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Abstract We study how the asymmetric geometry of thrust faults affects the dynamics of supershear ruptures and their associated trailing Rayleigh ruptures as they interact with the free surface, and investigate the resulting near‐field ground motions. Earthquakes are mimicked by propagating laboratory ruptures along a frictional interface with a 61° dip angle. Using an experimental technique that combines ultrahigh‐speed photography with digital image correlation, we produce sequences of full‐field evolving measurements of particle displacements and velocities. Our full‐field measurement capability allows us to confirm and quantify the asymmetry between the experimental motions of the hanging and footwalls, with larger velocity magnitudes occurring at the hanging wall. Interestingly, because the motion of the hanging wall is generally near‐vertical, while that of the footwall is at dip direction shallower than the dip angle of the fault, the horizontal surface velocity components are found to be larger at the footwall than at the hanging wall. The attenuation in surface velocity with distance from the fault trace is generally larger at the hanging wall than at the footwall and it is more pronounced in the vertical component than in the horizontal one. Measurements of the rotations in surface motions confirm experimentally that the interaction of the rupture with the free surface can be interpreted through a torqueing mechanism that leads to reduction in normal stress near the free surface for thrust earthquakes. Nondimensional analysis shows that the experimental measurements are consistent with larger‐scale numerical simulations as well as field observations from thrust earthquakes.
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Spatiotemporal Properties of Sub‐Rayleigh and Supershear Ruptures Inferred From Full‐Field Dynamic Imaging of Laboratory Experiments
Abstract Many earthquakes propagate at sub‐Rayleigh speeds. Earthquakes propagating at supershear speeds, though less common, are by far more destructive. Hence, it is important to quantify the motion characteristics associated with both types of earthquake ruptures. Here we report on the spatiotemporal properties of dynamic ruptures measured in our laboratory experiments using the dynamic digital image correlation technique. Earthquakes are mimicked by the frictional rupture propagating along the interface of two Homalite plates. Digital images of the propagating ruptures are captured by an ultrahigh‐speed camera and processed with digital image correlation in order to produce sequences of evolving displacement and velocity maps. Our measurements reveal the full‐field structure of the velocity components, bridge the gap between previous spatially sparse velocimeter measurements available only at two to three locations, and enable us to quantify the attenuation patterns away from the interface.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1651235
- PAR ID:
- 10456379
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
- Volume:
- 125
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2169-9313
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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