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Unstable Slip Pulses and Earthquake Nucleation as a Nonequilibrium First-Order Phase Transition.
Efim A Brener1, Michael Aldam2, Fabian Barras3
1Peter Grünberg Institut, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
Physical Review Letters
|December 22, 2018
Summary
Rapid slip in physical systems initiates from unstable slip pulses, acting as critical nuclei. These findings advance our understanding of earthquake nucleation and frictional dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Physics
- Geophysics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Frictional interfaces and rapid slip dynamics are crucial in various physical systems.
- Understanding earthquake nucleation and dissipative slippage is essential for predicting seismic events.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of generic friction laws in slip pulse solutions.
- To identify and characterize
- critical nuclei
- for rapid slip.
- To explore the transition from unstable to sustained slip pulses.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of stress-dependent steady-state slip pulse solutions.
- Quasi-1D approximation of thin elastic bodies.
- Dynamical calculations and 2D numerical simulations.
Main Results:
- Generic friction laws yield unstable slip pulse solutions in quasi-1D.
- Unstable slip pulses of characteristic size L* act as critical nuclei for rapid slip.
- 2D calculations confirm the existence of L* and reveal a richer phase diagram with sustained slip pulses when L_G < L*.
Conclusions:
- Unstable slip pulses serve as critical nuclei for rapid slip, analogous to first-order phase transitions.
- Fracture mechanics influences slip dynamics, leading to sustained slip pulses in 2D systems.
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