Unsteady slip pulses under spatially-varying prestress

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Hauptverfasser: Pomyalov, Anna, Bouchbinder, Eran
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Pomyalov, Anna
Bouchbinder, Eran
author_facet Pomyalov, Anna
Bouchbinder, Eran
contents It was recently established that self-healing slip pulses under uniform prestress $τ_b$ are unstable frictional rupture modes, i.e., they either slowly expand/decay with time t. Furthermore, their dynamics were shown to follow a reduced-dimensionality description corresponding to a special $L(c)$ line in a plane defined by the pulse propagation velocity $c(t)$ and size $L(t)$. Yet, uniform prestress is rather the exception than the rule in natural faults. We study the effects of a spatially-varying prestress $τ_b(x)$ on 2D slip pulses, initially generated under a uniform $τ_b$ along a rate-and-state friction fault. We consider periodic and constant-gradient prestress $τ_b(x)$ around the reference uniform $τ_b$. For a periodic $τ_b(x)$, pulses either sustain and form quasi-limit cycles in the $L-c$ plane or decay predominantly monotonically along the $L(c)$ line, depending on the instability index of the initial pulse and the properties of the periodic $τ_b(x)$. For a constant-gradient $τ_b(x)$, expanding/decaying pulses closely follow the $L(c)$ line, with systematic shifts determined by the sign and magnitude of the gradient. We also find that a spatially-varying $τ_b(x)$ can revert the expanding/decaying nature of the initial reference pulse. Finally, we show that a constant-gradient $τ_b(x)$, of sufficient magnitude and specific sign, can lead to the nucleation of a back-propagating rupture at the healing tail of the initial pulse, generating a bilateral crack-like rupture. This pulse-to-crack transition, along with the above-described effects, demonstrate that rich rupture dynamics merge from a simple, nonuniform prestress. Furthermore, we show that as long as pulses exist, their dynamics are related to the special $L(c)$ line, providing an effective, reduced-dimensionality description of unsteady slip pulses under spatially-varying prestress.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_21539
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Unsteady slip pulses under spatially-varying prestress
Pomyalov, Anna
Bouchbinder, Eran
Materials Science
Soft Condensed Matter
Pattern Formation and Solitons
Geophysics
It was recently established that self-healing slip pulses under uniform prestress $τ_b$ are unstable frictional rupture modes, i.e., they either slowly expand/decay with time t. Furthermore, their dynamics were shown to follow a reduced-dimensionality description corresponding to a special $L(c)$ line in a plane defined by the pulse propagation velocity $c(t)$ and size $L(t)$. Yet, uniform prestress is rather the exception than the rule in natural faults. We study the effects of a spatially-varying prestress $τ_b(x)$ on 2D slip pulses, initially generated under a uniform $τ_b$ along a rate-and-state friction fault. We consider periodic and constant-gradient prestress $τ_b(x)$ around the reference uniform $τ_b$. For a periodic $τ_b(x)$, pulses either sustain and form quasi-limit cycles in the $L-c$ plane or decay predominantly monotonically along the $L(c)$ line, depending on the instability index of the initial pulse and the properties of the periodic $τ_b(x)$. For a constant-gradient $τ_b(x)$, expanding/decaying pulses closely follow the $L(c)$ line, with systematic shifts determined by the sign and magnitude of the gradient. We also find that a spatially-varying $τ_b(x)$ can revert the expanding/decaying nature of the initial reference pulse. Finally, we show that a constant-gradient $τ_b(x)$, of sufficient magnitude and specific sign, can lead to the nucleation of a back-propagating rupture at the healing tail of the initial pulse, generating a bilateral crack-like rupture. This pulse-to-crack transition, along with the above-described effects, demonstrate that rich rupture dynamics merge from a simple, nonuniform prestress. Furthermore, we show that as long as pulses exist, their dynamics are related to the special $L(c)$ line, providing an effective, reduced-dimensionality description of unsteady slip pulses under spatially-varying prestress.
title Unsteady slip pulses under spatially-varying prestress
topic Materials Science
Soft Condensed Matter
Pattern Formation and Solitons
Geophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.21539