Geology topics

D.J. Andrews

Publications and source records attributed to D.J. Andrews.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

USGS2000

Probability of rupture of multiple fault segments

Fault segments identified from geologic and historic evidence have sometimes been adopted as features limiting the likely extends of earthquake ruptures. There is no doubt that individual segments can sometimes join together to produce larger earthquakes. This work is a trial of an objective method to determine the probability of multisegment ruptures. The frequency of occurrence of events on all conjectured combinations of adjacent segments in northern California is found by fitting to both geologic slip rates and to an assumed distribution of event sizes for the region as a whole. Uncertainty in the shape of the distribution near the maximum magnitude has a large effect on the solution. Frequencies of individual events cannot be determined, but it is possible to find a set of frequencies to fit a model closely. A robust conclusion for the San Francisco Bay region is that large multisegment events occur on the San Andreas and San Gregorio faults, but single-segment events predominate on the extended Hayward and Calaveras strands of segments.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗

USGS1999

Test of two methods for faulting on finite-difference calculations

Tests of two fault boundary conditions show that each converges with second order accuracy as the finite-difference grid is refined. The first method uses split nodes so that there are disjoint grids that interact via surface traction. The 3D version described here is a generalization of a method I have used extensively in 2D; it is as accurate as the 2D version. The second method represents fault slip as inelastic strain in a fault zone. Offset of stress from its elastic value is seismic moment density. Implementation of this method is quite simple in a finite-difference scheme using velocity and stress as dependent variables.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗

USGS1997

Wrinkle-like slip pulse on a fault between different materials

Pulses of slip velocity can propagate on a planar interface governed by a constant coefficient of friction, where the interface separates different elastic materials. Such pulses have been found in two-dimensional plane strain finite difference calculations of slip on a fault between elastic media with wave speeds differing by 20%. The self-sustaining propagation of the slip pulse arises from interaction between normal and tangential deformation that exists only with a material contrast. These calculations confirm the prediction of Weertman [1980] that a dislocation propagating steadily along a material interface has a tensile change of normal traction with the same pulse shape as slip velocity. The self-sustaining pulse is associated with a rapid transition from a head wave traveling along the interface with the S wave speed of the faster material, to an opposite polarity body wave traveling with the slower S speed. Slip occurs during the reversal of normal particle velocity. The pulse can propagate in a region with constant coefficient of friction and an initial stress state below the frictional criterion. Propagation occurs in only one direction, the direction of slip in the more compliant medium, with rupture velocity near the slower S wave speed. Displacement is larger in the softer medium, which is displaced away from the fault during the passage of the slip pulse. Motion is analogous to a propagating wrinkle in a carpet. The amplitude of slip remains approximately constant during propagation, but the pulse width decreases and the amplitudes of slip velocity and stress change increase. The tensile change of normal traction increases until absolute normal traction reaches zero. The pulse can be generated as a secondary effect of a drop of shear stress in an asperity. The pulse shape is unstable, and the initial slip pulse can change during propagation into a collection of sharper pulses. Such a pulse enables slip to occur with little loss of energy to friction, while at the same time increasing irregularity of stress and slip at the source.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗

USGS1994

Dynamic growth of mixed-mode shear cracks

A pure mode II (in-plane) shear crack cannot propagate spontaneously at a speed between the Rayleigh and S -wave speeds, but a three-dimensional (3D) or two-dimensional (2D) mixed-mode shear crack can propagate in this range, being driven by the mode III (antiplane) component. Two different analytic solutions have been proposed for the mode II component in this case. The first is the solution valid for crack speed less than the Rayleigh speed. When applied above the Rayleigh speed, it predicts a negative stress intensity factor, which implies that energy is generated at the crack tip. Burridge proposed a second solution, which is continuous at the crack tip, but has a singularity in slip velocity at the Rayleigh wave. Spontaneous propagation of a mixed-mode rupture has been calculated with a slip-weakening friction law, in which the slip velocity vector is colinear with the total traction vector. Spontaneous trans-Rayleigh rupture speed has been found. The solution depends on the absolute stress level. The solution for the in-plane component appears to be a superposition of smeared-out versions of the two analytic solutions. The proportion of the first solution increases with increasing absolute stress. The amplitude of the negative in-plane traction pulse is less than the absolute final sliding traction, so that total in-plane traction does not reverse. The azimuth of the slip velocity vector varies rapidly between the onset of slip and the arrival of the Rayleigh wave. The variation is larger at smaller absolute stress.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗

USGS1985

Dynamic plane-strain shear rupture with a slip-weakening friction law calculated by a boundary integral method

A numerical boundary integral method, relating slip and traction on a plane in an elastic medium by convolution with a discretized Green function, can be linked to a slip-dependent friction law on the fault plane. Such a method is developed here in two-dimensional plane-strain geometry. The method is more efficient for a planar source than a finite difference method, and it does not suffer from dispersion of short wavelength components. The solution for a crack growing at constant velocity agrees closely with the analytic solution, and the energy absorbed at the smeared-out crack tip in the numerical calculation agrees with energy absorbed at the analytic singularity. Spontaneous plane-strain shear ruptures can make a transition from sub-Rayleigh to near-P propagation velocity. Results from the boundary integral method agree with earlier results from a finite difference method on the location of this transition in parameter space. The methods differ in their prediction of rupture velocity following the transition. The trailing edge of the cohesive zone propagates at the P-wave velocity after the transition in the boundary integral calculations.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗