[1] Although mantle slabs ultimately drive plate motions, the mechanism by which they do so remains unclear. A detached slab descending through the mantle will excite mantle flow that exerts shear tractions on the base of the surface plates. This ‘‘slab suction’’ force drives subducting and overriding plates symmetrically toward subduction zones. Alternatively, cold, strong slabs may effectivel...

At present, reducing subgrade settlement of soft soil foundation is a key problem in high-speed railway construction. Pile-slab structure is a widely-utilized form of foundation structure to reduce the subgrade settlement in China. In order to save the engineering cost for high-speed railway construction in developing countries, the author developed a pile-slab structure and named it as the new...

Reflection and refraction of electromagnetic waves by artificial periodic composites (metamaterials) can be accurately modeled by an effective medium theory only if the boundary of the medium is explicitly taken into account and the two effective parameters of the medium (the index of refraction and the impedance) are correctly determined. Theories that consider infinite periodic composites do ...

We present new tomographic models of the Nazca slab under South America from 6°S to 32°S, and from 95 km to lower mantle (895 km) depths. By combining data from 14 separate networks in the central Andes, we use finite-frequency teleseismic P-wave tomography to image the Nazca slab from the upper mantle into the mantle transition zone (MTZ) and the uppermost lower mantle on a regional scale. Our...

We investigate the influence of slab thickness on the electronic structure of the Si(1 0 0)- p([Formula: see text]) surface in density functional theory (DFT) calculations, considering both density of states and band structure. Our calculations, with slab thicknesses of up to 78 atomic layers, reveal that the slab thickness profoundly affects the surface band structure, particularly the danglin...

Obtaining temperature distribution data of slabs under rolling is essential as the mechanical and metallurgical properties of the metal under this process vary with temperature. Using the control volume method, a mathematical model is employed in this study to predict slab temperature in the hot roll process at Mobarakeh Steel Company. The effects of different parameters including the heat resu...

An approximation technique is considered for computing transmission and reflection coefficients for propagation of an elastic pulse through a planar slab of finite width. The propagation of elastic pulse through a planar slab is derived from first principles using straightforward time-dependent method. The paper ends with calculations of enhancement factor for the elastic plane wave and it is s...

Concrete infrastructure systems require large capital investments and resource flows to construct and maintain. An integrated life cycle assessment and cost model was developed to evaluate infrastructure sustainability, and compare alternative materials and designs using environmental, economic and social indicators. The model is applied to two alternative concrete bridge deck designs: one a co...

At two trench segments below the Andes, the Nazca Plate is subducting sub-horizontally over ∼200-300 km, thought to result from a combination of buoyant oceanic-plateau subduction and hydrodynamic mantle-wedge suction. Whether the actual conditions for both processes to work in concert existed is uncertain. Here we infer from a tectonic reconstruction of the Andes constructed in a mantle refere...

Abstract Slab-derived fluids control crustal dynamics in the subduction zone. However, slab-derived fluid budget has never been quantified beyond a geophysical and geological spatiotemporal resolution. Here, we target an intense earthquake swarm associated with M9 Tohoku earthquake, which represented critical dynamic behavior of fluid. The volume involved quantified, plausible range 10 6 −10 8 ...