Escoamentos multifásicos estão presentes em diversas aplicações industriais, principalmente na indústria do petróleo. Um dos casos de aplicação, objeto de estudo desse trabalho, é a determinação da produção de poços de petróleo através de válvulas choke. É apresentada uma revisão dos efeitos físicos e do equacionamento adotado pelos principais modelos multifásicos existentes para tais válvulas. Um estudo de sensibilidade de tais efeitos físicos é realizado, analisando as possíveis alternativas para a diferença de velocidade entre as fases, o mecanismo adotado para a troca de calor entre as fases, a influência da energia cinética a montante da válvula, a influência da área efetiva da garganta e a metodologia de cálculo da recuperação de pressão a jusante da válvula. Conclui-se que dos diversos fatores que influenciam no cálculo da vazão mássica e da condição crítica, a área efetiva da garganta é um parâmetro importante e que é necessário uma maior investigação de como determinar tal parâmetro. / Multiphase flow are present in many industrial applications, mainly at the petroleum industry. One of these application cases, aim of this work study, is to determine a petroleum well production by the choke valves. It is presented a revision of the physical effects and for the adopted equation by the main existing multiphase models for such valves. A sensibility study of such physical effects is performed, analyzing the possible alternatives for the phases velocities difference, the adopted mechanism for the heat transfer between the phases, the upstream kinetic energy influence, the throat effective area influencie and the calculation methodology adopted for the valve downstream pressure recover. It is concluded that from many factors that influence in the mass flow and critical condition calculation, the throat effective area is a important parameter and it is necessary a deeper investigation in how to determine such parameter.

Le ketchup, la moutarde, la mousse à raser, sont des fluides à seuil, ils s’écoulent uniquement lorsqu’on leur applique une contrainte supérieure à une valeur critique, appelée contrainte seuil. Sur des surfaces lisses, ces fluides peuvent s’écouler sous de petites contraintes : on a alors un phénomène de glissement. En étudiant par rhéométrie les écoulements de ces matériaux des séquences originales et une technique d’imagerie directe (vélocimétrie en IRM), on montre que le glissement ne se produit qu’au-delà d’une contrainte critique. Selon les cas, cette contrainte critique est due soit à un effet de bord, soit à un effet de surface. L’excès de contrainte par rapport à cette contrainte critique varie linéairement avec la vitesse de glissement. De ce fait le glissement peut être représenté comme le cisaillement d’une couche de liquide le long de la paroi, mais la réalité est plus complexe compte tenu de la structure du matériau au contact avec la paroi. Curieusement l’épaisseur de cette couche de liquide « équivalente » ne semble pas varier avec la concentration, la taille des gouttes, la force normale, etc. Ceci suggère que cette épaisseur est gouvernée par des forces plus élevées que la lubrification et la pression osmotique. Nous étudions également le glissement pour des écoulements plus complexes. Pour cela on impose une élongation au fluide à seuil par une expérience de traction avec des surfaces lisses. La force normale mesurée pour différents matériaux avec des structures différentes montre que la condition de transition solide-liquide en élongation est différente que ce que prédit la théorie standard, et l’épaisseur de la couche de glissement est de plusieurs ordres de grandeur supérieure à celle trouvée en cisaillement simple / Ketchup, mustard, shaving creams flow only when submitted to stresses greater than a critical stress – yield stress, these are yield stress fluids. On smooth surfaces, these fluids can flow under very small stresses; this phenomenon is the wall slip. Using gels, emulsions, clay suspensions, etc., and from rheometrical tests with original protocols and internal measurements (MRI velocimetry), we show that a minimal stress must be reached to initiate wall slip and, depending on cases, this value is either due to an edge effect or to an adhesion of the suspended elements to the wall. Above this critical value, the excess of stress is found to vary linearly with the slip velocity, except at the transition of the yield stress or using a microtextured surface: in that cases the relation becomes quadratic. The wall slip can be interpreted as the shear flow of a thin liquid layer between the yield stress fluid and the wall. However, given the complexity of the material structure in contact with the wall, the exact picture of the slip layer requires further investigations. The apparent thickness of the liquid layer seems to be independent of the concentration, the mean droplet size, the external normal forces, etc., suggesting that it depends on interactions between the suspended droplets and the surface which are much stronger than the lubricating and osmotic pressures. We also study wall slip under more complex flow conditions, by inducing an elongational flow during a traction test with smooth surfaces. The normal force measured for various materials with different microstructures shows that the yielding condition in an elongational flow is different from the standard theory, and the apparent thickness of the wall slip layer is several orders of magnitude larger than that found in shear flows

Le Venezuela est traversé par une zone de limite de plaque. Ce système tectonique accommode les mouvements relatifs de trois plaques majeures: la plaque Sud-Américaine, la plaque Caraïbe et la plaque de Nazca. Ce système est constitué de failles décrochantes actives qui ont généré au Venezuela de nombreux séismes de magnitude supérieure à 6-7. Parmi ces failles, cette thèse se focalise sur la faille de Boconó et la faille d’El Pilar.Le but de cette thèse est d'étudier l'activité de ces failles sur plusieurs échelles de temps en utilisant une approche multidisciplinaire qui combine analyses morphotectonique, paléosismologique et géodésique. Cette approche a permis de préciser le régime de déformation de ces failles indispensable à l'estimation de l'aléa sismique.Antérieurement à cette thèse, dans la région de Yaracuy, l’activité tectonique du segment nord de la faille de Boconó était mal contrainte faute de données géodésiques ou géochronologiques suffisantes. Or cette partie de la faille a provoqué en 1812 un séisme de Mwi 7.4 qui a détruit les villes de la région.Grâce à la datation par Béryllium-10 de la surface d’exposition de cônes alluviaux décalés par la cinématique dextre de la faille, cette thèse montre que la vitesse quaternaire de la faille est comprise entre 5.0 et 11.2 mm/an.En comparant cette vitesse estimée sur ~ 200 ka et le taux de glissement estimé en champ lointain par des mesures géodésiques (~ 12 mm/an), il peut être proposé que la faille de Boconó accommode une grande partie de l'extrusion du Bloc Nord Andin. La réalisation de carte de vitesses moyennes de déformation à partir d'images SAR a montré l'absence de glissement asismique le long de la faille de Boconó entre 2007 et 2011. En extrapolant ce comportement aux derniers 200 ans, il en résulte que, depuis le dernier séisme en 1812 il y a une accumulation de déficit de glissement de quelques mètres selon la vitesse de glissement considérée. Cette faille représente donc un aléa sismique important pour la région. Une tranchée réalisée pour préciser cet aléa a montré que trois évènements sismiques de Mw > 6-6.5 ont lieu depuis 1300 ap. J.-C., le dernier de ces événements étant probablement le séisme historique de 1812.Au Nord Est du Venezuela, la faille d’El Pilar accommode l’intégralité du mouvement relatif entre la plaque Sud-Américaine et la plaque Caraïbe (~ 20 mm/an). Après le séisme de Ms 6.8 en 1997, le segment émergé de cette faille a subit un important « afterslip ». Des mesures géodésique réalisées en 2003, 2005 et 2013 ont montré que ce segment glisse encore asismiquement (~12 – 13 mm/an). Cette thèse présente une carte des vitesses de déformation entre 2007 et 2011 calculée par interférométrie radar. Celle-ci a permis de montrer que cette faille glisse asismiquement de façon non uniforme dans l’espace et le temps. L’analyse en série temporelle des déplacements a révélé que le glissement asismique de certains tronçons de la faille subit une accélération en Juin 2009 avec des vitesses de glissement asismiques supérieures au déplacement relatif entre les plaques. Cette observation permet d’interpréter que le glissement asismique a un comportement transitoire, en effet, des périodes de blocage et des périodes de larges glissements se succèdent. Cette succession doit probablement se poursuivre tout le long de la période intersismique comme le suggèrent le faible nombre de séismes historiques et préhistoriques au regard de la vitesse de coulissage le long de la faille. Enfin ce glissement asismique présentant des variations spatiales et temporelles est probablement contrôlé par la présence de serpentinites et d’une activité hydrothermale le long de la zone de faille, contexte connu pour favoriser des comportements rhéologiques de ce type. / Venezuela is crosscut by a plate boundary zone, this tectonic setting accommodates the relative displacements of three plates: the South America, the Caribbean and the Nazca Plate. This tectonic system is constituted of active strike-slip faults which have provoked several events of Mw > 6-7. Among these faults, this thesis focuses on the Boconó Fault and on the El Pilar Fault.The aim of this dissertation is to study fault activities on several time scales using a multidisciplinary approach. This approach, which combines morphotectonic, paleoseismologic and geodetic analyses, leads to clarify the deformation pattern. This knowledge is essential to the seismic hazard assessment.Previously to this thesis, in the Yaracuy valley, the tectonic activity of the Boconó fault was poorly constrained due to the lack of geodetic and geochronological data; although a part of this fault triggered in 1812 an earthquake of Mwi 7.4. Through 10-Beryllium surface exposition dating of two alluvial fans shifted by the fault, this thesis shows that the Quaternary slip rate of the fault ranges from 5.0 to 11.2 mm/yr. By comparing this rate estimated on ~ 200 ka with the slip rate estimated in far field with geodesy (~ 12 mm/yr), it can be proposed that the Boconó fault accommodates a major part of the North Andean Block extrusion. Velocity map of ground displacements calculated using SAR images shows the lack of aseismic slip along the Boconó Fault during the 2007-2011 period. The extrapolation of this locked activity since the 1812 event, implies that there is a slip deficit of several meters. Therefore, the Boconó Fault have to be taken into account in the regional seismic hazard assessment. A paleoseismological trench across the studied segment is also presented in this thesis in order to constrain this assessment. Three events of Mw > 6 - 6.5 have been recorded in this trench since 1300 CE, the last of these events is probably the 1812 historical earthquake.In the north-western region of Venezuela, the El Pilar Fault accommodates the whole relative displacement between South-America and Caribbean Plates (~ 20 mm/yr). After the last event in 1997 (Ms 6.8) the on-shore segment of this fault undergoes an important afterslip. Geodetic campaign measurements performed in 2003, 2005 and 2013 showed that this segment was still creeping (~ 12 - 13 mm/yr). This thesis presents an InSAR analysis performed with 18 SAR images spanning the 2007-2011 period. The velocity map shows that the aseismic slip is not uniform along the El Pilar Fault. Time-series analysis reveals locally a creep acceleration. This transient is characterised by a rate exceeding the rate of surrounding plate motion. Therefore, the El Pilar fault seems to be partially locked during several years and then undergoes transient creep during several months. This succession should last during the whole interseismic period as suggested by the low seismic activity and paleoseismological trenches. This creep showing spatio-temporal variations is probably controlled by the existence of serpentinites lenses and the hydrothermal activity, which are known to promote this kind of rheological behaviour.

L'avènement de la géodésie spatiale ces dernières décennies a permis la découverte de la diversité des modes de glissement sur les failles. Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons au glissement asismique à la fois en contexte de subduction et en contexte décrochant. Nous étudions l'ensemble de la subduction mexicaine au niveau des régions de Guerrero et Oaxaca, où plusieurs séismes lents ont été répertoriés, ainsi que le segment en glissement asismique d'Ismetpasa le long de la faille décrochante Nord-Anatolienne en Turquie. La carte de couplage (estimé entre les grands séismes lents) entre les plaques Cocos et Nord Américaine indique un couplage élevé et relativement homogène en base de zone sismogénique. Cependant, des variations latérales de couplage importantes sont remarquables dans la zone sismogénique. En particulier, une zone de fort couplage à Oaxaca est localisée à l'emplacement de la rupture sismique de 1978 et a accumulé un déficit de glissement de 5 cm en 9 ans. Ces variations latérales de couplage sont corrélées avec les distances fosse-côte et des zones à l'état critiques sont localisées aux transitions entre faible et fort couplage. Ces observations suggèrent une pérennité au long-terme des motifs spatiaux de couplage. Nous proposons un mécanisme de déformation durant la phase co-sismique, basé sur l'existence de transitions frictionnelles sur le plan de subduction, qui permet de réconcilier les vitesses intersismiques mesurées sur quelques décennies et la morphologie long-terme. Ces vitesses intersismiques sont généralement considérées comme constantes sur plusieurs années. Cependant, une analyse plus fine montre une riche dynamique temporelle, avec en particulier la présence d'évènements transitoires finis de magnitudes et durées variables. Nous avons suivi deux approches afin de détecter et caractériser des glissements transitoires dans nos deux zones d'étude. (i) L'analyse d'un réseau dense d'interférogrammes, obtenus à partir de données InSAR des satellites CosmoSky-Med sur le segment de faille d'Ismetpasa, a permis de détecter un évènement de glissement transitoire d'un mois. Enregistré en Novembre 2013, aucun autre glissement n'a été détecté durant les 9 autres mois de l'analyse. Cet évènement d'une magnitude de 5.2 à 5.5 a relâché une énergie équivalant à 1,5 à 2 ans de glissement asismique continu à la vitesse moyenne précédemment estimée. Cette découverte remet en question le modèle mécanique de glissement de ce segment. (ii) Le développement d'une méthode de corrélation entre des évènements de glissements synthétiques et des séries temporelles GPS préalablement traitées permet la détection de glissements transitoires d'amplitude équivalente à celle du bruit. Appliquée à un jeu de données synthétiques sur la subduction mexicaine, cette méthode montre que l'on peut caractériser avec précision des évènements de Mw > 6. Appliquée à des données réelles au niveau de la lacune sismique de Guerrero entre Février 2005 et Mai 2007, cette méthode a permis de détecter 15 nouveaux événements transitoires. Ces évènements coïncident temporellement avec de fortes activités de trémors et LFEs et sont localisés aux pourtours du séisme lent de Mw 7.5 de 2006. Ces détections permettent de mieux contraindre la loi d'échelle des glissements lents et d'éclairer la dynamique spatiale et temporelles des évènements transitoires en base de zone sismogénique. / The development of space geodesy during the last decades has led to the discovery of the slip modes diversity on faults. In this thesis, we focus on aseismic slip on both subduction zones and continental strike slip faults. We study the subduction zone of Mexico, from Guerrero to Oaxaca regions, where large Slow Slip Events have been recorded, as well as the Ismetpasa creeping fault segment of the North Anatolian Fault in Turkey. The map of interplate coupling (in between large slow slip events) estimated between the Cocos and North America plates in Mexico shows a relatively high coupling coefficient, laterally homogeneous at the base of the seismogenic zone. Strong lateral coupling variations are notable within the seismogenic zone. A high coupling pattern in Oaxaca is located in the same area as the 1978 seismic rupture and has accumulated 5 cm of slip deficit in 9 years. Those lateral coupling variations are correlated with trench-coast distances. We show that critical state areas are located at the transitions between low and high coupling zones. These observations suggest a persistency of the coupling patterns over geological time scales. We propose a mechanism of deformation during the coseismic phase, related to the existence of frictional transitions on the subduction plane, that allows to reconcile decadal observations of interseismic velocities with the long term building of the coastal morphology. The interseismic velocities are generally considered to be constant over a few years. However, refined temporal analysis show the richness of their temporal dynamics, with evidences of slow slip events of various magnitudes and durations. We follow two different approaches to detect and characterize small amplitude slow slip events in our two study areas. (i) The dense network of interferograms with short repeat times acquired by the CosmoSky-Med constellation along the Ismetpasa fault segment allows to detect a month-long transient slip event. During the 9 other months of the analysis, no clear aseismic slip signal has been observed. With a Mw 5.2 - 5.5, this transient event has released an energy equivalent to the one that would be released during 1.5 - 2 years at the average creep rate estimated by previous studies. This discovery forces us to reconsider the mechanical model in place for this segment. (ii) The development of a correlation methodology between synthetic transient slip events and post-processed GPS time series allows to detect transient events with amplitude close to the GPS background noise. Applied to a synthetic dataset over the Mexican subduction zone, we show that this method is able to precisely detect and characterize Mw>6 events. Applied to real data between February 2005 and May 2007 in the Guerrero gap area, our new GPS-matched filter allows to detect 15 new events. Those events are temporally correlated with bursts of tremors and LFEs activity and are surrounding the Mw 7.5 2006 SSE. These detections enable to better characterise the slow slip events scaling law and shed a new light on the spatial interaction of slow slip events at the base of the seismogenic zone.

Le soudage du bois constitue un nouveau procédé d’assemblage, deux pièces de bois sont assemblées sans aucun adhésif, ni organe métallique. Ce travail étudie la faisabilité d’éléments de construction en bois lamellé à échelle 1 comme des poutres, des parois et des planchers, en utilisant le soudage de chevilles (Fagus sylvatica) dans des avivés (Picea abies) des forêts locales (VOSGES). La maîtrise du procédé étant primordiale pour étudier sa reproductibilité, une machine prototype est développée. Les paramètres d’asservissement et la mesure des efforts appliqués sont maîtrisés précisément par un logiciel. La fabrication contrôlée d’échantillons et de poutres soudées permet de caractériser les propriétés mécaniques élémentaires.L’étude du comportement des poutres et des planchers fait appel à la théorie des poutres à connexions imparfaites. Une approche par éléments finis montre que le modèle analytique de KREUZINGER n’approche pas suffisamment la distribution des contraintes dans la section composite, un modèle analytique est développé selon l’approche de GIRHAMMAR : le modèle exact généralisé. Les essais de poutres montrent une trop grande souplesse de la liaison et sa sensibilité au fluage. Les essais sur le plancher conduisent à des caractéristiques intéressantes en termes de rigidité et de confort. Les parois, non optimisées, montrent des résultats prometteurs pour le contreventement. Les premiers éléments sur l’utilisation du soudage du bois dans la construction sont présentés. Cette technologie se révèlerait compétitive dans la réalisation d’éléments constructifs en 3D. Dans un contexte de développement durable, cette approche constructive est porteuse d’avenir / Wood welding is a new assembly concept; two pieces of wood can be connected without any adhesive or any metal fastener. This study present the feasibility in usable scale, to produce laminated elements for construction like beams, walls and floors, using welded dowels (Fagus sylvatica) to connect planks (Picea abies) from local forests (Vosges). To be used, it is essential that the welding process has to be reproducible; a prototype machine was designed in this aim. It mastered the main parameters of welding like rotation speed and efforts. A convivial software pilot efficiently the machine. This allows a controlled fabrication of welded samples and beams to characterize their basic resistance properties. The behaviour of beams and floors is given by composite beam with interlayer slip theory. A finite elements approach showed that the KREUZINGER’s analytical model does not allow to describe well enough the stress distribution in a multi layer composite section, an analytical model is then develop from GIRHAMMAR’s composite beams theory: the so call generalized exact model. Tests of beams show that the dowel connection is too weak and will have then a great sensitivity to creep. Tests on floor provide interesting features in terms of rigidity and comfort. The walls which are not optimized show encouraging results for racking resistance. The first items for the use of wood welding in construction are presented. This technology will be competitive in achieving constructive elements in 3D. In a context of sustainable development, this constructive approach takes its full meaning

My work focused on the development of improved methodologies for the evaluation of seismic hazard and its related uncertainties, based on the study of active faults systems and dynamic modelling of the seismic cycle. I worked in particular on the probabilistic estimate of a fault's maximum magnitude earthquake and of its return period. Those parameters are indeed crucial to estimate seismic hazard. Seismicity can be viewed as a stochastic process which is constrained by the principle of moment conservation: seismic ruptures must in principle rupture fault portions which had accumulated a deficit of slip, in view of their long term slip rate, during the interseismic period. In Chapter 1, I explain how we implemented those constraints in the evaluation of the probability distribution describing the magnitude and return period of the largest earthquake, propagating the geodetic uncertainties up to the hazard calculation. We applied this methodology to the Parkfield Segment of the San Andreas Fault, where the seismic cycle is particularly well documented. Our study implies potential maximum magnitude between 6.5 and 7.5, with a return period of 140 to 300 years. In Chapter 2, we applied the same methodology to the Cascadia subduction zone, known to have produced a M~9 earthquake in 1700 but where the seismic hazard remains poorly constrained. As part of this study we determined a model of interseismic coupling and of fault slip due to Slow Slip Events using an Independent Component Analysis-based inversion method. Finally, in Chapter 3, I use dynamic modelling to tackle the problem of partial ruptures. Large earthquakes tend to be confined to fault areas locked in the interseismic period but they often rupture them only partially. For example, during the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha earthquake, Nepal, a slip pulse propagating along-strike unzipped the bottom edge of the locked portion of the Main Himalayan Thrust. The lower edge of the rupture produced dominant high-frequency (>1 Hz) radiation of seismic waves. We showed that similar partial ruptures occur spontaneously in a simple dynamic model of earthquake sequences on a planar fault without mechanical, frictional and geometrical heterogeneities.

Escoamentos multifásicos estão presentes em diversas aplicações industriais, principalmente na indústria do petróleo. Um dos casos de aplicação, objeto de estudo desse trabalho, é a determinação da produção de poços de petróleo através de válvulas choke. É apresentada uma revisão dos efeitos físicos e do equacionamento adotado pelos principais modelos multifásicos existentes para tais válvulas. Um estudo de sensibilidade de tais efeitos físicos é realizado, analisando as possíveis alternativas para a diferença de velocidade entre as fases, o mecanismo adotado para a troca de calor entre as fases, a influência da energia cinética a montante da válvula, a influência da área efetiva da garganta e a metodologia de cálculo da recuperação de pressão a jusante da válvula. Conclui-se que dos diversos fatores que influenciam no cálculo da vazão mássica e da condição crítica, a área efetiva da garganta é um parâmetro importante e que é necessário uma maior investigação de como determinar tal parâmetro. / Multiphase flow are present in many industrial applications, mainly at the petroleum industry. One of these application cases, aim of this work study, is to determine a petroleum well production by the choke valves. It is presented a revision of the physical effects and for the adopted equation by the main existing multiphase models for such valves. A sensibility study of such physical effects is performed, analyzing the possible alternatives for the phases velocities difference, the adopted mechanism for the heat transfer between the phases, the upstream kinetic energy influence, the throat effective area influencie and the calculation methodology adopted for the valve downstream pressure recover. It is concluded that from many factors that influence in the mass flow and critical condition calculation, the throat effective area is a important parameter and it is necessary a deeper investigation in how to determine such parameter.

The Clark fault is one of the primary dextral faults in the San Jacinto fault zone system, southern California. Previous mapping of the Clark fault at its southern termination in the San Felipe Hills reveals it as a broad right lateral shear zone that ends north of the crossing, northeast-striking, left-lateral Extra fault. We investigate the relationship between the dextral Clark fault and the sinistral Extra fault to determine whether the Clark fault continues to the southeast. We present new structural, geophysical and geomorphic data that show that the Extra fault is a ~7 km wide, coordinated fault array comprised of four to six left-lateral fault zones. Active strands of the Clark fault zone persists through the Extra fault array to the Superstition Hills fault in the subsurface and rotate overlying sinistral faults in a clockwise sense. New detailed structural mapping between the San Felipe and Superstition Hills confirms that there is no continuous trace of the Clark fault zone at the surface but the fault zone has uplifted an elongate region ~950 km. sq. of latest Miocene to Pleistocene basin-fill in the field area and far outside of it. Detailed maps and cross sections of relocated microearthquakes show two earthquake swarms, one in 2007 and another in 2008 that project toward the San Felipe Hills, Tarantula Wash and Powerline strands of the dextral Clark fault zone in the San Felipe Hills, or possibly toward the parts of the Coyote Creek fault zone. We interpret two earthquake swarms as activating the San Jacinto fault zone beneath the Extra fault array. These data coupled with deformation patterns in published InSAR data sets suggest the presence of possible dextral faults at seismogenic depths that are not evident on the surface. We present field, geophysical and structural data that demonstrate dominantly left-lateral motion across the Extra fault array with complex motion on secondary strands in damage zones. Slickenlines measured within three fault zones in the Extra fault array reveal primarily strike-slip motion on the principal fault strands. Doubly-plunging anticlines between right-stepping en echelon strands of the Extra fault zone are consistent with contraction between steps of left-lateral faults and are inconsistent with steps in dominantly normal faults. Of the 21 published focal mechanisms for earthquakes in and near the field area, all record strike-slip and only two have a significant component of extension. Although the San Sebastian Marsh area is dominated by northeast-striking leftlateral faults at the surface, the Clark fault is evident at depth beneath the field area, in rotated faults, in microseismic alignments, and deformation in the Sebastian uplift. Based on these data the Clark fault zone appears to be continuous at depth to the Superstition Hills fault, as Fialko (2006) hypothesized with more limited data sets.

Rupture of the Chelungpu fault during the September 21, 1999, 7.6 Mwearthquake in Taiwan caused a 90-Jr,m-long surface rupture with variable displacement along strike. Analysis of core from two holes drilled through the fault zone, combined with geologic mapping and detailed investigation from three outcrops, define the fault geometry and physical properties of the Chelungpu fault in its northern and southern regions. In the northern region, the fault dips 45-60° east parallel to bedding and consists of a narrow (1-20 cm) core of dark-gray, sheared clay gouge at the base of a 30-50 m zone of increased fracture density that is confined asymmetrically to the hanging wall. Microstructural analysis of the fault gouge indicates the presence of extremely narrow clay zones (50-300 μm thick) that are interpreted as the fault rupture surfaces. Few shear indicators are observed outside of the fault gouge, which implies that slip was localized in the gouge in the northern region. Slip localization along a bed-parallel surface resulted in less high-frequency ground motion and larger displacements during the earthquake than in the southern region. Observations from the southern region indicate that the fault dips 20-30° at the surface and consists of a wide (20- 70 m-thick) zone of sheared, foliated shale with numerous gouge zones. A footwall-ramp geometry juxtaposes 2000-3000 m of flat-lying Quaternary Toukoshan Formation in the footwall with Pliocene and Miocene, east-dipping siltstone and muds tone in the hanging wall. The wide, diffuse fault zone contributed to the lower displacement and higher frequency ground motion in the southern region during the 1999 earthquake. The structure in the northern region is the result of the fault being a very young (<50 >ka) fault segment in the hanging wall of an older segment of the Chelungpu fault, buried in the Taichung basin. The fault in the southern region is located on an older (~1 Ma) fault trace. The contrasting fault properties in the different regions are responsible for the variability in strong-motion and displacement observed during the 1999 earthquake.

Runway friction testing is performed in order to enhance the safety of aircraft operation on runways. Preventative maintenance friction surveys are performed to determine if there is any deterioration of the frictional resistance on the surface over a period of time and to determine if there is a need for corrective maintenance. In addition operational performance friction surveys are performed to determine frictional properties of a pavement surface in order to provide corrective action information in maintaining safe take-off or landing performance limits. A major issue encountered in both types of friction evaluation on runways is the standardization of the friction measurements from different Continuous Friction Measuring Equipment (CFME). The International Friction Index (IFI) has been formulated to address the above issue and determine the friction condition of a given runway is a standardized format. The ASTM recommended standard procedure to compute the IFI of a runway surface employs two distinct parameters to express the IFI; F60 is the friction value adjusted to a slip speed of 60 km/h and correlated to the standard Dynamic Friction Tester (DFT) measurement. And Sp is the speed constant which is governed by the mean profile depth of that surface. The primary objective of this thesis is to investigate the reliability of the current ASTM procedure to standardize runway friction measurements in terms of IFI. Based on the ASTM standard procedure, two equipment specific calibration constants (A and B) are assigned for each CFME during calibration. Then, in subsequent testing those calibrations constants can be used to adjust the equipment measurements to reliable IFI values. Just as much as A and B are presumed to be characteristic of any given CFME, they are also expected to be independent of the operational speed. The main objective of the annual NASA Runway Friction Workshop held in Wallops Island, Virginia, is to calibrate commonly used CFMEs such that all calibrated equipment would provide a standard reading (i.e. IFI) on a particular surface. During validation of the existing ASTM procedure using the NASA Runway Friction Workshop data it was observed that the single value-based IFI predictions of the calibrated CFMEs were inaccurate resulting in low correlations with DFT measured values. Therefore, a landing pilot should not be left to make a safe decision with such an uncertain single standard friction value because the actual standard friction value could very well be much less than this value. Hence a modified procedure was formulated to treat the calibration constants A and B as normally distributed random variables even for the same CFME. The new procedure can be used to predict the IFI (F60) of a given runway surface within a desired confidence interval. Since the modified procedure predicts a range of IFI for a given runway surface within two bounds, a landing pilot's decision would be made easier based on his/her experience on critical IFI values. However, even the validation of the modified procedure presented some difficulties since the DFT measurements on a few validated surfaces plotted completely outside the range of F60 predicted by the modified method. Furthermore, although the ASTM standard stipulates the IFI (F60) predictions to be independent of the testing speed, data from the NASA Runway Friction Workshop indicates a significant difference in the predictions from the two testing speeds of 65 km/hr and 95 km/hr, with the results from the 65 km/hr tests yielding better correlations with the corresponding DFT measurements. The above anomaly could be attributed to the significantly different FR60 values obtained when the 65 km/hr data (FR65) and 95 km/hr data (FR95) are adjusted to a slip speed of 60 km/hr. Extended analytical investigations revealed that the expected testing speed independency of the FR60 for a particular CFME cannot be supported by the ASTM defined general linear relationship between Sp and the mean profile depth which probably has been formulated to satisfy a multitude of CFMEs operating on a number of selected test surfaces. This very reason can also be attributed to the above mentioned outliers observed during the validation of the modified procedure.