Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Frictional relaxation after a sudden velocity change underlies the phenomenological laws that describe the stability of steady sliding and of seismic faults. To connect this relaxation with measurable statistics of microscopic contacts, we introduce a minimal model incorporating logarithmic aging of contact forces and a power-law contact-size distribution reflecting fractal interface roughness, and derive the relaxation function analytically. Depending on the power-law exponent $α$, the intermediate-time response exhibits a plateau, logarithmic decay, or power-law decay, in contrast to the exponential decay assumed in the phenomenological laws. The theory provides experimentally testable links between microscopic contact statistics and macroscopic frictional relaxation.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Author: Suzuki, Ryudo
Institution: Kyoto University
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanics of Materials
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7212025162