SCEC Award Number 15091 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title A Collaborative Project: Rupture Dynamics, Validation of the Numerical Simulation Method
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Ruth Harris United States Geological Survey Jean-Paul Ampuero California Institute of Technology Michael Barall Invisible Software, Inc. Benchun Duan Texas A&M University Eric Dunham Stanford University Jeremy Kozdon Naval Postgraduate School Nadia Lapusta California Institute of Technology Shuo Ma San Diego State University Daniel Roten San Diego State University Zheqiang Shi San Diego State University Brad Aagaard United States Geological Survey Ralph Archuleta University of California, Santa Barbara Xiaofei Chen University of Science and Technology of China (China) Luis Dalguer swissnuclear (Switzerland) University of Memphis Ahmed Elbanna University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Alice-Agnes Gabriel Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Germany) Yoshihiro Kaneko GNS Science (New Zealand) Yuko Kase Geological Survey of Japan (Japan) David Oglesby University of California, Riverside Kim Olsen San Diego State University Zhenguo Zhang University of Science and Technology of China (China)
Other Participants
SCEC Priorities 3c, 4e, 6b SCEC Groups DRCV, FARM, CME
Report Due Date 03/15/2016 Date Report Submitted 10/13/2015
Project Abstract
 This multi-co-PI collaborative project (15091) included SCEC investigators (senior PIs, postdocs, and students) from multiple countries who participated in the winter 2015-2016 spontaneous earthquake rupture code-comparison exercises and related scientific discussions. These code comparisons are conducted so as to test the spontaneous rupture computer codes used by SCEC and USGS scientists to computationally simulate dynamic earthquake rupture. Over the past decades, a variety of numerical methods have been used to examine or simulate earthquakes and their rupture processes. These mathematical approaches have ranged from simple analytical solutions, all of the way to complex numerical solutions that incorporate the Earth’s intricate physical processes, such as friction and inertia. Spontaneous, dynamic earthquake rupture codes are among these more-complex numerical methods, and there are no mathematical solutions that can easily be used to test if these codes are working as expected. To remedy this problem, we compare the results produced by each spontaneous rupture code with the results produced by other spontaneous rupture codes. If when using the same assumptions about fault-friction, initial stress conditions, fault geometry, and material properties, the codes all produce the same results (e.g., rupture-front patterns and synthetic seismograms), then we are more confident that the codes are operating as intended.
Intellectual Merit This project helps us understand what our community’s computational capabilities are for simulating dynamic earthquake rupture and the resulting strong ground motions, using a physics-based perspective. Our project has helped advance the science of dynamic earthquake rupture simulation while also testing the codes used to perform these types of simulations.
Broader Impacts This project helps us understand what our community’s computational capabilities are for simulating dynamic earthquake rupture and the resulting strong ground motions, using a physics-based perspective. These type of simulations help us understand how earthquakes in the past have worked, and if we are lucky, they might be able to tell us how earthquakes and strong ground shaking in the future might work. Students and postdocs are heavily involved in our project. We are the training and testing ground for current and future experts in this field.
Exemplary Figure Figure 1 is my classic figure about how the project works.