Transition between Macroscopic Steady Slippage and Creep Motion in a System with Velocity-Dependent Friction Stress

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how slip fronts propagate in a visco-elastic system with velocity-dependent friction, revealing the conditions for steady slippage and creep motion, with implications for understanding seismic phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a unified analytical framework for steady slippage and creep motion using a quadratic velocity-dependent friction law, extending to more general laws.

Findings

Critical stress values for slip front propagation are derived.

Slip-front velocity depends on the gradient of the friction curve at zero friction.

Results are validated through numerical simulations and have seismological implications.

Abstract

We investigate the propagation of a slip front in a visco-elastic body on a rigid substrate. The body is one-dimensional, and the loading stress is applied at one end. By employing a local friction law that has a quadratic form of the slip velocity and gives vanishing friction stress at vanishing velocity or above a certain velocity, we show analytically that macroscopic steady slippage and creep motion can be understood in a single framework. The critical values of the end-loading stress causing macroscopic steady slippage and the slip-front propagation velocity appear are obtained. These values are completely determined by the gradient of the slip velocity-friction curve at the vanishing friction stress. These results are extended to more general friction laws, and found to be consistent with numerical calculations. Furthermore, we discuss some seismological implications based on the analytical and numerical results.