Simulation of earthquake dynamics in the Landers fault system, Alice Gabriel (U Munchen)

Full title
Multi-petaflop simulation of earthquake dynamics in the Landers fault system

Goal of the research
The observed high-detail rupture evolution generates synthetic ground motions with frequencies up to 10 Hz relevant for seismic hazard assessment and civil engineering purposes. Furthermore, fault interaction, such as branching and rupture jumps, can be investigated with highest detail helping to improve the understanding of earthquakes.

Description
High-detail earthquake evolution in a pioneering petascale simulation of the 1992 Landers earthquake. The multiphysics earthquake simulation on unstructured tetrahedral meshes couples rupture dynamics on complex fault geometries and high-order accurate seismic wave propagation. We visualize particle motion on the complete fault system throughout the dynamic earthquake rupture process. The occurrence of multiple rupture fronts, enhanced by the full model complexity, can be observed clearly.