An Efficient Numerical Method for the Simulation of Earthquake Cycles in Complex Geometries

Jeremy E. Kozdon, & Brittany A. Erickson

Published August 15, 2018, SCEC Contribution #8718, 2018 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #291

The aim of this project is to develop a more complete understanding of the earthquake cycle by accounting for remote tectonic loading, material heterogeneity, and complex fault geometries. To do this we plan to couple interseismic cycle models with dynamic rupture simulations. One of the challenges that we have been facing in this endeavor is determining the right numerical method to use in the interseismic phase that is efficient and capable of handling the necessary complexity.

Here, we present a new finite difference method which significantly reduces the number of degrees of freedom needed for finite difference based earthquake cycle simulation. The scheme uses a multi-block decomposition of the computational domain which allows us to handle quite general complex geometries. When then discretize each "block" using summation-by-parts finite difference methods. All of the block interior degrees of freedom are then eliminated using the Schur complement method, so that the only degrees of freedom remaining are those on the mesh skeleton (block edges). Results are given here for the method applied to the two-dimensional antiplane problem demonstrating the accuracy, stability, and flexibility of the method.

Citation
Kozdon, J. E., & Erickson, B. A. (2018, 08). An Efficient Numerical Method for the Simulation of Earthquake Cycles in Complex Geometries. Poster Presentation at 2018 SCEC Annual Meeting.

Related Projects & Working Groups
Computational Science (CS)