BRITE Synergy: Enhancing Prediction of Rock Slope Failures During Earthquakes

地质材料的工程表征是一项关键且具有挑战性的工作，随着新技术的引入而不断发展。了解岩石和土壤的强度和行为对于安全和具有成本效益的设计是必要的，其应用范围从强大的基础设施（道路，建筑物，水坝，隧道等）到能源和矿产资源的可持续发展，所有这些都对社会至关重要。最近自然边坡和尾矿坝失败的新闻报道提高了全球公众的认识和关注。虽然这类灾难有重大的负面影响，但对它们的研究可以增进了解，从而提高未来的安全性。这个促进工程变革和公平进步的研究思路（BRITE）协同项目旨在提高我们预测地震引起的岩质边坡破坏的能力，以便在触发地震事件之前解决这些问题。实验室实验将与数值模拟相结合，以提高我们预测和预防地震引起的岩质边坡破坏的能力。除了通过提高地震期间的安全来造福社会之外，该项目还支持一名女性PI和一组来自目前在科学和工程领域代表性不足的群体的学生的专业发展和研究目标。特别是，该项目将为PI和她的学生提供参与新技术和技术的机会，因为他们进行实验和模拟，并解释结果，从声发射仪器到混合有限-离散单元数值模型。研究目标将在很大程度上通过两个相关的实验工作来完成：开发一种改进的直接剪切试验程序来表征岩石节理表面的剪切强度，以及实施一套振动台试验来研究地震荷载条件下岩石块体的运动。相关的实验数据集将通过DesignSafe存储库进行存档和共享。包含直剪试验结果的数据集将使全球岩石力学社区更容易采用改进的测试程序，包含屈服加速度和块体位移的数据集将为全球地震工程研究人员和从业者提供一个验证工具。数值模型将使用连续体、非连续体和混合方法来增加实验数据集，允许探索比实验室模拟更广泛的条件。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Engineering characterization of geological materials is a critical and challenging endeavor, continuously evolving as new technologies are introduced. Understanding the strength and behavior of rock and soil is necessary for safe and cost-effective designs, with applications ranging from robust infrastructure (roads, buildings, dams, tunnels, etc.) to sustainable development of energy and mineral resources, all of which are essential to society. News coverage of recent failures of natural slopes and tailings dams has raised public awareness and concern across the globe. Although such disasters have significant negative consequences, study of them enables improved understanding, allowing for improved safety in the future. This Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) Synergy project aims to improve our ability to predict seismically induced rock slope failures so they can be addressed prior to a triggering earthquake event. Laboratory experiments will be combined with numerical simulations to enhance our ability to predict and prevent seismically-induced rock slope failures. In addition to the benefit to society via improved safety during earthquakes, the project supports the professional development and research goals of a female PI and a set of students from groups currently underrepresented in science and engineering. In particular, this project will provide the opportunity for the PI and her students to engage with new techniques and technologies as they perform the experiments and simulations and interpret the results, ranging from acoustic emissions instrumentation to hybrid finite-discrete element numerical models.The research goals will largely be accomplished via experimental work with two related thrusts: development of an improved direct shear test procedure for characterizing the shear strength of rock joint surfaces, and implementation of a suite of shake table tests to investigate the motion of rock blocks under seismic loading conditions. The associated experimental datasets will be archived and shared via the DesignSafe repository. The dataset containing the direct shear test results will allow the global rock mechanics community to more readily adopt the improved test procedure and the dataset containing yield accelerations and block displacements will provide a validation tool that will be of use to earthquake engineering researchers and practitioners worldwide. Numerical models will be used to augment the experimental datasets using continuum, discontinuum, and hybrid methods, allowing exploration of a wider variety of conditions than can be simulated in the laboratory.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.