Numerical Procedures for Simulating Earthquake Fault Rupture Propagation
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 17, Issue 1
Abstract
Numerical simulations of earthquake fault rupture propagation can be used to design structures to resist damage from induced ground deformations. Several researchers have developed numerical models for analyzing the responses of soil and structures to underlying fault movement. Often, however, a relatively simple Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model that is modified to incorporate strain softening or other material nonlinearity is used. In this work, a modification of the UBCSAND soil constitutive model, one that has been shown to capture well the nonlinear shear response of soil for many stress paths, was used. The UBCSAND model was modified to add postpeak strain softening with a response that is dependent on the mode of fault rupture, a nonlinear failure envelope that is stress dependent, and a modified flow rule that is dependent on the mode of shear deformation. The numerical simulations captured well the observed trends in carefully performed geotechnical centrifuge experiments. The Modified-UBCSAND models developed herein can be used to evaluate boundary-deformation problems.
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Acknowledgments
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant CMMI-0926473. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. We also thank Profs. G. Gazetas and I. Anastasopoulos for sharing the results of centrifuge experiments conducted by Bransby and others as part of their research to investigate the effects of surface fault rupture on soil and structures.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 17 • Issue 1 • January 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 24, 2015
Accepted: Jan 25, 2016
Published online: Mar 15, 2016
Discussion open until: Aug 15, 2016
Published in print: Jan 1, 2017
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