HR: 1340h
AN: S53A-1072    [Abstracts]
TI: Development of Software for Studying Earthquakes Across Multiple Spatial and Temporal Scales by Coupling Quasi-static and Dynamic Simulations
AU: * Williams, C A
EM: willic3@rpi.edu
AF: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Science, Science Center, 1W19, Troy, NY 12180 United States
AU: Aagaard, B
EM: baagaard@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 United States
AU: Knepley, M G
EM: knepley@mcs.anl.gov
AF: Argonne National Laboratory, Mathematics and Computer Science Division, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 United States
AB: Earthquake dynamics involves processes with different physical mechanisms operating on several different spatial and temporal scales. In the past, the tendency has been to focus on one set of mechanisms pertinent to the problem, and approximate the effects due to the other mechanisms. With increasingly powerful computational abilities, however, it is now becoming more feasible to address the entire scope of these complex problems. As a step toward this goal, we are developing a finite element code capable of modeling both quasi-static and dynamic behavior in the solid earth. The quasi-static code, presently known as LithoMop, has evolved from our previous version of the TECTON finite element code. We plan to combine this code with the EqSim dynamic rupture propagation code to provide a new package known as PyLith. This combined package will be able to simulate crustal behavior over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. For example, it will be possible to simulate stress evolution over numerous earthquake cycles (a quasi-static problem) as well as the rapid stress changes occurring during each earthquake in the series (a dynamic problem). We describe here the current development status of the PyLith components, provide a roadmap for code development, and demonstrate the usage of the LithoMop component of the package. The merged code will make use of the Pyre simulation framework, allowing it to couple with other modeling codes and, thus, extend the range of physical mechanisms it is able to simulate. Code parallelization is accomplished using the PETSc parallel libraries. The package also makes use of a powerful and flexible new method of representing computational meshes, Sieve, presently being developed as a part of PETSc. Sieve greatly simplifies the task of parallelizing the code and will make it much easier to generalize the code to different dimensions and element types.
UR: http://www.geodynamics.org
DE: 0545 Modeling (4255)
DE: 0560 Numerical solutions (4255)
DE: 7209 Earthquake dynamics (1242)
DE: 8118 Dynamics and mechanics of faulting (8004)
DE: 8120 Dynamics of lithosphere and mantle: general (1213)
SC: Seismology [S]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005