The study of the earthquake source has evolved from point sources to kinematic to dynamics as the basic physics of the process has become the focus of source studies. Spatial heterogeneities in the initial stress across the fault surface are critical factors in constraining the dynamics of earthquake rupture and the resulting seismic radiation. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that the properties of spatial heterogeneities found in finite-fault source inversions can be captured and modeled with the help of random models. The investigators propose to use this random model to generate statistically credible initial stress spatial distributions that can be used as input to 3D dynamic models for computing scenarios of earthquake ruptures and their radiated field.
The synthesis of sophisticated numerical schemes with the most recent developments in studies of random properties of earthquake sources and ground motion is fundamental to our understanding of earthquake process.Mitigating the risk and reducing the cost associated with future earthquakes strongly depend on our ability to predict correctly the ground motion expected during these events. The more physics that can be incorporated into the earthquake source the more realistic will be the ground motions. The synthetic ground motion metrics developed in this research project will find applications in formulating ground-motion prediction equations to be used in engineering design and Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA).
