Autocorrelation Analysis of the Sliding Process

A simple model of the sliding process is developed in which the junctions are of the same size, but have different shear strengths, and, using an artificially obtained friction trace, it is shown that the size of the junctions may be deduced through a simple autocorrelation analysis. Applied to real friction traces obtained at slow sliding speeds, the technique gives an average junction diameter of 9.10−4 cm, in good agreement with previous estimates, while a different statistical method gives a value of 5.10−4 cm.