MATHEMATICAL-MODELING ON INSTABILITY OF SHEAR FAULT

A study on mathematical modelling on instability of fault is reported. The fracture mechanics and fracture dynamics as a basis of the discus sion, and the method of complex variable function (including the confo rmal mapping and approximate conformal mapping) are employed and some analytic solutions of the problem in closed form are found The fault b ody concept is emphasized and the characteristic size of fault body is introduced. The effect of finite size of the fault body and the effec t of the fault propagating speed (especially the effect of the high sp eed) and their influence on the fault instability are discussed These results further explain the low-stress drop phenomena observed in eart hquake source.