Paper No. 2-3
Presentation Time: 2:15 PM
REVISITING THE FATE OF FRACTURE ENERGY—IMPLICATIONS FOR EARTH SURFACE DYNAMICS
Recent demonstrations, that the energy required to fracture brittle rocks is not “consumed” as surface energy , but is instead released as high-frequency body-wave energy and/or fragment kinetic energy and so remains available to do further mechanical work, have wide implications in fracture mechanics and its applications. These are important when high-energy and high-strain-rate fragmentation generates much larger quantities of ultrafine fragments than previously thought. We will outline how the following phenomena and processes are significantly affected by this change in perspective:
- Sediment particle size distributions: grinding limit and agglomeration
- Fault rupture energy, friction and gouge characteristics
- Runout of large rock avalanches and blockslides
- Stability of landslide dams
- Moraine paleoclimatology
- Volcanic ash generation and characteristics
- Impact cratering
- Geohazard assessments
We also outline how this understanding of fracture energetics affects discrete element modelling of rock fracture.
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