Self-organized criticality in a fibre-bundle-type model

The dynamics of a fibre-bundle-type model with equal load sharing rule is numerically studied. The system, formed by N elements, is driven by a slow increase of the load upon it which is removed in a novel way through internal transfers to the elements broken during avalanches. When an avalanche ends, failed elements are regenerated with strengths taken from a probability distribution. For a large N and certain restrictions on the distribution of individual strengths, the system reaches a self-organized critical state where the spectrum of avalanche sizes is a power law with an exponent τ≃1.5.