Noise of collapsing minerals: Predictability of the compressional failure in goethite mines

Salje, Ekhard K. H. and Lampronti, Giulio I. and Soto-Parra, Daniel E. and Baró, Jordi and Planes, Antoni and Vives, Eduard (2013) Noise of collapsing minerals: Predictability of the compressional failure in goethite mines. American Mineralogist, 98 (4). pp. 609-615. ISSN 0003-004X DOI 10.2138/​am.2013.4319

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Abstract

Compression experiments of goethite samples from an iron ore mine in New Caledonia revealed the collapse of the porous samples to follow a power law behavior. The porosity varies between 54 and 84%. The collapse under compression occurs in a series of individual events (avalanches). Each avalanche leads to a jerk in sample compression and an equivalent acoustic emission signal. The probability to find an acoustic emission signal with an energy within E and E + dE is p(E)dE, which has a power law distribution p(E) ~ E−ɛ, and reveals avalanche criticality. The energy exponent ɛ varies systematically with the porosity of the sample between 1.6 and 2. The results are compared with previous measurements of porous silica (Vycor), which showed a slightly smaller exponent of 1.4. We observe fore- and after-shocks of the largest events. Significant correlations between the largest avalanches and fore-shocks were found in samples with high porosity. These correlations open the possibility for the prediction of a major collapse by acoustic detection of noise.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	2013AREP; IA66;
Subjects:	03 - Mineral Sciences
Divisions:	03 - Mineral Sciences
Journal or Publication Title:	American Mineralogist
Volume:	98
Page Range:	pp. 609-615
Identification Number:	10.2138/​am.2013.4319
Depositing User:	Sarah Humbert
Date Deposited:	06 Jul 2013 23:34
Last Modified:	08 Aug 2013 12:24
URI:	http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/id/eprint/2823

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