title: Slow slip and the transition from fast to slow fronts in the rupture of frictional interfaces.
abstract: The failure of the population of microjunctions forming the frictional interface between two solids is central to fields ranging from biomechanics to seismology. This failure is mediated by the propagation along the interface of various types of rupture fronts, covering a wide range of velocities. Among them are the so-called slow fronts, which are recently discovered fronts much slower than the materials' sound speeds. Despite intense modeling activity, the mechanisms underlying slow fronts remain elusive. Here, we introduce a multiscale model capable of reproducing both the transition from fast to slow fronts in a single rupture event and the short-time slip dynamics observed in recent experiments. We identify slow slip immediately following the arrest of a fast front as a phenomenon sufficient for the front to propagate further at a much slower pace. Whether slow fronts are actually observed is controlled both by the interfacial stresses and by the width of the local distribution of forces among microjunctions. Our results show that slow fronts are qualitatively different from faster fronts. Because the transition from fast to slow fronts is potentially as generic as slow slip, we anticipate that it might occur in the wide range of systems in which slow slip has been reported, including seismic faults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway;Laboratoire de Tribologie et Dynamique des Systèmes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 69134 Ecully, France; and.
authors.forename: Jørgen Kjoshagen
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Trømborg
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Henrik Andersen
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Sveinsson
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Tribologie et Dynamique des Systèmes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 69134 Ecully, France; and julien.scheibert@ec-lyon.fr malthe@fys.uio.no.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Scheibert
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Kjetil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thøgersen
authors.affiliation: Astrophysics Group, School of Physics, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: David Skålid
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Amundsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway; julien.scheibert@ec-lyon.fr malthe@fys.uio.no.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malthe-Sørenssen
keywords: friction; multiscale modeling; onset of sliding; stick–slip