Scaling and universality in rock fracture

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the waiting time distribution in rock fracture acoustic emissions follows a universal scaling function, similar to earthquakes, indicating a common underlying fracture process across different materials and conditions.

Contribution

It reveals a universal scaling law for acoustic emission waiting times in rock fracture, linking laboratory results to earthquake dynamics.

Findings

Waiting time distributions follow a universal scaling function.

The scaling function is similar to that observed in earthquakes.

Universality suggests common fracture mechanisms across scales.

Abstract

We present a detailed statistical analysis of acoustic emission time series from laboratory rock fracture obtained from different experiments on different materials including acoustic emission controlled triaxial fracture and punch-through tests. In all considered cases, the waiting time distribution can be described by a unique scaling function indicating its universality. This scaling function is even indistinguishable from that for earthquakes suggesting its general validity for fracture processes independent of time, space and magnitude scales.