Vito Rubino, Ecole Central de Nantes

Characterizing the rheology of faults is of paramount importance to improve our understanding of frictional ruptures and earthquake physics, as friction controls key processes of rupture nucleation, propagation, and arrest and also influences how damaging earthquakes can be. In this presentation, I will describe the evolution of frictional strength during the propagation of dynamic ruptures using laboratory experiments. Our innovative experimental approach allows us to capture the full-field evolution of particle velocities of dynamic ruptures and decode the nature of friction by tracking its evolution and studying its dependence on slip, slip velocity and their history. We find that friction evolution is consistent with the rate-and-state friction laws combined with flash heating weakening mechanism but not with the widely used slip-weakening laws. Our recent experiments along interfaces enriched with fault gouge, the pulverized rock present in natural fault, reveal an even more complex behavior characterized by intermittent rupture propagation. The measured friction behavior allows us to challenge existing friction laws and formulate new ones. This approach gives a new perspective on the study of friction and provides important insights into earthquake and rupture physics.

Short biography
Vito Rubino is Associate Professor at École Centrale de Nantes, France, since September 2022. His research interests focus on experimental and computational mechanics to study fracture and friction phenomena. Dr Rubino received his undergraduate degree from Politecnico di Torino, Italy, while holding a research assistant position at Imperial College London on his final year. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 2008. After a brief experience in industry on R&D with Airbus UK, in 2011 he started his postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in the Department of Aerospace (GALCIT). He then became Research Scientist at Caltech in 2015. He recently earned a NeXT Talent award at Centrale Nantes.