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Sounds of Failure: Passive Acoustic Measurements of Excited Vibrational Modes

Theodore A. Brzinski, III and Karen E. Daniels
Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 218003 – Published 25 May 2018
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Abstract

Granular materials can fail through spontaneous events like earthquakes or brittle fracture. However, measurements and analytic models which forecast failure in this class of materials, while of both fundamental and practical interest, remain elusive. Materials including numerical packings of spheres, colloidal glasses, and granular materials have been known to develop an excess of low-frequency vibrational modes as the confining pressure is reduced. Here, we report experiments on sheared granular materials in which we monitor the evolving density of excited modes via passive monitoring of acoustic emissions. We observe a broadening of the distribution of excited modes coincident with both bulk and local plasticity, and evolution in the shape of the distribution before and after bulk failure. These results provide a new interpretation of the changing state of the material on its approach to stick-slip failure.

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  • Received 25 July 2017
  • Revised 13 March 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.218003

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsStatistical Physics & ThermodynamicsPolymers & Soft Matter

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Precursor Sounds Warn of Imminent Slip

Published 25 May 2018

Distinctive sounds emanate from a material when it is stressed by an outside force and close to slipping—an effect that could lead to warnings of imminent material failure.

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Authors & Affiliations

Theodore A. Brzinski, III* and Karen E. Daniels

  • Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA

  • *Present Address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania 19041, USA. tbrzinski@haverford.edu

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Issue

Vol. 120, Iss. 21 — 25 May 2018

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