Velocity-strengthening friction significantly affects interfacial dynamics, strength and dissipation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates through theoretical models that velocity-strengthening friction influences the dynamics, energy release, and rupture behavior of frictional interfaces, with implications for understanding natural and engineered systems.

Contribution

It introduces and analyzes three variants of a rate-and-state friction model to show how velocity-strengthening friction affects rupture dynamics and energy dissipation.

Findings

Velocity-strengthening friction alters rupture propagation speeds.

Different velocity-strengthening behaviors lead to similar event magnitudes with varying dissipation.

Presence of velocity-strengthening friction influences total energy released during slip events.

Abstract

Frictional interfaces are abundant in natural and manmade systems and their dynamics still pose challenges of fundamental and technological importance. A recent extensive compilation of multiple-source experimental data has revealed that velocity-strengthening friction, where the steady-state frictional resistance increases with sliding velocity over some range, is a generic feature of such interfaces. Moreover, velocity-strengthening friction has very recently been linked to slow laboratory earthquakes and stick-slip motion. Here we elucidate the importance of velocity-strengthening friction by theoretically studying three variants of a realistic rate-and-state friction model. All variants feature identical logarithmic velocity-weakening friction at small sliding velocities, but differ in their higher velocity behaviors. By quantifying energy partition (e.g. radiation and dissipation), the selection of interfacial rupture fronts and rupture arrest, we show that the presence or absence of velocity-strengthening friction can significantly affect the global interfacial resistance and the total energy released during frictional instabilities ("event magnitude"). Furthermore, we show that different forms of velocity-strengthening friction (e.g. logarithmic vs. linear) may result in events of similar magnitude, yet with dramatically different dissipation and radiation rates. This happens because the events are mediated by interfacial rupture fronts with vastly different propagation velocities, where stronger velocity-strengthening friction promotes slower rupture. These theoretical results may have significant implications on our understanding of frictional dynamics.