Micromechanics, Statistics and Hazards of Mechanical Failure

Different phenomena in field and lab experiments can be related to avalanche processes in mechanical systems and/or mechanical failure of solids: fracture mechanics, acoustic emission, fatigue, creep, corrosion, jamming, interface deppining, frictional sliding, tectonic seismicity, fluid-induced and triggered microseismicity, landslides, rock-falls, snow avalanches, structural and magnetostructural phase transitions and a long list of other non-linear mechanical processes.

This section calls for new developments and reviews of the general state of the art in the theoretical and experimental study of the different natural or man-made avalanche phenomena. Special attention will be given to the features of each particular experimental approach, and the prospective societal impact derived from the understanding and characterization of the phenomena.

The goal is to provide an interdisciplinary and comprehensible overview of principles, field studies, experimental procedures, and their motivation. What phenomena mimics each experimental procedure? Are we extending the validity of some fundamental principles? Or reducing the phenomena to the minimal expression?