ISSN:
1420-9136
Keywords:
Buckling
;
flexure
;
elastic thickness faulting
;
finite element
;
Indian Ocean Basin
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
Notes:
Abstract We investigated the buckling response of a faulted elastic plate under horizontal compression using the finite element technique to better understand the effect of faults on the elastic behavior of a plate. We studied the effect of changes in fault spacing, depth and dip on the effective Young's modulus, buckling stress and wavelength. Our model consists of a thick elastic plate whose entire upper surface is cut by evenly spaced faults. We impose either an initial sinusoidal deformation with a fixed wavelength or a random deformation to the grid. A fault is represented as a free surface with no resolved shear stress and is allowed to slip in a specified direction using the method of ‘slippery nodes’. With the assumption of free slip on the faults, our model results represent an end member case in which the buckling wavelength and buckling stress are minimized by the presence of the faults. In our models, fault depth was varied from 0 to 75% of the plate thickness. As strain increases, the grid deforms by antisymmetric flexural folding and the initial imposed wavelength of deformation is modified such that the new buckling wavelength emerges. Our results show that the effective Young's modulus is a decreasing function of fault depth and an increasing function of fault spacing. In addition, buckling of the plate occurs at a lower stress for greater fault depths. Buckling wavelength is independent of the initial deformation wavelength however, it is modified by the presence of faults. For a plate with closely spaced faults extending through at least 75% of the plate, buckling occurs at a wavelength one half as large as that for a continuous plate. Buckling stress is not independent of the intial deformation wavelength, rather it increases slightly with increasing difference between the initial deformation wavelength and the buckling wavelength. Analytical models that approximate or ignore the effect of faulting can have large errors in calculation of the buckling stress. More importantly, modeling the observed wavelength of deformation in a faulted region with analytical solutions for continuous plates may result in a significant underestimate of elastic thickness. Fault dip does not strongly affect either the effective Young's modulus or the buckling wavelength. Thus, the buckling response should be the same for a plate cut by a low angle fault or a high angle fault.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00879302
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