[S02B-06] XFEM simulation of rupture direction on branching fault
Keywords:eXtended Finite Element Method, branching, superposition
In 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, the rupture direction was observed which is opposite to the conventional assumption for branching faults. Then we modeled the surface trace of Hinagu and Futagawa faults and conducted case studies with varing fault strength over the faults and initial stress fields based on another research. In order to simulate a branching fault, we incorporated a new expression for discountinuity in FEM and expressed branching as a combination of tipping elements.