Aftershock sequences and seismic-like organization of acoustic events produced by a single propagating crack

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03559-4
• Publication Date: 2018-04-04T02:46:46Z
• Authors: Jonathan Barés; Alizée Dubois; Lamine Hattali; Davy Dalmas; Daniel Bonamy
• Keywords: Richter-Gutemberg law; Science; FOS: Physical sciences; statistical physics; [SPI.MECA.SOLID]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Mechanics [physics.med-ph]/Solid mechanics [physics.class-ph]; Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter; 01 natural sciences; Article; Physics - Geophysics; 0103 physical sciences; [SPI.MECA.SOLID] Engineering Sciences [physics]/Mechanics [physics.med-ph]/Solid mechanics [physics.class-ph]; Condensed Matter - Statistical Mechanics; [SPI.SIGNAL] Engineering Sciences [physics]/Signal and Image processing; [SPI.ACOU]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Acoustics [physics.class-ph]; [SPI.ACOU] Engineering Sciences [physics]/Acoustics [physics.class-ph]; Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech); Omori law; Q; crackling dynamics; time clustering; Geophysics (physics.geo-ph); fracture mechanics; Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft); seismicity; acoustic emission; [SPI.SIGNAL]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Signal and Image processing

AbstractBrittle fractures of inhomogeneous materials like rocks, concrete, or ceramics are of two types: Nominally brittle and driven by the propagation of a single dominant crack or quasi-brittle and resulting from the accumulation of many microcracks. The latter goes along with acoustic noise, whose analysis has revealed that events form aftershock sequences obeying characteristic laws reminiscent of those in seismology. Yet, their origin lacks explanation. Here we show that such a statistical organization is not only specific to the multi-cracking situations of quasi-brittle failure and seismology, but also rules the acoustic events produced by a propagating crack. This simpler situation has permitted us to relate these laws to the overall scale-free distribution of inter-event time and energy and to uncover their selection by the crack speed. These results provide a comprehensive picture of how acoustic events are organized upon material failure in the most fundamental of fracture states: single propagating cracks.