Inertia and universality of avalanche statistics: The case of slowly deformed amorphous solids

TL;DR

This study uses finite element simulations to analyze avalanche statistics in amorphous solids under slow deformation, revealing how inertia and damping influence avalanche behavior and scaling relations.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed numerical analysis of inertial effects on avalanche statistics, highlighting non-universal damping-dependent feedback mechanisms.

Findings

Inertial avalanches are damping-dependent and differ from overdamped cases.

Universal exponents dominate in overdamped avalanches, but not in inertial ones.

New scaling relations for avalanche properties are proposed.

Abstract

By means of a finite elements technique we solve numerically the dynamics of an amorphous solid under deformation in the quasistatic driving limit. We study the noise statistics of the stress-strain signal in the steady state plastic flow, focusing on systems with low internal dissipation. We analyze the distributions of avalanche sizes and durations and the density of shear transformations when varying the damping strength. In contrast to avalanches in the overdamped case, dominated by the yielding point universal exponents, inertial avalanches are controlled by a non-universal damping dependent feedback mechanism; eventually turning negligible the role of correlations. Still, some general properties of avalanches persist and new scaling relations can be proposed.