Subsampling of avalanches in the fiber bundle models of fracture

TL;DR

This paper investigates how observing only parts of a fiber bundle fracture system distorts avalanche statistics, highlighting conditions where such distortions are minimized, especially near elastic failure regimes.

Contribution

It reveals the impact of subsampling on avalanche statistics in fiber bundle models and identifies regimes where observational distortions are minimized.

Findings

Distortion of avalanche statistics is significant with localized load redistribution.

Near elastic failure, distortion is minimized, allowing better inference from partial observations.

Subsampling effects depend on the failure regime and load redistribution characteristics.

Abstract

We study the subsampling of the avalanches in the fiber bundle model of fracture. In cases where only a part of the system is observed for the micro-failure events, the recorded avalanche statistics gets distorted compared to the actual fracture events. We show that, particularly in the cases where the load redistribution is localized, this distortion is significant. Surprisingly, however, near an elastic failure regime, the distortion is minimized, suggesting a much reduced observational capacity could still represent the actual failure dynamics in the case of fracture of elastic solids.