FRICTIONAL ATTENUATION - INHERENT AMPLITUDE DEPENDENCE

Frictional sliding on crack surfaces and grain boundaries is examined as a mechanism of wave attenuation. In constrast to previous work based on idealized elloptic crack models a general description of internal surfaces is considered which allows for irregularities and partially closed cracks. This leads to Q- 1 that increases with strain amplitude. Such an amplitude dependence is often observed in large-strain laboratory measurements. This suggests that under in situ (small strain) conditions, frictional attenuation becomes secondary to linear loss mechanisms, either disappearing or becoming masked. -Author English