to overcome these problems with and shortcomings of the local modelling is the application of so-called non-local damage models. In particular, these are based on the introduction of a gradient type evolution equation of the damage variable regarding the spatial distribution of damage. In this work, we investigate the (material) stability behaviour of local Gurson-based damage modelling and a gradient-extension of this modelling at large deformation in order to be able to model the width and other physical aspects of the localization of the damage and failure process in metallic materials. [source]