A stochastic spectral finite element method for solution of faulting-induced wave propagation in materially random continua without explicitly modeled discontinuities

Abstract

This paper proposes a new efficient stochastically adapted spectral finite element method to simulate fault dislocation and its wave propagation consequences. For this purpose, a dynamic form of the split node technique is formulated and developed to stochastic spectral finite element method in order to model fault dislocation happening within a random media without increasing computational demand caused by discontinuities. As discontinuities are not modeled explicitly herein, no additional degrees of freedom are implemented in the proposed method due to the discontinuities, while effects of these discontinuities are preserved. Therefore, the present method simultaneously includes merits of stochastic finite element method, spectral finite element method and the spilt node technique, thereby providing a new numerical tool for analysis of wave propagation under fault dislocation in random media. Several numerical simulations are solved by the proposed method, which present stochastic analysis of fault slip-induced wave propagation in layered random media. Formulations and numerical results demonstrate capability, application and efficiency of this novel method.