In our new paper, we probe the effect of site-specific reinforcements on a sandpile model grid. 

• P.B. Sy & R.C. Batac, The role of intervention mechanisms on a self-organized system: Dynamics of a sandpile with site reinforcement, Journal of Physics: Complexity, 5, 15012, DOI:10.1088/2632-072X/ad28ff (2024).

In the real world, locations that encounter avalanche-like failures are the ones being reinforced. Guided by this observation, we increase the thresholds of the avalanche origins in a grid governed by the sandpile  model rules, making them less susceptible to collapse. 

We observe that the power-law avalanche size distributions remain, albeit with a different scaling exponent. This suggests that self-organized criticality (SOC) in the sandpile persists even in the presence of external, local interventions. This, in turn, may help explain the prevalence of SOC in various systems, even in ones that encounter significant anthropogenic influence.

Patricia Breanne Sy finished her BS Physics degree working as a student researcher in the Complex Systems Group. Dr. Rene Batac has worked on the sandpile model and its variants as applied to natural hazards and other avalanche-like systems.