We introduce a model to describe the wide shear zones observed in modified Couette cell experiments with granular material. The model is a generalization of the recently proposed approach based on a variational principle. The instantaneous shear band is identified with the surface that minimizes the dissipation in a random potential that is biased by the local velocity difference and pressure. ...

Measurements of the splitting or birefringence of seismic shear waves that have passed through the Earth’s mantle yield constraints on the strength and geometry of elastic anisotropy in various regions, including the upper mantle, the transition zone, and the D00 layer. In turn, information about the occurrence and character of seismic anisotropy allows us to make inferences about the style and...

[1] Global Positioning System (GPS) data collected in campaigns in 2000 and 2004 were processed and interpreted with other GPS data in the western Basin and Range province to provide new constraints on the rate, style, and pattern of deformation of the central and northern Walker Lane (WL), which lies near the western boundary of the Basin and Range. Across the central WL, near 38 N latitude, t...

Stirred tanks and bubble columns are widely used as mixing essels and bioreactors. Average spatial fluid velocity gradients t the level of the eddies or the prevailing shear rate, is an imporant variable in bioreactors but is not easy to characterize. A nowledge of shear rate is essential for at least two main reasons: 1) shear rate influences the average apparent viscosity of nonewtonian fluid...