Fracture energy of stick‐slip events in a large scale biaxial experiment

Abstract

The concept of apparent fracture energy for the shear failure process is employed by many authors in modeling earthquake sources as dynamically extending shear cracks. Using records of shear strain and relative displacement from stick‐slip events generated along a simulated, prepared fault surface in a large (1.5m × 1.5m × 0.4m) granite block and a slip‐weakening model for the fault, direct estimates of the apparent shear fracture energy of the stick‐slip events have been obtained. For events generated on a finely ground fault surface, apparent fracture energy ranges from 0.06 J/m² at a normal stress of 1.1 MPa to 0.8 J/m² at a normal stress of 4.6 MPa. In contrast to estimates for tensile crack formation, we find that the apparent fracture energy of stick‐slip events increases linearly with normal stress. The results for the slip‐weakening model for the stick‐slip events are generally consistent with constitutive fault models suggested by observations of stable sliding in smaller scale experiments.