HR: 0800h
AN: T21B-0592    [Abstracts]
TI: PyLith: A Finite-Element Code for Modeling Quasi-Static and Dynamic Crustal Deformation
AU: * Aagaard, B
EM: baagaard@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS MS977, 345 Middlefield Rd, Menlo Park, CA 94025,
AU: Williams, C
EM: willic3@rpi.edu
AF: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Science Center, 2C01B, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180,
AU: Knepley, M
EM: knepley@mcs.anl.gov
AF: Argonne National Laboratory, Building 221, C228, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439,
AB: We have developed open-source finite-element software for 2-D and 3-D dynamic and quasi-static modeling of crustal deformation. This software, PyLith version 1.1, combines the quasi-static viscoelastic modeling functionality of PyLith 0.8 and its predecessors (LithoMop and Tecton) and the wave propagation and spontaneous rupture modeling functionality of EqSim. The target applications contain spatial scales ranging from tens of meters to hundreds of kilometers with temporal scales for dynamic modeling ranging from milliseconds to minutes and temporal scales for quasi-static modeling ranging from minutes to hundreds of years. PyLith is part of the NSF funded Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics (CIG) and runs on a wide variety of platforms, from laptops to Beowulf clusters. It uses a suite of general, parallel, graph data structures called Sieve for storing and manipulating finite-element meshes. This permits use of a variety of 2-D and 3-D cell types including triangles, quadrilaterals, hexahedra, and tetrahedra. Current features include kinematic fault interface conditions, Dirichlet (displacement or velocity), Neumann (traction), and absorbing boundary conditions, linear elastic, generalized Maxwell, and Maxwell linear viscoelastic materials, and quasi-static and dynamic time-stepping. Future releases will add dynamic fault interface conditions (employing fault constitutive models), additional viscoelastic and viscoplastic materials, and automated calculation of suites of Green's functions. We also plan to extend PyLith to allow coupling multiple simultaneous simulations. For example, this could include (1) coupling an interseismic deformation simulation to a spontaneous earthquake rupture simulation (each using subsets of the software), (2) coupling a spontaneous earthquake rupture simulation to a global wave propagation simulation, or (3) coupling a short-term crustal deformation simulation to a mantle convection simulation and an orogenesis and basin formation simulation.
UR: http://www.geodynamics.org
DE: 7209 Earthquake dynamics (1242)
DE: 8118 Dynamics and mechanics of faulting (8004)
DE: 8164 Stresses: crust and lithosphere
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting