Experimental analysis of the stick-slip characteristics of faults at different loading rates

PLoS One. 2020 Apr 24;15(4):e0231464. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231464. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

In deep underground engineering, in a large spatial, high-stress environment, rapid excavation is likely to affect the loading rate of the fault structure and to cause stick-slip. In this study, an experiment was conducted to explore the stick-slip characteristics at different loading rates. A double-sided shear experiment and the digital speckle correlation method were used to analyze the evolution of the displacement field, the slip displacement, and the slip rate of the fault's stick-slip activity at different loading rates as well as their correlation with the loading rate. The loading rate, moment magnitude, and stress drop of the fault's stick-slip and their corresponding relationships were studied. The results show that the occurrence of stick-slip is inversely proportional to the loading rate. The evolution of the fault-slip displacement field at different loading rates is similar. At a given loading rate, the magnitude is positively correlated with the stress drop. The magnitude and stress drop are inversely related to the loading rate.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Friction*
  • Stress, Mechanical*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51774173), the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (No. 201602351), and the Open Fund for the State Key Laboratory of Seismological Dynamics (No. LED2015B01) to BJ. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.