Stabilized low-order finite elements for coupled solid-deformation/fluid-diffusion and their application to fault zone transients
✍ Scribed by Joshua A. White; Ronaldo I. Borja
- Book ID
- 104013662
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2008
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 676 KB
- Volume
- 197
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0045-7825
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✦ Synopsis
Finite element simulations of coupled solid-deformation/fluid-diffusion occurring in earthquake fault zones often require high-fidelity descriptions of the spatial and temporal variations of excess pore water pressure. Large-scale calculation of the coupled fault zone process is often inhibited by the high-order interpolation of the displacement field required to overcome unstable tendencies of the finite elements in the incompressible and nearly incompressible limit. In this work we utilize a stabilized formulation in which the balance of mass is augmented with an additional term representing a stabilization to the incremental change in the pressure field. The stabilized formulation permits equal-order interpolation for the displacement and pore pressure fields and suppresses pore pressure oscillations in the incompressible and nearly incompressible limit. The technique is implemented with a recently developed critical state plasticity model to investigate transient fluid-flow/solid-deformation processes arising from slip weakening of a fault segment. The accompanying transient pore pressure development and dissipation can be used to predict fault rupture and directivity where fluid flow is an important driving force.