Experimental Evidence for Critical Dynamics in Microfracturing Processes

We performed the statistical analysis of acoustic emission time series in the ultrasonic frequency range, obtained experimentally from laboratory samples subjected to external uniaxial elastic stress. We found a power law scaling behavior in both the acoustic emission amplitude distribution and time correlation function, with exponents very close to those found in fracturing processes occurring at different time and space scales. These facts strongly suggest the existence of a critical dynamics underlying the process, which might be related to the idea of a self-organized critical state based on the energy dissipation through all the length scales.