Experimental Strike-Slip Fault Initiation in Clay Models

Kaolin clay experiments document dextral strike-slip fault evolution under controlled shear loading at 0.5 mm/min. Michele Cooke created this dataset from physical modeling using overhead cameras and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) analysis. The data was last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze incremental horizontal displacement fields from sand grain constellations tracked via DIC.
• Calculate strain maps from stacked divergence of incremental displacement over five stages.
• Investigate the influence of precut weakness spacing and orientation on fault initiation.
• Compare fault evolution under localized versus distributed basal shear boundary conditions.
• Use vorticity and divergence ratios to determine the sense of strain in the clay model.

Strengths

• 1.9 GB of data from controlled physical experiments.
• Displacement data points calculated every 0.75 mm via a three-pass FFT filter.
• Experiments conducted with precise boundary conditions and clay shear strength of 119-123 Pa.

Limitations

• Specific sample size (number of experiments or image frames) is not provided.
• PIV analysis is disrupted and frames are removed when sand is added to the surface.
• The dataset's temporal coverage for the experiments is not specified.

Provenance

Source

Michele Cooke via figshare.

Collection Method

Physical experiments using a split box apparatus, overhead cameras, and Matlab-based PIVlab analysis.

Freshness

Last updated in April 2026.