Avalanches in a granular stick-slip experiment: Detection using wavelets

Abstract

Avalanches have been experimentally investigated in a wide range of physical systems from granular physics to friction. Here, we measure and detect avalanches in a 2D granular stick-slip experiment. We discuss the conventional way of signal processing for avalanche extraction and how statistics depend on several parameters that are chosen in the analysis process. Then, we introduce another way of detecting avalanches using wavelet transformations that can be applied in many other systems. We show that by using this method and measuring Lipschitz exponents, we can intelligently detect noise in a signal, which leads to a better avalanche extraction and more reliable avalanche statistics.