Summary

The 2026 SCEC Cross-Laboratory Benchmarking of Fault Frictional Behavior Workshop on July 21st, 2026 will convene a focused, interdisciplinary group of researchers to develop a community-driven strategy for benchmarking fault frictional behavior across experimental laboratories and apparatuses. Experimental rock deformation studies are foundational to earthquake science, yet there currently exists no standardized framework to compare results across labs, which limits the integration of frictional data into community efforts such as the SCEC Community Rheology Model (CRM).

This one-day virtual workshop builds on momentum from recent SCEC initiatives and the broader rock deformation community to address this gap. The workshop will bring together experimentalists, numerical modelers, and observational seismologists to identify sources of variability in friction measurements, define benchmark problems, and establish shared standards for materials, methods, and data reporting.

Through a combination of invited talks, moderated discussions, and breakout sessions, participants will work toward:

1. Defining community-endorsed benchmarking workflows
2. Identifying standard materials and experimental conditions
3. Establishing pathways for data sharing and reproducibility
4. Connecting laboratory measurements to numerical and seismic observations

The virtual format enables broad participation from the global community, including researchers who may not typically engage directly with experimental rock deformation but rely on its outputs.

This workshop will inform the implementation plans for a cross-laboratory benchmarking exercise which will be finalized and announced at the upcoming SCEC Annual Meeting in September.

Participation and Community Goals

We aim to bring together participants spanning:

• Experimental rock mechanics and friction studies
• Earthquake physics and fault zone geology
• Seismology and geodesy
• Numerical modeling and community model development

A particular emphasis will be placed on:

• Early-career researchers building new laboratories or datasets
• Researchers from adjacent fields (e.g., modeling, observations) who use friction data
• Participants involved in deformation-adjacent community benchmarking efforts (e.g., SEAS, stress-drop studies)