Avalanche size scaling in sheared three-dimensional amorphous solid

Nicholas P Bailey (1) , Jakob Schiotz (2) , Anaël Lemaître (3) , Karsten W Jacobsen (4)

1 Department of mathematics and physics
2 DNRF Center for Individual Nanoparticle Functionality
3 navier umr 8205 - Laboratoire Navier
4 CAMP

We study the statistics of plastic rearrangement events in a simulated amorphous solid at T = 0. Events are characterized by the energy release and the "slip volume", the product of plastic strain and system volume. Their distributions for a given system size L appear to be exponential, but a characteristic event size cannot be inferred, because the mean values of these quantities increase as L with 3/2. In contrast with results obtained in 2D models, we do not see simply connected avalanches. The exponent suggests a fractal shape of the avalanches, which is also evidenced by the mean fractal dimension and participation ratio.

Mots clés: AVALANCHE; SIMULATION

Domaines: Mécanique [physics.med-ph]

Nicholas P Bailey, Jakob Schiotz, Anaël Lemaître, Karsten W Jacobsen. Avalanche size scaling in sheared three-dimensional amorphous solid. Physical Review Letters, 2007, 98, 4p. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.095501⟩. ⟨hal-00430072⟩