A damage-mechanics model for fracture nucleation and propagation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a composite damage-mechanics model combining fiber-bundle and slider-block concepts to simulate earthquake rupture initiation and propagation, emphasizing stress redistribution and failure timing.

Contribution

It presents a novel integrated model for earthquake rupture that incorporates damage mechanics, probabilistic failure timing, and stress redistribution among elements.

Findings

Time to failure depends on hazard-rate exponent

Rupture propagation modes vary with interaction range

Damage fraction correlates with stress levels

Abstract

In this paper a composite model for earthquake rupture initiation and propagation is proposed. The model includes aspects of damage mechanics, fiber-bundle models, and slider-block models. An array of elements is introduced in analogy to the fibers of a fiber bundle. Time to failure for each element is specified from a Poisson distribution. The hazard rate is assumed to have a power-law dependence on stress. When an element fails it is removed, the stress on a failed element is redistributed uniformly to a specified number of neighboring elements in a given range of interaction. Damage is defined to be the fraction of elements that have failed. Time to failure and modes of rupture propagation are determined as a function of the hazard-rate exponent and the range of interaction.