Giuseppe Lacidogna - Böcker

Earthquakes are caused by the sudden release of energy during the fracture of stressed rock within the Earth’s crust. This phenomenon is similar to that which occurs in materials under load, and although they take place on very different scales, these two phenomena - earthquakes in geophysics and damage in structural materials - have similarities. In both cases, there is a release of elastic energy from sources located inside a medium. These are selected papers from special sessions at the 11th International Conference on Fracture, held in Turin in 2005. They provide an outline of topics related to earthquakes and Acoustic Emission, and discuss the latest developments in this area. The papers have been divided into two categories: Seismic Mechanics & Earthquakes and Structural Failure & Acoustic Emission. Earthquakes and Acoustic Emission will serve as a useful supplementary textbook for postgraduates, while being of special interest to professionals in the field of earthquakes and acoustic emission.

The Acoustic Emission (AE) technique uses ad hoc transducers to detect AE events caused by crack growth in structures under external loading. This technique is similar to the one employed in earthquake control, where seismic waves reach the monitoring stations placed on the surface of the Earth. And although they take place on different scales, these two phenomena – damage in structural materials and earthquakes in geophysics – are very similar. In both cases a release of elastic energy from sources located inside a medium occurs.Both earthquakes and AE signals can be seen as critical phenomena and follow the Guttenberg-Richter frequency-magnitude relationship under a wide variety of conditions. The number of earthquakes and AE signals scale as a power-law of the area of the rupture zone, where fractal scaling is proposed for the spatial and temporal distributions of earthquakes and AEs. In addition, earthquakes can be taken as an example of the notion of self-organized criticality, since this idea describes the spontaneous organization of the dynamics of a system towards a very particular state, analogous to the critical point found in equilibrium phase transitions. It is also pointed out that brittle failure phenomena, as identified through AE monitoring in concrete, masonry and rocks, can be considered as critical phenomena. This volume includes contributions from internationally recognized experts in the areas of seismicity and acoustic emission, presented at the Post-Conference Workshop on “Acoustic Emission and Critical Phenomena: From Structural Mechanics to Geophysics” (Catania, Italy, 22 June 2007) during the 6th International Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures (FraMCoS-6). Acoustic Emission and Critical Phenomena: From Structural Mechanics to Geophysics is divided into two parts: Acoustic Emission and Critical Structural States (Part 1), and Seismic Mechanics and Critical Behaviours (Part 2). The book brings together the state-of-the-art in areas ranging from the mechanics of materials to geophysics, and outlines the potential of the AE technique in terms of practical applications (non-destructive testing and failure evaluation) and theoretical developments (critical phenomena in complex systems). The book will proof to be invaluable to civil and geotechnical engineers, and to researchers working in the areas of mechanics of materials, geophysics, and nondestructive measurements and testing.

Proteins and macromolecular structures represent one of the most important building blocks for a variety of biological processes.

This book presents the relevant consequences of recently discovered and interdisciplinary phenomena, triggered by local mechanical instabilities. In particular, it looks at emissions from nano-scale mechanical instabilities such as fracture, turbulence, buckling and cavitation, focussing on vibrations at the TeraHertz frequency and Piezonuclear reactions. Future applications for this work could include earthquake precursors, climate change, energy production and cellular biology.A series of fracture experiments on natural rocks demonstrates that the TeraHertz vibrations are able to induce fission reactions on medium weight elements accompanied by neutron emissions. The same phenomenon appears to have occurred in several different situations, particularly in the chemical evolution of the Earth and Solar System, through seismicity (rocky planets) and storms (gaseous planets). As the authors explore, these phenomena can also explain puzzles related to the history of our planet, like the ocean formation or the primordial carbon pollution, as well as scientific mysteries, like the so-called “cold nuclear fusion” or the correct radio-carbon dating of organic materials, such as the Turin Shroud. In biology, Piezonuclear reactions could explain the mechanism that governs the so-called "sodium-potassium pump" and more in general, the metabolic processes.Scientists engaged in seismology, geophysics, geochemistry, climatology, planetology, condensed matter physics and biology, as well as those involved in theoretical and applied mechanics, will all appreciate the innovative work presented here in a holistic way.