Lab Home | Phone | Search
Center for Nonlinear Studies  Center for Nonlinear Studies
 Home 
 People 
 Current 
 Affiliates 
 Visitors 
 Students 
 Research 
 ICAM-LANL 
 Publications 
 Conferences 
 Workshops 
 Sponsorship 
 Talks 
 Colloquia 
 Colloquia Archive 
 Seminars 
 Postdoc Seminars Archive 
 Quantum Lunch 
 Quantum Lunch Archive 
 CMS Colloquia 
 Q-Mat Seminars 
 Q-Mat Seminars Archive 
 P/T Colloquia 
 Archive 
 Kac Lectures 
 Kac Fellows 
 Dist. Quant. Lecture 
 Ulam Scholar 
 Colloquia 
 
 Jobs 
 Postdocs 
 CNLS Fellowship Application 
 Students 
 Student Program 
 Visitors 
 Description 
 Past Visitors 
 Services 
 General 
 
 History of CNLS 
 
 Maps, Directions 
 CNLS Office 
 T-Division 
 LANL 
 
Monday, March 03, 2008
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
CNLS Conference Room (TA-3, Bldg 1690)

Colloquium

The effect of acoustic waves on stick-slip behaviour in sheared granular media, with implications to earthquake processes

Paul Johnson
LANL, EES-11

We are studying the effects of acoustic waves on sheared granular material, with two goals in mind: one is to understand the intriguing physics that arises in this experimental system, and the other is to see if such experiments offer insight into earthquake processes, in particular the phenomenon where one earthquake triggers another nearby, or distant, earthquake ('dynamic earthquake triggering'). We conducted laboratory experiments of stick-slip in granular media using a double-direct, shear apparatus, while applying low amplitude vibration as well as pulsed waves. We find that vibration and pulses significantly perturb the shearing behaviour of the granular material, and that the manifestation of vibration is extremely complex, including strong material memory of the acoustic perturbation, that persists. We note that the wave disturbance must take place near the critical point, where the granular material is near failure, otherwise no effect is observed. Also, horizontal loads on the system can eliminate the effect if they are large (>4-5 MPa).

Host: Avadh Saxena, T-11