Effect of dynamic stress state perturbation on irreversible strain accumulation at interfaces in block-structured media

Abstract

The paper studies how the stress state of the interface between structural elements in a block-structured medium affects its deformation response to dynamic loading. It is shown that the normalized shear stress and mean stress are the major factors that determine the deformation response of the interface. We propose to describe the dependence of the value of induced irreversible displacement at the interface on the normalized shear stress using a logistic function. The central point of this function is the point of transition from the quasi-elastic to quasi-plastic stage of the interface shear deformation. The obtained empirical dependences are important for understanding the mechanism of irreversible strain accumulation in fault zone fragments and, particularly, for the development of an earlier proposed approach to estimate the characteristic level of active shear stresses in separate tectonic fault regions.