HR: 16:45h
AN: G32C-04    [PDF]
TI: Current Development Status of an Integrated Tool for Modeling Quasi-static Deformation in the Solid Earth
AU: * Williams, C A
EM: willic3@rpi.edu
AF: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Science Center, 2C01, Troy, NY 12180 United States
AU: DiCaprio, C
EM: dicaprio@gps.caltech.edu
AF: Caltech, Seismological Laboratory, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, 252-21, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States
AU: Simons, M
EM: simons@gps.caltech.edu
AF: Caltech, Seismological Laboratory, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, 252-21, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States
AB: With the advent of projects such as the Plate Boundary Observatory and future InSAR missions, spatially dense geodetic data of high quality will provide an increasingly detailed picture of the movement of the earth$'$s surface. To interpret such information, powerful and easily accessible modeling tools are required. We are presently developing such a tool that we feel will meet many of the needs for evaluating quasi-static earth deformation. As a starting point, we begin with a modified version of the finite element code TECTON, which has been specifically designed to solve tectonic problems involving faulting and viscoelastic/plastic earth behavior. As our first priority, we are integrating the code into the GeoFramework, which is an extension of the Python-based Pyre modeling framework. The goal of this framework is to provide simplified user interfaces for powerful modeling codes, to provide easy access to utilities such as meshers and visualization tools, and to provide a tight integration between different modeling tools so they can interact with each other. The initial integration of the code into this framework is essentially complete, and a more thorough integration, where Python-based drivers control the entire solution, will be completed in the near future. We have an evolving set of priorities that we expect to solidify as we receive more input from the modeling community. Current priorities include the development of linear and quadratic tetrahedral elements, the development of a parallelized version of the code using the PETSc libraries, the addition of more complex rheologies, realistic fault friction models, adaptive time stepping, and spherical geometries. In this presentation we describe current progress toward our various priorities, briefly describe the structure of the code within the GeoFramework, and demonstrate some sample applications.
DE: 1206 Crustal movements--interplate (8155)
DE: 1208 Crustal movements--intraplate (8110)
DE: 1243 Space geodetic surveys
DE: 3210 Modeling
DE: 3230 Numerical solutions
SC: Geodesy [G]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting