Normal-fault stress and displacement through finite-element analysis

• Main Authors: S. Santini, S. Barba, A. Megna
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) 2005-06-01
• Series: Annals of Geophysics
• Subjects: algorithms; earthquakes; faults; theoretical studies; numerical models; analytical models; displacements; stress
• Online Access: http://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/3250
• ISSN: 1593-5213; 2037-416X

We compute displacement and stress due to a normal fault by means of two-dimensional plane-strain finite-element analysis. To do so, we apply a system of forces to the fault nodes and develop an iterative algorithm serving to determine the force magnitudes for any slip distribution. As a sample case, we compute the force magnitudes assuming uniform slip on a 10-km two-dimensional normal fault. The numerical model generates displacement and stress fields that compare well with the analytical solution. In fact, we found little difference in displacements (<5%), displacement orientation (<15°), and stress components (<35%, half of which due to slip tolerance). We analyze such misfit, and discuss how the error propagates from displacement to stress. Our scheme provides a convenient way to use the finite-elements direct method in a trial-and-error procedure to reproduce any smooth slip distribution.