ON FUNDAMENTAL MECHANISM AND MATHEMATICAL INSTABILITY OF FAULT DISPLACEMENT

Abstract

 The necessity of taking measures against fault displacement hazards has recently been strongly pointed out. A numerical simulation based on a fundamental mechanism of fault rapture process is essential for more reliable estimations of surface fault displacement. In this paper, we discussed the mechanism in terms of friction on fault plane and confinement of rock ground, and organized requirements for simulations. Then, we constructed a simple fault model based on the mechanism and analyzed mathematical characteristics of fault displacement. It is shown that complicated propagation and jump of slip on fault planes can occur in a simulation bused on the mechanism.