Related papers: Acoustically-induced slip in sheared granular laye…
In this paper, the process of shear deformation of the medium formed by the cubic grains is investigated experimentally. It is demonstrated that the deformation process is intermittent and accompanied by the radiation of acoustic…
The discrete element method constitutes a general class of modeling techniques to simulate the microscopic behavior (i.e. at the particle scale) of granular/soil materials. We present a contact dynamics method, accounting for the cohesive…
Faults are complex systems embedded in an evolving medium fractured by seismic ruptures. This off-fault damage zone is shown to be thermo-hydro-mechano-chemically coupled to the main fault plane by a growing number of studies. Yet,…
We consider a system of granular particles, modeled by two dimensional frictional elastic disks, that is exposed to externally applied time-dependent shear stress in a planar Couette geometry. We concentrate on the external forcing that…
Traditional models of slow slip events (SSEs) often oversimplify fault geometry, yet imaging studies show that real subduction faults are segmented and complex. We investigate how fault interactions influence slip behavior using 3D…
In this Letter, the 2-dimensional dense flow of polygonal particles on an incline with a flat frictional inferior boundary is analyzed by means of contact dynamics discrete element simulations, in order to develop boundary conditions for…
Frictional motion is harder to initiate than to sustain, as evident when pushing a heavy object. This disparity between static and kinetic friction drives instabilities and stick-slip dynamics in systems ranging from nanodevices and MEMS to…
We computationally study the frictional properties of sheared granular media subjected to harmonic vibration applied at the boundary. Such vibrations are thought to play an important role in weakening flows, yet the independent effects of…
The coupled mechanics of fluid-filled granular media controls the behavior of many natural systems such as saturated soils, fault gouge, and landslides. The grain motion and the fluid pressure influence each other: It is well established…
Granular flows during a shear-induced mixing process are studied using Discrete Element Methods. The aim is to understand the underlying elementary mechanisms of transition from unmixed to mixed phases for a granular material featuring a…
By means of two-dimensional contact dynamics simulations, we analyze the vibrational dynamics of a confined granular layer in response to harmonic forcing. We use irregular polygonal grains allowing for strong variability of solid fraction.…
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…
It was discovered recently that frictional granular materials can exhibit an important mechanism for instabilities, i.e the appearance of pairs of complex eigenvalues in their stability matrix. The consequence is an oscillatory exponential…
The sliding motion of gold slabs adsorbed on a graphite substrate is simulated using molecular-dynamics. The central quantity of interest is the mean lateral force, i.e., the kinetic friction rather than the maximum lateral forces, which…
We study experimentally the relaxation towards mechanical equilibrium of a granular pile which has just experienced an avalanche and discuss it in the more general context of the granular jamming transition. Two coexisting dynamics are…
This paper deals with the vibration of granular materials due to cyclic external excitation. It highlights the effect of the acceleration on the settlement speed and proves the existence of a relationship between settlement and loss of…
A major goal in earthquake physics is to derive a constitutive framework for fault slip that captures the dependence of shear strength on fault rheology, sliding velocity, and pore-fluid pressure. In this study, we present H-MEC…
Despite extensive studies on either smooth granular-fluid flow or the solid-like deformation at the slow limit, the change between these two extremes remains largely unexplored. By systematically investigating the fluctuations of tightly…
The development of rate- and state-dependent friction laws offered important insights into the key physical mechanisms of the frictional behaviour of fault gouges and their seismic cycle. However, past approaches were specifically tailored…
Shear rupture and fault slip in crystalline rocks like granite produce large dilation, impacting the spatiotemporal evolution of fluid pressure in the crust during the seismic cycle. To explore how fluid pressure variations are coupled to…