This course will present a comprehensive review of recent advances in the laboratory investigation of brittle fracture, frictional strength and stick-slip instability, brittle-ductile transition, and permeability evolution in crustal rocks. Fundamentals of theoretical concepts in elastic fracture mechanics, poroelasticity, critical state and cap models of rock plasticity, bifurcation analysis of strain localization, as well as rate- and state-dependent friction constitutive models will be introduced. These concepts provide the overall framework for the phenomenological interpretation and micromechanical analysis of the rock physics data. The tectonic and reservoir applications of these concepts and data are illustrated by selected applications, including the representation of seismic source, mechanics of earthquake rupture, borehole instability, reservoir compaction, and geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide. 

Teng-fong WONG
Present Position: Professor of Geophysics
Department of Geosciences
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, N.Y. 11794-2100