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arXiv · 1104.1950

Stabilizing stick-slip friction

Rosario Capozza·Shmuel M. Rubinstein·Itay Barel·Michael Urbakh·Jay Fineberg
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Abstract

Even the most regular stick-slip frictional sliding is always stochastic, with irregularity in both the intervals between slip events and the sizes of the associated stress drops. Applying small-amplitude oscillations to the shear force, we show, experimentally and theoretically, that the stick-slip periods synchronize. We further show that this phase-locking is related to the inhibition of slow rupture modes which forces a transition to fast rupture, providing a possible mechanism for observed remote triggering of earthquakes. Such manipulation of collective modes may be generally relevant to extended nonlinear systems driven near to criticality.

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Rosario Capozza, Shmuel M. Rubinstein, Itay Barel, Michael Urbakh, Jay Fineberg. 2011-04-11. Stabilizing stick-slip friction. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.107.024301

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