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We present a simple model for the friction of two solid bodies moving against each other. In a self consistent way we can obtain the dependence of the macroscopic friction force as a function of the driving velocity, the normal force and…
When a system has more than one stable state, how can the stability of these states be compared? This deceptively simple question has important consequences for ecosystems, because systems with alternative stable states can undergo dramatic…
Simple models for ruptures along a heterogeneous earthquake fault zone are studied, focussing on the interplay between the roles of disorder and dynamical effects. A class of models are found to operate naturally at a critical point whose…
Mean-field coupled lattice maps are used to approximate the physics of driven threshold systems with long range interactions. However, they are incapable of modeling specific features of the dynamic instability responsible for generating…
Planar sliding of objects is modeled and analyzed. The model can be used for non-prehensile manipulation of objects lying on a surface. We study possible motions generated by frictional contacts, such as those arising between a soft finger…
In order to elucidate the process underpinning the apparently counterintuitive phenomena observed in the freefall experiments conducted by E. Hamm and J. G\'eminard [Amer. J. Phys. 78, 828 (2010)], we construct a simple dynamical model of a…
Sandpiles form one of the largest class of models displaying a critical stationary state. Despite a few decades of research, a comprehensive and systematic rigorous characterisation of their spatial and, even more, time dependent properties…
We study a model of ``organized'' criticality, where a single avalanche propagates through an \textit{a priori} static (i.e., organized) sandpile configuration. The latter is chosen according to an i.i.d. distribution from a Borel…
We present a two-dimensional spring-block model of earthquakes with the full nonlinear equations for the forces in terms of displacements. Correspondence of our linearized version to earlier models reveals in them inherently asymmetric…
We study the steady state of the abelian sandpile models with stochastic toppling rules. The particle addition operators commute with each other, but in general these operators need not be diagonalizable. We use their abelian algebra to…
We report the study of a new experimental granular Brownian motor, inspired to the one published in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 248001 (2010)], but different in some ingredients. As in that previous work, the motor is constituted by a rotating…
Numerical simulations of assemblies of grains under cyclic loading exhibit ``granular ratcheting'': a small net deformation occurs with each cycle, leading to a linear accumulation of deformation with cycle number. We show that this is due…
Empirical rate-and-state friction laws are widely used in geophysics and engineering to simulate interface slip. They postulate that the friction coefficient depends on the local slip rate and a state variable that reflects the history of…
We present large scale simulations of a stochastic sandpile model in two dimensions. We use moments analysis to evaluate critical exponents and finite size scaling method to consistently test the obtained results. The general picture…
We study statistical distributions in a mechanical model for an earthquake fault introduced by Burridge and Knopoff [R. Burridge and L. Knopoff, {\sl Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am.} {\bf 57}, 341 (1967)]. Our investigations on the size (moment),…
Since long back, scientists have been putting enormous effort to understand earthquake dynamics -the goal is to develop a successful prediction scheme which can provide reliable alarm that an earthquake is imminent. Model studies sometimes…
Friction laws, which are a key to the understanding of the diversity of earthquakes, are considered theoretically. Using dimensional analysis, the logarithmic dependence of the friction coefficient on the slip velocity and the state…
After the introduction of sandpile model a number of different variants have been studied. In most of these models sand particles are indistinguishable. Here we have painted the sand particles using a few distinct colors, and restrict them…
We study earthquake interval time statistics, paying special attention to inter-occurrence times in the two-dimensional (2D) stick-slip (block-slider) model. Inter-occurrence times are the time interval between successive earthquakes on all…
Stress-strain relations for random packings of entangling chains under triaxial compression can exhibit strain stiffening and sustain stresses several orders-of-magnitude beyond typical granular materials. X-ray tomography reveals the…