Dynamics of elastic excitable media

The Burridge–Knopoff model of earthquake faults with viscous friction is equivalent to a van der Pol–FitzHugh–Nagumo model for excitable media with elastic coupling. The lubricated creep–slip friction law we use in Burridge–Knopoff model describes the frictional sliding dynamics of a range of real materials. Low-dimensional structures including synchronous oscillations and propagating fronts are dominant, in agreement with the results of laboratory friction experiments. Here we explore the dynamics of fronts in elastic excitable media.