The Role of Soil Stiffness in Reverse Fault Rupture Propagation

<p>A nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model with a strain dependent yield surface and non-associated flow was employed to study the plastic soil properties which affect the rate of surface fault rupture propagation in reverse events. These numerical simulations show a trend for soils with higher stiffness to have a higher rate of rupture propagation. Additionally the study shows the effects of strain softening and hardening on the rate of rupture propagation. Soils which strain harden exhibiting ductile behavior typically require more basal offset to rupture to the surface than soils which strain soften exhibiting brittle behavior. These results agree with our previous fault box studies, which showed that soils with higher near surface shear wave velocity were more likely to propagate rupture to the surface for a given reverse event. The numerical modeling allowed for a more comprehensive evaluation of material types and fault angles than the fault box, and provided confidence in these findings.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Year dc:date.available

2017

Author dc:creator

• Buelna, Moises I

Contributors dc:contributor

• Robb Eric S. Moss

• Fault Rupture
• Mohr-Coulomb Failure
• Soil Plasticity
• Engineering Mechanics
• Geotechnical Engineering

Identifier

10.15368/theses.2017.106

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-3078