Code and Data accompanying a paper entitled "An Extended Microphysical Friction Model for Variable Normal Stress Conditions"

This dataset gives the code and dataset accompanying a submitted paper entitled "An Extended Microphysical Friction Model for Variable Normal Stress Conditions". In this study, we extend a microphysical friction model, initially designed for constant normal stress conditions, to account for varying normal stress, by including the effects of fault gouge and system elasticity. We tested the model against different lab experiments with changing normal stress, and it successfully captured the key responses observed. Unlike traditional models, our model inherently includes a gouge plasticity term that directly relates to normal stress, allowing for immediate and temporary changes in the density of the gouge and influencing steady-state friction. Importantly, the model does not require an additional factor to explain how shear stress changes with normal stress adjustments. We believe this model could be useful for understanding real-world effects of changes in normal stress, such as the relationship between local earthquakes and solid tides, and the induced seismic risks posed by reservoir exploitation and stimulation.
This is a theoretical paper and no experimental data is being produced. The code, which uses the solvers embedded in the finite element package Comsol (Version 3.5a), and the numerical results for plotting the graphs, are included in this dataset. The former (code) is given in a file (.mph) and the produced data are given in four zip files (.rar). The four files are "Normal stress oscillations.rar", "Normal stress pulse.rar", "Normal stress stepping tests.rar", and "SHS Test with Modulated Normal Stress.rar". Note that "SHS" refers to a special test called "slide-hold-slide" test.