Estimating uncertainty of earthquake rupture using Bayesian neural network

TL;DR

This paper employs Bayesian neural networks to estimate uncertainty in earthquake rupture modeling, effectively addressing small data challenges and identifying key parameters influencing rupture behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a BNN approach for earthquake rupture analysis, improving uncertainty estimation and parameter identification over traditional neural networks.

Findings

BNN achieved a test F1-score of 0.8334, outperforming plain NN.

Normal stresses are the primary source of uncertainty in rupture propagation.

Geometric features have minimal impact on rupture uncertainty.

Abstract

Bayesian neural networks (BNN) are the probabilistic model that combines the strengths of both neural network (NN) and stochastic processes. As a result, BNN can combat overfitting and perform well in applications where data is limited. Earthquake rupture study is such a problem where data is insufficient, and scientists have to rely on many trial and error numerical or physical models. Lack of resources and computational expenses, often, it becomes hard to determine the reasons behind the earthquake rupture. In this work, a BNN has been used (1) to combat the small data problem and (2) to find out the parameter combinations responsible for earthquake rupture and (3) to estimate the uncertainty associated with earthquake rupture. Two thousand rupture simulations are used to train and test the model. A simple 2D rupture geometry is considered where the fault has a Gaussian geometric heterogeneity at the center, and eight parameters vary in each simulation. The test F1-score of BNN (0.8334), which is 2.34% higher than plain NN score. Results show that the parameters of rupture propagation have higher uncertainty than the rupture arrest. Normal stresses play a vital role in determining rupture propagation and are also the highest source of uncertainty, followed by the dynamic friction coefficient. Shear stress has a moderate role, whereas the geometric features such as the width and height of the fault are least significant and uncertain.