Collaborative Research: RUI: Density of Modes: A New Way to Forecast Sediment Failure

滑坡、海底滑坡、地裂缝和液化是近地表沉积物突然崩塌时发生的地质灾害。这些地质灾害会造成生命损失和基础设施的破坏。不幸的是，科学界还没有想出一种方法来预测这些事件。这项工作旨在确定对激发振动模式(DOM)密度的测量是否提供了一条前进的路线。DOM是一种技术，已成功地在实验室环境中提供了故障的前兆信号。到目前为止，这项技术还没有在自然样本中进行测试。研究人员将首先在海滩沙上开发这项技术，然后可能在更复杂的近地表环境中开发这项技术，包括其他研究小组已经收集和发布的数据。团队中的教授将利用专家开发的强调合作和指导的最佳实践，带领一群不同的STEM学生跨越学科界限。我们脚下的土地随着时间的推移而变化，有时缓慢爬行，有时像流体一样流动，有时突然坍塌。这些变化会导致山体滑坡、海底滑坡、地面裂缝和液化。随着全球变暖加剧、海平面上升和极端天气事件加剧，这些地质灾害的频率和破坏能力都有所增加。目前最先进的技术缺乏可靠的方法来预测这些事件，这在很大程度上是因为缺乏可靠的方法来将土壤尺度的信息纳入破坏模型。这一提议假设，对激发振动模式(DOM)密度的测量提供了一条前进的路线。激发振动模式(DOM)是一种统计物理量，它在实验室重组和数值模拟的颗粒材料中提供了公认的故障前兆信号(超出低频模式的展宽和增加)。这项工作试图回答以下问题：“DOM测量如何补充和对应于大量地球物理测量？”以及“DOM是否能洞察自然沉积沉积物的演化状态？”这些努力将是DOM技术在天然沉积物中的首次应用；如果成功，将该技术转换到地球环境中将提供一种新的方法来识别和监测近地表与斜坡稳定性相关的危险。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Landslides, submarine slides, ground fissures, and liquefaction are geohazards that occur when near-surface sediments suddenly fail. These geohazards can cause loss of human life and destroy infrastructure. Unfortunately, the scientific community has yet to devise a way to forecast these events. This work aims to determine whether measurements of the density of excited vibrational modes (DoM), a technique that has successfully provided a precursor signal to failure in the laboratory context, provide a route forward. To date, this technique has yet to be tested in natural samples. The researchers will develop the technique first in beach sands, then possibly in more complex near-surface environments, including for data already being collected and published by other groups. Professors on the team will lead a diverse group of STEM students across disciplinary boundaries, using best practices developed by experts that emphasize collaborations and mentorship. The ground beneath our feet shifts over time, sometimes slowly creeping, sometimes flowing like a fluid, and sometimes suddenly failing. These shifts cause landslides, submarine slides, ground fissures, and liquefaction. These geohazards' frequency and destructive capabilities have increased as global warming worsens, sea levels rise, and extreme weather events intensify. The current state-of-the-art lacks a reliable way to forecast these events, largely due to a lack of reliable methods for incorporating soil-scale information into failure models. This proposal hypothesizes that measurements of the density of excited vibrational modes (DoM), a statistical physics quantity that provides well-established failure precursors signals (broadening and increase in excess of low-frequency modes) within lab-reconstituted and numerically simulated granular materials, provides a route forward. The work seeks to answer the following questions: “How do DoM measurements complement and correspond to bulk geophysical measurements?” and “Does the DoM provide insight into the evolving state of naturally-deposited sediments?” These efforts would represent the first application of the DoM technique in the natural sediments; if successful, the translation of the technique to Earth settings would provide a new way to identify and monitor slope stability-related hazards within the near surface.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.