TRIBOLOGY OF SLIDING ELASTIC MEDIA

The tribology of a sliding elastic continuum in contact with a disorde red substrate is investigated analytically and numerically via a bead- spring model. The deterministic dynamics of this system exhibits a dep inning transition at a finite driving force, with complex spatial-temp oral dynamics including stick-slip events of all sizes. These behavior s can be understood completely by mapping the system to the well-known problem of a directed path in higher-dimensional random media.