Simulation of the Burridge-Knopoff Model of Earthquakes with Variable Range Stress Transfer

Journal Article · Fri Dec 09 04:00:00 EST 2005 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.248501· OSTI ID:20699683

Junchao, Xia; Gould, Harvey ^[1]; Klein, W ^[2]; Rundle, J B ^[3]

---

1. Department of Physics, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Center for Computational Science, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215 (United States)
3. Department of Physics and Center for Computational Science and Engineering, University of California, Davis, California 95616 (United States)

Simple models of earthquake faults are important for understanding the mechanisms for their observed behavior, such as Gutenberg-Richter scaling and the relation between large and small events, which is the basis for various forecasting methods. Although cellular automaton models have been studied extensively in the long-range stress transfer limit, this limit has not been studied for the Burridge-Knopoff model, which includes more realistic friction forces and inertia. We find that the latter model with long-range stress transfer exhibits qualitatively different behavior than both the long-range cellular automaton models and the usual Burridge-Knopoff model with nearest-neighbor springs, depending on the nature of the velocity-weakening friction force. These results have important implications for our understanding of earthquakes and other driven dissipative systems.

• OSTI ID: 20699683
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 24 Vol. 95; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
EARTHQUAKES
FORECASTING
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MOMENT OF INERTIA
STRESSES