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Evaluating Seismic Hazard Using Large Scale Ground Motion Simulations

Mary Chen, Christopher Tobar, & Alexander N. Breuer

Published August 16, 2021, SCEC Contribution #11611, 2021 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #027

Large-scale ground motion simulations offer an alternative to evaluate seismic hazards, reducing the reliance on isolated empirical data. These simulations require the integration of field data with the complex computational software. Large extents of temporal and spatial domain for different simulations pose a strain even on state-of-the-art supercomputers. Therefore, we need problem-aware preprocessing in order to run efficient simulations.

This project evaluated the full pipeline of ground motion simulations that runs on thousands of computer cores. We generated three-dimensional meshes and refined the meshes based on their velocity models. We studied the layover half-space one (LOH1) benchmark problem by reviewing the different setups of the parameters of study like the characteristic lengths in the refined layer. Then, we focused on the 2014 M5.1 La Habra, California earthquake. Here, we investigated the velocity structure of the Los Angeles basin by comparing different velocity models from the Unified Community of Velocity Modeling (UCVM). In this poster presentation, we created depth-slice visualizations of the p-wave velocities, s-wave velocities, and densities of the velocity models CVM-S4.26.M01, CVM-S4, and CVM-H.

Citation
Chen, M., Tobar, C., & Breuer, A. N. (2021, 08). Evaluating Seismic Hazard Using Large Scale Ground Motion Simulations. Poster Presentation at 2021 SCEC Annual Meeting.


Related Projects & Working Groups
Computational Science (CS)