Highlights
Team goes go Erice Conference - Lab members Marco Scuderi and John Leeman traveled to Erice for the 40th Workshop of the International School of Geophysics Properties and Processes of Crustal Fault Zones. While in Europe the team went to Utrecht and INGV to conduct experiments concerning machine stiffness and how to correct for it. Abstracts "Fluid Pressure and Effective Normal Stress During the Seimic Cycle of Stick-Slip Frictional Sliding" and "Electrical Anomalies Observed During Frictional Stick-Slip in Granular Materials" were presented at the conference.

Our research is focused on the physics of earthquakes and faulting and the mechanics of frictional sliding. Work includes laboratory experiments, analysis of field data, and numerical studies of faulting and dynamic rupture. Our laboratory work is focused on frictional and rheologic properties of brittle materials. The goal of this work is to develop a set of friction constitutive laws to describe the rheology of brittle deformation. A key part of the laboratory work has been identifying and documenting the effects of dilatancy and shear localization on second order variations in friction. We also devote significant effort to the scaling problems inherent in applying laboratory data to seismogenic faults. Connecting laboratory observations to field data and theoretical studies is a critical part of modern experimental studies.

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