TY - JOUR
T1 - Slow rupture of frictional interfaces
AU - Bar Sinai, Yohai
AU - Brener, Efim A.
AU - Bouchbinder, Eran
PY - 2012/2/1
Y1 - 2012/2/1
N2 - The failure of frictional interfaces and the spatiotemporal structures that accompany it are central to a wide range of geophysical, physical and engineering systems. Recent geophysical and laboratory observations indicated that interfacial failure can be mediated by slow slip rupture phenomena which are distinct from ordinary, earthquake-like, fast rupture. These discoveries have influenced the way we think about frictional motion, yet the nature and properties of slow rupture are not completely understood. We show that slow rupture is an intrinsic and robust property of simple non-monotonic rate-and-state friction laws. It is associated with a new velocity scale c min, determined by the friction law, below which steady state rupture cannot propagate. We further show that rupture can occur in a continuum of states, spanning a wide range of velocities from cmin to elastic wave-speeds, and predict different properties for slow rupture and ordinary fast rupture. Our results are qualitatively consistent with recent high-resolution laboratory experiments and may provide a theoretical framework for understanding slow rupture phenomena along frictional interfaces.
AB - The failure of frictional interfaces and the spatiotemporal structures that accompany it are central to a wide range of geophysical, physical and engineering systems. Recent geophysical and laboratory observations indicated that interfacial failure can be mediated by slow slip rupture phenomena which are distinct from ordinary, earthquake-like, fast rupture. These discoveries have influenced the way we think about frictional motion, yet the nature and properties of slow rupture are not completely understood. We show that slow rupture is an intrinsic and robust property of simple non-monotonic rate-and-state friction laws. It is associated with a new velocity scale c min, determined by the friction law, below which steady state rupture cannot propagate. We further show that rupture can occur in a continuum of states, spanning a wide range of velocities from cmin to elastic wave-speeds, and predict different properties for slow rupture and ordinary fast rupture. Our results are qualitatively consistent with recent high-resolution laboratory experiments and may provide a theoretical framework for understanding slow rupture phenomena along frictional interfaces.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84856872646&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2011GL050554
DO - 10.1029/2011GL050554
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AN - SCOPUS:84856872646
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 39
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 3
M1 - L03308
ER -