Prof. Vito Rubino

Shear cracks along interfaces are relevant to a broad class of engineering and geophysics
applications, ranging from the failure of composite materials to earthquakes, landslides and
avalanches. Characterizing the rheology of interfaces and faults is of paramount importance to
improve our understanding of frictional ruptures, as friction controls key processes of rupture
nucleation, propagation, and arrest and influences various rupture outcomes, for example how
damaging earthquakes can be. In this presentation, I will discuss recent advances in the
characterization of rupture behavior and friction evolution along both bare interfaces and
interfaces with compressed granular materials. Such measurements are possible due to our
recently developed imaging technique, based on digital image correlation (DIC) coupled with
ultra-high-speed photography lire la suite