The hierarchical rupture process of a fault: an experimental study

Lei, Xinglin; Kusunose, Kazuhiro; Satoh, Takashi; Nishizawa, Osamu

doi:10.1016/s0031-9201(03)00016-5

Cited by 95 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…5). It is remarkable that laboratory experiments strongly support this result (Lei et al, 2003). The Gutenberg-Richter law is at the heart of many models of seismicity.…”

Section: The Main Directions Of the Present Workmentioning

confidence: 70%

Scaling similarities of multiple fracturing of solid materials

Kapiris

Balasis

Kopanas

et al. 2004

Nonlin. Processes Geophys.

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Abstract. It has recently reported that electromagnetic flashes of low-energy γ -rays emitted during multi-fracturing on a neutron star, and electromagnetic pulses emitted in the laboratory by a disordered material subjected to an increasing external load, share distinctive statistical properties with earthquakes, such as power-law energy distributions (Cheng et al., 1996;Kossobokov et al., 2000;Rabinovitch et al., 2001;Sornette and Helmstetter, 2002). The neutron starquakes may release strain energies up to 10 46 erg, while, the fractures in laboratory samples release strain energies approximately a fraction of an erg. An earthquake fault region can build up strain energy up to approximately 10 26 erg for the strongest earthquakes. Clear sequences of kilohertzmegahertz electromagnetic avalanches have been detected from a few days up to a few hours prior to recent destructive earthquakes in Greece. A question that arises effortlessly is if the pre-seismic electromagnetic fluctuations also share the same statistical properties. Our study justifies a positive answer. Our analysis also reveals "symptoms" of a transition to the main rupture common with earthquake sequences and acoustic emission pulses observed during laboratory experiments (Maes et al., 1998).

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“…5). It is remarkable that laboratory experiments strongly support this result (Lei et al, 2003). The Gutenberg-Richter law is at the heart of many models of seismicity.…”

Section: The Main Directions Of the Present Workmentioning

confidence: 70%

Scaling similarities of multiple fracturing of solid materials

Kapiris

Balasis

Kopanas

et al. 2004

Nonlin. Processes Geophys.

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“…It has been assumed that both AEs and DSEs are in some sense small-scale versions of earthquakes and can provide insights into earthquake mechanics [e.g., Lei et al, 2003;Thompson et al, 2009;Johnson et al, 2013;Goebel et al, 2014aGoebel et al, , 2014b.…”

Section: 1002/2014jb011220mentioning

confidence: 99%

Preslip and cascade processes initiating laboratory stick slip

2014

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Recent modeling studies have explored whether earthquakes begin with a large aseismic nucleation process or initiate dynamically from the rapid growth of a smaller instability in a "cascade-up" process. To explore such a case in the laboratory, we study the initiation of dynamic rupture (stick slip) of a smooth saw-cut fault in a 76 mm diameter cylindrical granite laboratory sample at 40-120 MPa confining pressure. We use a high dynamic range recording system to directly compare the seismic waves radiated during the stick-slip event to those radiated from tiny (M À6) discrete seismic events, commonly known as acoustic emissions (AEs), that occur in the seconds prior to each large stick slip. The seismic moments, focal mechanisms, locations, and timing of the AEs all contribute to our understanding of their mechanics and provide us with information about the stick-slip nucleation process. In a sequence of 10 stick slips, the first few microseconds of the signals recorded from stick-slip instabilities are nearly indistinguishable from those of premonitory AEs. In this sense, it appears that each stick slip begins as an AE event that rapidly (~20 μs) grows about 2 orders of magnitude in linear dimension and ruptures the entire 150 mm length of the simulated fault. We also measure accelerating fault slip in the final seconds before stick slip. We estimate that this slip is at least 98% aseismic and that it both weakens the fault and produces AEs that will eventually cascade-up to initiate the larger dynamic rupture.

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“…While AE observations have proven extremely valuable in demonstrating processes of brittle rock fracture, [e.g., Lockner et al, 1991;Lei et al, 2003], comparatively few studies use AE to examine frictional behavior. Scholz [1968] monitored AE rates for experiments in which stick slip was induced on pre-cut samples under a triaxial loading configuration, observing a lack of reproducibility in terms of AE quantity and the point at which AE rates accelerate in the loading cycle.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The system functions as a continuous circular buffer that can be transferred to disk following the recording of a significant event. Advances in technology have lead to rapid AE waveform acquisition systems [Lei et al, 2003], allowing new observations of rupture. However we believe this to be the first system to record continuous waveforms for significant time periods, thus removing the effect of 'mask' time, during which no AE are recorded while events are written to permanent storage and removing the sampling bias imposed by trigger levels.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of premonitory acoustic emission and slip nucleation during a stick slip experiment in smooth faulted Westerly granite

Thompson

Young

Lockner

2005

Geophysical Research Letters

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[1] To investigate laboratory earthquakes, stick-slip events were induced on a saw-cut Westerly granite sample by triaxial loading at 150 MPa confining pressure. Acoustic emissions (AE) were monitored using an innovative continuous waveform recorder. The first motion of each stick slip was recorded as a large-amplitude AE signal. These events source locate onto the saw-cut fault plane, implying that they represent the nucleation sites of the dynamic failure stick-slip events. The precise location of nucleation varied between events and was probably controlled by heterogeneity of stress or surface conditions on the fault. The initial nucleation diameter of each dynamic instability was inferred to be less than 3 mm. A small number of AE were recorded prior to each macro slip event.For the second and third slip events, premonitory AE source mechanisms mimic the large scale fault plane geometry.

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The hierarchical rupture process of a fault: an experimental study

Cited by 95 publications

References 37 publications

Scaling similarities of multiple fracturing of solid materials

Scaling similarities of multiple fracturing of solid materials

Preslip and cascade processes initiating laboratory stick slip

Observations of premonitory acoustic emission and slip nucleation during a stick slip experiment in smooth faulted Westerly granite

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