Westerly Granite Samples Research Articles

Intermittent Criticality Multi‐Scale Processes Leading to Large Slip Events on Rough Laboratory Faults

AbstractWe discuss data of three laboratory stick‐slip experiments on Westerly Granite samples performed at elevated confining pressure and constant displacement rate on rough fracture surfaces. The experiments produced complex slip patterns including fast and slow ruptures with large and small fault slips, as well as failure events on the fault surface producing acoustic emission bursts without externally‐detectable stress drop. Preparatory processes leading to large slips were tracked with an ensemble of ten seismo‐mechanical and statistical parameters characterizing local and global damage and stress evolution, localization and clustering processes, as well as event interactions. We decompose complex spatio‐temporal trends in the lab‐quake characteristics and identify persistent effects of evolving fault roughness and damage at different length scales, and local stress evolution approaching large events. The observed trends highlight labquake localization processes on different spatial and temporal scales. The preparatory process of large slip events includes smaller events marked by confined bursts of acoustic emission activity that collectively prepare the fault surface for a system‐wide failure by conditioning the large‐scale stress field. Our results are consistent overall with an evolving process of intermittent criticality leading to large failure events, and may contribute to improved forecasting of large natural earthquakes.

Explainable machine learning for labquake prediction using catalog-driven features

Recently, Machine learning (ML) has been widely utilized for laboratory earthquake (labquake) prediction using various types of data. This study pioneers in time to failure (TTF) prediction based on ML using acoustic emission (AE) records from three laboratory stick-slip experiments performed on Westerly granite samples with naturally fractured rough faults, more similar to the heterogeneous fault structures in the nature. 47 catalog-driven seismo-mechanical and statistical features are extracted introducing some new features based on focal mechanism. A regression voting ensemble of Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) networks predicts TTF with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 70% on the test dataset. Feature importance analysis revealed that AE rate, correlation integral, event proximity, and focal mechanism-based features are the most important features for TTF prediction. Results reveal that the network uses all information among the features for prediction, including general trends in high correlated features as well as fine details about local variations and fault evolution involved in low correlated features. Therefore, some highly correlated and physically meaningful features may be considered less important for TTF prediction due to their correlation with other important features. Our study provides a ground for applying catalog-driven to constrain TTF of complex heterogeneous rough faults, which is capable to be developed for real application.

Inferring damage state and evolution with increasing stress using direct and coda wave velocity measurements in faulted and intact granite samples

SUMMARY A better understanding of damage accumulation before dynamic failure events in geological material is essential to improve seismic hazard assessment. Previous research has demonstrated the sensitivity of seismic velocities to variations in crack geometry, with established evidence indicating that initial crack closure induces rapid changes in velocity. Our study extends these findings by investigating velocity changes by applying coda wave interferometry (CWI). We use an array of 16 piezoceramic transducers to send and record ultrasonic pulses and to determine changes in seismic velocity on intact and faulted Westerly granite samples. Velocity changes are determined from CWI and direct phase arrivals. This study consists of three sets of experiments designed to characterize variations in seismic velocity under various initial and boundary conditions. The first set of experiments tracks velocity changes during hydrostatic compression from 2 and 191 MPa in intact Westerly granite samples. The second set of experiments focuses on saw-cut samples with different roughness and examines the effects of confining pressure increase from 2 to 120 MPa. The dynamic formation of a fracture and the preceding damage accumulation is the focus of the third type of experiment, during which we fractured an initially intact rock sample by increasing the differential stress up to 780 MPa while keeping the sample confined at 75 MPa. The tests show that: (i) The velocity change for rough saw cut samples suggests that the changes in bulk material properties have a more pronounced influence than fault surface apertures or roughness. (ii) Seismic velocities demonstrate higher sensitivity to damage accumulation under increasing differential stress than macroscopic measurements. Axial stress measured by an external load cell deviates from linearity around two-third through the experiment at a stress level of 290 MPa higher than during the initial drop in seismic velocities. (iii) Direct waves exhibit strong anisotropy with increasing differential stress and accumulating damage before rock fracture. Coda waves, on the other hand, effectively average over elastic wave propagation for both fast and slow directions, and the resulting velocity estimates show little evidence for anisotropy. The results demonstrate the sensitivity of seismic velocity to damage evolution at various boundary conditions and progressive microcrack generation with long lead times before dynamic fracture.

Large-scale heterogeneities can alter the characteristics of compressive failure and accelerated seismic release.

Externally stressed brittle rocks fail once the stress is sufficiently high. This failure is typically preceded by a pronounced increase in the total energy of acoustic emission (AE) events, the so-called accelerated seismic release. Yet, other characteristics of approaching the failure point such as the presence or absence of variations in the AE size distribution and, similarly, whether the failure point can be interpreted as a critical point in a statistical physics sense differs across experiments. Here, we show that large-scale stress heterogeneities induced by a notch fundamentally change the characteristics of the failure point in triaxial compression experiments under a constant displacement rate on Westerly granite samples. Specifically, we observe accelerated seismic release without a critical point and no change in power-law exponent ε of the AE size distribution. This is in contrast to intact samples, which exhibit a significant decrease in ε before failure. Our findings imply that the presence or absence of large-scale heterogeneities play a significant role in our ability to predict compressive failure in rock.

Evidence for the Heterogeneity of the Pore Structure of Rocks from Comparing the Results of Various Techniques for Measuring Hydraulic Properties

We applied three oscillatory methods, the previously presented axial pore-pressure and pore-flow methods, and the laboratory application of the radial oscillatory pore-flow method, and performed steady-state flow-through experiments (Darcy tests), for comparison, in experiments on samples of Westerly granite and Wilkeson sandstone. The granite and the sandstone exhibit pore spaces dominated by micro-fractures and by the granular-medium character with a connected porosity of about 1 and 10 %, respectively. Permeability determined by the axial pore-pressure method shows the closest agreement with the results of the Darcy tests. Apparent porosity and drained modulus derived from specific storage capacity deviate from measured connected porosity and reference values, respectively. The observed deviations of the hydraulic properties between methods suggest that they bear information about the structure of the pore space. Only for the sandstone, anisotropy in hydraulic properties appears to contribute to differences between the results of the various methods. We argue that oscillatory testing provides three indicators for heterogeneity, period dependence, the relation between apparent and connected porosity, and the relation between amplitude ratio and apparent penetration depth, calculated from the simple scaling law for homogeneous materials. These indicators consistently classify the samples of Wilkeson sandstone as hydraulically homogeneous and those of Westerly granite as heterogeneous.

Experimental and modeling study of the effect of fault roughness on dynamic frictional sliding

Friction governs many processes in nature from the motion of glaciers and landslides to tremors and earthquakes. The roughness of the sliding interfaces presumably affects their dynamics, in particular the condition for stable or unstable sliding. We investigate this issue by modeling numerically tri-axial stick-slip experiments on Westerly granite samples with different levels of roughness. The model accounts for surface roughness at the millimeter scale and assumes rate and state friction with enhanced dynamic weakening. It reproduces key characteristics observed in the experiments, such as sequences of fast stick-slip events for smooth surface and sequence of slow slip events with small stress drop followed by a large-stress drop unstable slip event for the rough interface. The increase in loading stiffness due to the additional resistance from roughness can explain the initial slow slip. The fast-unstable event may be the result of the higher critical stiffness due to the increase of local normal tractions with slip, as well as of the reduction of the loading stiffness due to contacts losses. The study allows examining numerically the relationship between the frictional behavior on the interface and the apparent friction estimated from external loads. We find that, because of dynamic overshoot, the reduction in apparent friction is larger than that of the actual friction coefficient on the interface.

Dynamic Stressing of Naturally Fractured Rocks: On the Relation Between Transient Changes in Permeability and Elastic Wave Velocity

AbstractWe report on laboratory experiments designed to explore the fundamental processes that impact fluid permeability during drilling and fluid injection. Coupled ultrasonic and permeability measurements are presented for Westerly granite samples fractured in situ and used to illuminate the relationship between nonlinear dynamic stiffness and fracture permeability indexed via fracture aperture. We perturb the effective stress field using normal stress and pore pressure oscillations. The velocity of ultrasonic waves transmitted across the fracture is used to infer the evolution of elastic properties and the fracture nonlinearity. Changes in permeability are measured concurrently. We observe that relative changes in wave velocity and permeability, due to both normal stress and pore pressure oscillations, are correlated, such that larger drops in wave velocity (higher nonlinearity) correspond to larger increases in permeability. Our observations suggest that dynamic stressing is more likely to enhance the permeability of fractures that exhibit greater nonlinearity.

Statistical Regularities of Formation of a Main Crack in a Structurally Inhomogeneous Material under Various Deformation Conditions

The peculiarities of the formation of a main crack in the Westerly granite samples under quasistatic uniaxial compression without any lateral upthrust have been studied using the data of acoustic emission (AE) and X-ray computer microtomography (CT). The multifractal analysis of pauses between acoustic emission events and the analysis of the energy distribution functional forms of the AE signal have been performed. According to the computer tomography data, defects form only near a future main crack; i.e., no stage of disperse accumulation of defects over entire sample volume has been revealed. Two stages of the main crack formation have been observed: the first stage is characterized by an exponential energy distribution of AE signals and the second stage is characterized by a power low of the AE signal energy distribution. The multifractal analysis of the pauses between neighboring AE signals demonstrate the transition from the multifractal dynamics of the acoustic emission to the monofractal dynamics when approaching a fracture moment.

Статистические закономерности формирования магистральной трещины в структурно-неоднородном материале при различных условиях деформирования

AbstractThe peculiarities of the formation of a main crack in the Westerly granite samples under quasistatic uniaxial compression without any lateral upthrust have been studied using the data of acoustic emission (AE) and X-ray computer microtomography (CT). The multifractal analysis of pauses between acoustic emission events and the analysis of the energy distribution functional forms of the AE signal have been performed. According to the computer tomography data, defects form only near a future main crack; i.e., no stage of disperse accumulation of defects over entire sample volume has been revealed. Two stages of the main crack formation have been observed: the first stage is characterized by an exponential energy distribution of AE signals and the second stage is characterized by a power low of the AE signal energy distribution. The multifractal analysis of the pauses between neighboring AE signals demonstrate the transition from the multifractal dynamics of the acoustic emission to the monofractal dynamics when approaching a fracture moment.

Defect Structure of Deformed Heterogeneous Materials: Acoustic Emission and X-Ray Microtomography

Laboratory investigations of deformation of heterogeneous brittle materials (rocks) by acoustic emission (AE) and X-ray computer microtomography (CT) are presented. The experiments involved loading of cylindrical samples of Westerly granite under the condition of uniaxial compression and recording of AE signals emitted during deformation of samples at different loading-unloading stages. After each unloading of the sample a tomographic survey was performed. Totally, 11 loading-unloading stages and tomographic surveys were carried out. The defect structure evolution is considered in the framework of the concept of self-organized criticality. It has been found that the type of the energy distribution function of AE signals can be used as an indicator of the deformed material state and transition to a critical fracture stage. An exponential function points to a noncritical state of a deformed material, and a power-law function indicates that the defect accumulation has passed to a critical stage. This result is confirmed by X-ray microtomographic data.

Dynamic acousto-elastic testing with an ultrasonic tomography probe: Application to fractured rock characterization

We study nonlinear elastic phenomena at the laboratory scale to help interpret the subtle velocity changes observed in the Earth’s crust, for instance, during strong ground motion, earthquake slip processes or Earth tides. Dynamic Acousto-Elastic Testing (DAET) provides unprecedented details on the nonlinear elastic response of consolidated granular media (e.g., rocks, concrete), including tension/compression asymmetry, hysteretic behaviors as well as conditioning and relaxation effects. Such technique uses a pump-probe scheme where a high frequency, low amplitude wave probes the state of a sample that is dynamically disturbed by a low frequency, large amplitude pump wave. While previous work typically involved a single pair of probing transducers, here we use two dense arrays of ultrasonic transducers to image a sample of Westerly granite with a complex fracture. We apply double beamforming to disentangle complex arrivals and conduct ray-based and finite-frequency tomography using both travel time and am...

Evolution of the transport properties of fractures subject to thermally and mechanically activated mineral alteration and redistribution

AbstractStrong feedbacks link temperature (T), hydrologic flow (H), mechanical deformation (M), and chemical alteration (C) in fractured rock. These processes are interconnected as one process affects the initiation and progress of another. Dissolution and precipitation of minerals are affected by temperature and stress, and can result in significant changes in permeability and solute transport characteristics. Understanding these couplings is important for oil, gas, and geothermal reservoir engineering, for CO2 sequestration, and for waste disposal in underground repositories and reservoirs. To experimentally investigate the interactions between THMC processes in a naturally stressed fracture, we report on heated (25°C up to 150°C) flow‐through experiments on fractured core samples of Westerly granite. These experiments examine the influence of thermally and mechanically activated dissolution of minerals on the mechanical (stress/strain) and transport (permeability) responses of fractures. The evolutions of the permeability and relative hydraulic aperture of the fracture are recorded as thermal and stress conditions' change during the experiments. Furthermore, the efflux of dissolved mineral mass is measured periodically and provides a record of the net mass removal, which is correlated with observed changes in relative hydraulic fracture aperture. During the experiments, a significant variation of the effluent fluid chemistry is observed and the fracture shows large changes in permeability to the changing conditions both in stress and in temperature. We argue that at low temperature and high stresses, mechanical crushing of the asperities and the production of gouge explain the permeability decrease although most of the permeability is recoverable as the stress is released. While at high temperature, the permeability changes are governed by mechanical deformation as well as chemical processes, in particular, we infer dissolution of minerals adjacent to the fracture and precipitation of kaolinite.

Hydraulic fracture energy budget: Insights from the laboratory

AbstractIn this paper we present results from a series of laboratory hydraulic fracture experiments designed to investigate various components of the energy budget. The experiments involved a cylindrical sample of Westerly granite being deformed under various triaxial stress states and fractured with distilled water, which was injected at a range of constant rates. Acoustic emission sensors were absolutely calibrated, and the radiated seismic energy was estimated. The seismic energy was found to range from 7.02E−8% to 1.24E−4% of the injection energy which is consistent with a range of values for induced seismicity from field‐scale hydraulic fracture operations. The deformation energy (crack opening) of the sample during hydraulic fracture propagation was measured using displacement sensors and ranged from 18% to 94% of the injection energy. Our results support the conclusion that aseismic deformation is a significant term in the hydraulic fracture energy budget.

Seismic moment tensor and b value variations over successive seismic cycles in laboratory stick‐slip experiments

AbstractThe formation of fault damage due to slip under high normal stresses can rarely be monitored under in situ conditions. To advance our understanding of microfracture processes, we investigated stick‐slip events on Westerly granite samples containing the following: (1) a planar saw cut fault and (2) a fault developed from a fresh fracture surface. We examined temporal changes of seismic moment tensors and b values of acoustic emission (AE) events. During experiment on the saw cut surface, small AEs exhibiting non‐double‐couple components were observed continuously and strong AEs displaying double‐couple components were visible only when approaching the slip onsets. Sliding on naturally fractured surfaces showed, in addition to double‐couple components, significant volumetric contributions, especially during the interslip periods and immediately after stick‐slip events indicating substantial shear‐enhanced compaction within a relatively broad damage zone. The obtained results shed light on how differences in fault structure control the kinematics of microseismicity during different periods of the seismic cycle.

Linking permeability to crack density evolution in thermally stressed rocks under cyclic loading

AbstractTo improve our understanding of the complex coupling between circulating fluids and the development of crack damage, we performed flow‐through tests on samples of Etna basalt and Westerly granite that were cyclically loaded by deviatoric stresses. The basalt was naturally microfractured, while the relatively crack‐free Westerly granite was thermally pretreated to 500°C and 800°C to generate microcrack damage. Samples were repeatedly loaded and then unloaded under deviatoric stress paths and ultimately to failure. Permeability and water volume content were measured throughout the loading history together with the differential stress. Permeability decreases at low differential stresses and increases at intermediate differential stresses up to a steady value at failure. We use water volume content as a proxy for fluid storage and show that both permeability and storage evolve with damage and evolution of crack density. We use crack models to represent the evolution of permeability as a function of loading state and are able to independently link it to the observed evolution of deformability, used as an independent measure of crack density.

Linking permeability to crack density evolution in thermally stressed rocks under cyclic loading

We explore the influence of incremental crack damage induced from cyclic loading on the mechanical and transport properties of thermally stressed crystalline rocks in shallow crustal conditions that are representative for volcanic edifices and high thermal gradient in the upper crust. The behavior of a lava flow basalt from Mt. Etna volcano, containing an high level of pre-existing crack damage induced from natural thermal cooling (Mt. Etna basalt) is contrasted with the response of crystalline rock (Westerly granite) with little initial crack damage. Selected samples of Westerly granite were thermally-treated at 500 and 800 C in order to study the role of induced thermal stressing on increasing crack damage. Permeability and water volume content were measured throughout the loading history together with deformation modulus. Permeability show a reduction at low stresses followed by an increase at intermediate stresses and ultimately a steady magnitude at failure. We use water volume content as a proxy for fluid storage and show that both permeability and storage evolve with damage and evolution of crack density. We use mechanistic models of crack evolution to make constrained predictions of the evolution in porosity and permeability via equivalent medium theories. These observations are used to address important questions regarding the coupled role of damage state and stressing in controlling the transport properties of rocks.

Plate impact experiments to investigate shock-induced inelasticity in Westerly granite

In the present study, plate-impact experiments are employed to better understand the stress threshold for inelasticity in Westerly granite. The experiments are designed to obtain the Hugoniot Elastic Limit (HEL) as well as spall strength following shock-induced compression in the Westerly granite samples. The HEL for Westerly granite is estimated to be in the range 3.2 to 3.5GPa, while the spall strength is ∼50MPa for a pulse duration of 3μs, and is nearly independent of the compression stress level in the stress range employed in the experiments (i.e. 0.7–5.0GPa). In addition, soft-recovery plate-impact experiments are employed to better understand the threshold for initiation of micro-cracking in the granite samples. These recovery experiments are conducted at the same stress levels as the normal plate impact experiments (∼0.7GPa), and the duration of the tensile pulse is varied from 20 to 500ns by varying the pre-set gap between the specimen and the momentum trap. The results indicate that the stress pulse duration threshold for initiation of spall is about 120ns at an applied tensile stress level of ∼0.7GPa. In addition, tensile fracture in Westerly granite is observed to be time dependent with the spall strength dependent on the duration of the tensile pulse. For the soft recovery experiments that do not show a clear spall signal, the recovered granite specimens show relatively large micro-cracks (30–40μm in width) near the plane where the unloading waves from the flyer and target free surfaces intersect. The spall plane reveals a relatively rough and a tortuous fracture surface. At higher magnifications, several cracks and pits/holes are detected on the spall plane. The fracture/damage mode is seen to be predominantly brittle, with damage initiating at the weak grain boundaries.

Laboratory triggering of stick‐slip events by oscillatory loading in the presence of pore fluid with implications for physics of tectonic tremor

The physical mechanism by which the low‐frequency earthquakes (LFEs) that make up portions of tectonic (also called non‐volcanic) tremor are created is poorly understood. In many areas of the world, tectonic tremor and LFEs appear to be strongly tidally modulated, whereas ordinary earthquakes are not. Anomalous seismic wave speeds, interpreted as high pore fluid pressure, have been observed in regions that generate tremor. Here we build upon previous laboratory studies that investigated the response of stick‐slip on artificial faults to oscillatory, tide‐like loading. These previous experiments were carried out using room‐dry samples of Westerly granite, at one effective stress. Here we augment these results with new experiments on Westerly granite, with the addition of varying effective stress using pore fluid at two pressures. We find that raising pore pressure, thereby lowering effective stress can significantly increase the degree of correlation of stick‐slip to oscillatory loading. We also find other pore fluid effects that become important at higher frequencies, when the period of oscillation is comparable to the diffusion time of pore fluid into the fault. These results help constrain the conditions at depth that give rise to tidally modulated LFEs, providing confirmation of the effective pressure law for triggering and insights into why tremor is tidally modulated while earthquakes are at best only weakly modulated.

The Effect of Varying Damage History in Crystalline Rocks on the P- and S-Wave Velocity under Hydrostatic Confining Pressure

Cracks play a very important role in many geotechnical issues and in a number of processes in the Earth’s crust. Elastic waves can be used as a remote sensing tool for determining crack density. The effect of varying crack density in crystalline rock on the P- and S-wave velocity and dynamic elastic properties under confining pressure has been quantified. The evolution of P- and S-wave velocity were monitored as a suite of dry Westerly granite samples were taken to 60, 70, 80 and 90 % of the unconfined uniaxial strength of the sample. The damaged samples were then subjected to hydrostatic confining pressure from 2 MPa to 200 MPa to quantify the effect of varying crack density on the P- and S-wave velocity and elastic properties under confining pressure. The opening and propagation of microcracks predominantly parallel to the loading direction during uniaxial loading caused a 0.5 and 6.3 % decrease in the P- and S-wave velocity, respectively. During hydrostatic loading, microcracks are closed at 130 MPa confining pressure. At lower pressures the amount of crack damage in the samples has a small but measureable effect. We observed a systematic 6 and 4 % reduction in P- and S-wave velocity, respectively, due to an increase in the fracture density at 2 MPa confining pressure. The overall reduction in the P- and S-wave velocity decreased to 2 and 1 %, respectively, at 50 MPa. The elastic wave velocities of samples that have a greater amount of microcrack damage are more sensitive to pressure. Effective medium modelling was used to invert elastic wave velocities and infer crack density evolution. Comparing the crack density results with experimental data on Westerly granite samples shows that the effective medium modelling used gave interpretable and reasonable results. Changes in crack density can be interpreted as closure or opening of cracks and crack growth.

Laboratory Observations of Fault Strength in Response to Changes in Normal Stress

Changes in fault normal stress can either inhibit or promote rupture propagation, depending on the fault geometry and on how fault shear strength varies in response to the normal stress change. A better understanding of this dependence will lead to improved earthquake simulation techniques, and ultimately, improved earthquake hazard mitigation efforts. We present the results of new laboratory experiments investigating the effects of step changes in fault normal stress on the fault shear strength during sliding, using bare Westerly granite samples, with roughened sliding surfaces, in a double direct shear apparatus. Previous experimental studies examining the shear strength following a step change in the normal stress produce contradictory results: a set of double direct shear experiments indicates that the shear strength of a fault responds immediately, and then is followed by a prolonged slip-dependent response, while a set of shock loading experiments indicates that there is no immediate component, and the response is purely gradual and slip-dependent. In our new, high-resolution experiments, we observe that the acoustic transmissivity and dilatancy of simulated faults in our tests respond immediately to changes in the normal stress, consistent with the interpretations of previous investigations, and verify an immediate increase in the area of contact between the roughened sliding surfaces as normal stress increases. However, the shear strength of the fault does not immediately increase, indicating that the new area of contact between the rough fault surfaces does not appear preloaded with any shear resistance or strength. Additional slip is required for the fault to achieve a new shear strength appropriate for its new loading conditions, consistent with previous observations made during shock loading.