scholarly journals Heating, weakening and shear localization in earthquake rupture

Author(s):  
James R. Rice

Field and borehole observations of active earthquake fault zones show that shear is often localized to principal deforming zones of order 0.1–10 mm width. This paper addresses how frictional heating in rapid slip weakens faults dramatically, relative to their static frictional strength, and promotes such intense localization. Pronounced weakening occurs even on dry rock-on-rock surfaces, due to flash heating effects, at slip rates above approximately 0.1 m s −1 (earthquake slip rates are typically of the order of 1 m s −1 ). But weakening in rapid shear is also predicted theoretically in thick fault gouge in the presence of fluids (whether native ground fluids or volatiles such as H 2 O or CO 2 released by thermal decomposition reactions), and the predicted localizations are compatible with such narrow shear zones as have been observed. The underlying concepts show how fault zone materials with high static friction coefficients, approximately 0.6–0.8, can undergo strongly localized shear at effective dynamic friction coefficients of the order of 0.1, thus fitting observational constraints, e.g. of earthquakes producing negligible surface heat outflow and, for shallow events, only rarely creating extensive melt. The results to be summarized include those of collaborative research published with Nicolas Brantut (University College London), Eric Dunham (Stanford University), Nadia Lapusta (Caltech), Hiroyuki Noda (JAMSTEC, Japan), John D. Platt (Carnegie Institution for Science, now at *gramLabs), Alan Rempel (Oregon State University) and John W. Rudnicki (Northwestern University). This article is part of the themed issue ‘Faulting, friction and weakening: from slow to fast motion’.

1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. H. Gassenfeit ◽  
A. Soom

Measurements of instantaneous coefficients of friction and associated motions during start-up at a planar contact are presented for four different lubrication conditions. The various patterns of transient behavior are discussed. Difficulties in interpreting static friction coefficients during rapidly applied tangential loads are described in relation to the motion data. It is shown that a molybdenum disulphide grease yields a friction characteristic that is quite different from either dry or boundary lubricated conditions in the presence of liquid lubricants. Transition distances from a static or maximum initial friction to kinetic conditions are examined and found to be considerably longer than had been previously found for concentrated contacts. Some suggestions regarding future studies of unsteady friction behavior are made.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaqi Gao ◽  
Baoping Shi

<p>Rate- and state-dependent friction laws (RSF laws) are empirical laws derived from laboratory experiments related to rock friction. They have been used to quantitatively describe complex fault friction processes. With a combination of the RSF laws and the McKenzie-Brune frictional heat generation model, we have studied the effects of frictional heating processs on the fault strength variation and temporal evolution of temperature based on the spring-slider-fault system subjected to Ruina and Chester-Higgs RSF laws. The system equations are solved efficiently by Dormand-Prince method with adaptive steps. First, with a comparison to the Ruina- model in which the temperature effect due to frictional heating on frictional strength is neglected, the numerical results show that the fault will be unstable slightly earlier for the Chester-Higgs- model in which the temperature effect due to frictional heating on frictional strength is taken into consideration, which indicates that the rise of temperature caused by frictional heating can lead to a slight time advance of fault instability. Second, by contrast with Ruina- model, the frictional strength will keep a little bit higher for the Chester-Higgs- model when the fault sliding at high speed, indicating that frictional heat can strengthen faults to a certain extent. Third, the simulation results also suggest that, at the same rupture velocity, the temperature change for the Chester-Higgs- model is much smaller than that given by the Ruina- model, indicating that frictional heat can also restrain the sharp rise of temperature on fault surface. In addition, under the same parameters and initial conditions, the seismic occurrence time giving by the Chester-Higgs- model is obviously shorter than that by the Ruina- model, indicating that a significant effect of friction heating generated on entire fault temporal evolution could greatly reduce the seismic recurrence time. Correspondingly, both static stress drop and total slip resulted from the Chester-Higgs- model is also smaller than that from the Ruina- model, respectively.</p>


2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gad Fischer ◽  
Robert G. Gilbert

Ian Gordon Ross (1926?2006) was educated at the University of Sydney (BSc 1943?1946, MSc 1947?1949) and University College London (PhD 1949?1952), did postdoctoral research at Florida State University (1953?1954), and was a staff member at the University of Sydney, 1954?1967. In 1968, he moved to the Australian National University (ANU) as Professor of Chemistry, where he also became Dean of Science (1973), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (1977) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Special Projects) (1989?1990). He was instrumental in setting up Anutech, the commercial arm of the University. He was a driving force behind the establishment of undergraduate and postgraduate engineering at the ANU. His research centred on electronic spectroscopy of pi systems.


An experimental study has been made of the friction of real ski and of smaller models sliding on snow and ice at various temperatures. On cold snow the static friction is high. When the sliding speed is appreciable the friction falls to a low value, and experiments support the view, put forward earlier, that this low friction is due to a localized surface melting produced by frictional heating. Measurements are made on a variety of surfaces including metals, synthetic polymers and waxes. The contact angle which water makes with the surface is important, and there is evidence that this can decrease during sliding. In general, the solids with a high contact angle give a lower friction. The behaviour is also influenced by the relative hardness of ice and of the ski surface at the temperature of sliding. Polytetrafluoroethylene gives a very low friction on snow and ice under all conditions.


Author(s):  
Sayed A. Nassar ◽  
Xianjie Yang

New formulas are developed for the torque-tension relationship, various torque components, and for the break-away torque values in threaded fastener applications. The 3-D aspects of the lead helix and thread profile angles, the kinetic and static friction coefficients are all taken into account. Two scenarios of the contact pressure between threads and under the turning fastener head are considered; namely, uniform distributed and linearly distributed contact pressure scenarios. The effect of thread pitch, lead helix and thread profile angles, friction coefficients, and the fastener geometry is discussed. Results from the new formulas are compared with the approximate torque-tension relationship provided in the literature. A percent difference analysis indicates that the new formulas provide significant improvement that would enhance the reliability and safety of bolted connections, especially in critical applications.


1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Streator ◽  
B. Bhushan ◽  
D. B. Bogy

Static and dynamic friction coefficients are presented for an Al2O3·TiC slider in contact with 130 mm carbon-coated rigid thin film disks lubricated with several different perfluoropolyether lubricants. The lubricants tested include three nonpolar liquid lubricants and one polar liquid lubricant with dihydroxyl end groups. The effects of lubricant film thickness, disk surface topography, sliding speed and lubricant viscosity are investigated. In many cases, the interfaces exhibited a sharp increase in the dynamic and static friction coefficients after a certain film thickness was reached, due to strong adhesion in the interface. In most cases, the lubricant thickness for the onset of high friction forces was found to increase with increasing disk surface roughness, lubricant viscosity and sliding speed. Under certain conditions stick/slip of the slider occurred during which the static friction increased with time of contact. The various data suggest that the rate at which strong adhesion develops depends on the lubricant viscosity.


1999 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 246-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Wang ◽  
K. Komvopoulos

The apparent friction force and electric contact resistance at the magnetic head-disk interface were measured simultaneously for textured and untextured disks lubricated with perfluoropolyether films of different thicknesses. The initial stick time, representing the time between the application of a driving torque and the initiation of interfacial slip, was determined based on the initial rise of the apparent friction force and the abrupt increase of the electric contact resistance. Relatively thin lubricant films yielded very short initial stick times and low static friction coefficients. However, for a film thickness comparable to the equivalent surface roughness, relatively long initial stick times and high static friction coefficients were observed. The peak value of the apparent friction coefficient was low for thin lubricant films and increased gradually with the film thickness. The variations of the initial stick time, static friction coefficient, and peak friction coefficient with the lubricant film thickness and surface roughness are interpreted in the context of a new physical model of the lubricated interface. The model accounts for the lubricant coverage, effective shear area, saturation of interfacial cavities, limited meniscus effects, and the increase of the critical shear stress of thin liquid films due to the solid-like behavior exhibited at a state of increased molecular ordering. [S0742-4787(00)03101-5]


2016 ◽  
Vol 94 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soran Jahangiri ◽  
Gavin S. Heverly-Coulson ◽  
Nicholas J. Mosey

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