Triggering of instabilities in materials and geosystems

This is the homepage of the TRIGS project that belongs to the sixth framework programme of the European Commission and to the "New and Emerging Science and Technology Pathfinder".

This project addresses the key issues of the NEST/Pathfinder call "Tackling Complexity in Science" by adopting a cross-disciplinary approach to similar problems in materials and earth sciences, using the appropriate tools of complex systems. The particular topic chosen for our study is the issue of triggering of instabilities by external perturbations in natural hazards such as landslides, snow avalanches and earthquakes, or in the fracture and plasticity of materials relevant for engineering applications.

Highlights:

11 July 2008:

TRIGS results published in Science: J. Heierli, P. Gumbsch and M. Zaiser Anticrack Nucleation as Triggering Mechanism for Snow Slab Avalanches. Science 321, 5886 (2008)

12 October 2007:

TRIGS results published in Science: F. Csikor, C. Motz, D. Weygand, M. Zaiser and S. Zapperi, Dislocation Avalanches, Strain Bursts, and the Problem of Plastic Forming at the Micrometer Scale , Science 318, 251 (2007).