Nature Communications (Mar 2019)

Mechanical behaviour of fluid-lubricated faults

  • C. Cornelio,
  • E. Spagnuolo,
  • G. Di Toro,
  • S. Nielsen,
  • M. Violay

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09293-9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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The effect of fluid viscosity on fault mechanics is mainly conjectured by theoretical models. Here, the authors present experimental data from rock friction experiments, showing both static and dynamic friction coefficients to decrease with viscosity and dynamic friction to depend on the Sommerfeld number.