Dynamic rupture on a planar fault in three-dimensional half-space -II. Validations and numerical experiments

Abstract

In the present study, the boundary integral equations (BIEs) obtained in a companion paper are validated. Several typical problems, that is, spontaneous ruptures on faults with and without barriers in full space and on vertical faults in half-space, were considered. Then we investigated the effect of free surface on the dynamic processes on planar fault in half-space through several numerical experiments by comparing them with corresponding results in full space. The effects of depth and dip angle of fault, as well as barrier in half-space or full space, were explored in detail. Numerical results in the present study showed that the newly developed boundary integral equation method (BIEM), which is an extension of the current BIEM, is a powerful tool to study the dynamic processes on earthquake fault. © 2006 The Authors Journal compilation © 2006 RAS.