Byerlee's law explained

In rheology, Byerlee's law, also known as Byerlee's friction law[1] concerns the shear stress (τ) required to slide one rock over another. The rocks have macroscopically flat surfaces, but the surfaces have small asperities that make them "rough." For a given experiment and at normal stresses (σn) below about 2000 bars (200 MPa) the shear stress increases approximately linearly with the normal stress (τ = 0.85 σn, where τ and σn is in units of MPa) and is highly dependent on rock type and the character (roughness) of the surfaces, see Mohr-Coulomb friction law. Byerlee's law states that with increased normal stress the required shear stress continues to increase, but the rate of increase decreases (τ = 50 + 0.6σn), where τ and σn are in units of MPa, and becomes nearly independent of rock type.[2]

The law describes an important property of crustal rock, and can be used to determine when slip along a geological fault takes place.

See also

References

General references

Notes and References

  1. Book: E. B. Burov. Watts. Anthony B.. Crust and Lithosphere Dynamics: Treatise on Geophysics. 2010. Elsevier. 9780444535726. 100. Plate Rheology and Mechanics.
  2. Byerlee. James D.. Friction of Rocks. Pure and Applied Geophysics. July 1978. 116. 4–5. 615–626. 10.1007/BF00876528. 1978PApGe.116..615B . 128666327 . 0033-4553.