3D Benchmark Descriptions

Click on the benchmark name for a detailed description and instructions to modelers.




TPV3		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous fullspace.



TPV4		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous halfspace.



TPV5 *		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous halfspace. There are slightly heterogeneous initial stress conditions.



TPV6		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a bimaterial halfspace, with high shear modulus contrast across the fault (a "well-posed" problem).



TPV7		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a bimaterial halfspace, with low shear modulus contrast across the fault.



TPV8		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous halfspace. Initial stress conditions are linearly dependent on depth. Subshear rupture conditions.



TPV9		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical dip-slip fault in a homogeneous halfspace. Initial stress conditions are linearly dependent on depth. Subshear rupture conditions.



TPV10		Spontaneous rupture on a 60 degree dipping dip-slip fault (normal fault) in a homogeneous halfspace. Initial stress conditions are linearly dependent on depth. Subshear rupture conditions.



TPV11		Spontaneous rupture on a 60 degree dipping dip-slip fault (normal fault) in a homogeneous halfspace. Initial stress conditions are linearly dependent on depth. Supershear rupture conditions.



TPV12 *		Spontaneous rupture on a 60 degree dipping dip-slip fault (normal fault) in a homogeneous halfspace. Material properties are linear elastic. Initial stress conditions are dependent on depth. Strongly supershear rupture conditions.



TPV13 *		Spontaneous rupture on a 60 degree dipping dip-slip fault (normal fault) in a homogeneous halfspace. Material properties are non-associative Drucker-Prager plastic with yielding in shear. Initial stress conditions are dependent on depth. Strongly supershear rupture conditions.



TPV14		Spontaneous rupture on a right-lateral, vertical, strike-slip fault with a rightward branch forming a 30 degree angle. There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space. Material properties and initial stresses are similar to TPV5.



TPV15		Spontaneous rupture on a left-lateral, vertical, strike-slip fault with a rightward branch forming a 30 degree angle. There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space. Material properties and initial stresses are similar to TPV5.



TPV16		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous halfspace. There are randomly-generated heterogeneous initial stress conditions.



TPV17		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous halfspace. There are randomly-generated heterogeneous initial stress conditions.



TPV18		Spontaneous rupture on a right-lateral, vertical, strike-slip fault with a rightward branch forming a 30 degree angle. There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space.



TPV19		Spontaneous rupture on a right-lateral, vertical, strike-slip fault with a rightward branch forming a 30 degree angle. There are Drucker-Prager plastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space.



TPV20		Spontaneous rupture on a left-lateral, vertical, strike-slip fault with a rightward branch forming a 30 degree angle. There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space.



TPV21		Spontaneous rupture on a left-lateral, vertical, strike-slip fault with a rightward branch forming a 30 degree angle. There are Drucker-Prager plastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space.



TPV22		Spontaneous rupture on a right-lateral, vertical, strike-slip fault with a rightward stepover (extensional step). There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space.



TPV23		Spontaneous rupture on a right-lateral, vertical, strike-slip fault with a leftward stepover (compressional step). There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space.



TPV24		Spontaneous rupture on a right-lateral, vertical, strike-slip fault with a rightward branch forming a 30 degree angle. There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space.



TPV25		Spontaneous rupture on a left-lateral, vertical, strike-slip fault with a rightward branch forming a 30 degree angle. There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space.



TPV26		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault. There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space. This is the linear elastic version of TPV27.



TPV26v2		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault. There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space. This is the same as TPV26, with additional off-fault stations and a longer running time.



TPV27		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault. There are Drucker-Prager viscoplastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space.



TPV27v2		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault. There are Drucker-Prager viscoplastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space. This is the same as TPV27, with additional off-fault stations and a longer running time.



TPV28		Spontaneous rupture on a non-planar vertical strike-slip fault. The fault is a vertical plane, except for two hills. Initial shear and normal stresses on the fault are obtained by resolving a regional stress tensor onto the fault surface.



TPV29		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault with stochastic roughness. There are linear elastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space. Initial shear and normal stresses on the fault are obtained by resolving a regional stress tensor onto the fault surface. This is the linear elastic version of TPV30.



TPV30		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault with stochastic roughness. There are Drucker-Prager viscoplastic material properties in a homogeneous half-space. Initial shear and normal stresses on the fault are obtained by resolving a regional stress tensor onto the fault surface.



TPV31		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault. There is a discontinuous 1D velocity structure in a linear elastic half-space. Initial stresses are proportional to the shear modulus.



TPV32		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault. There is a continuous 1D velocity structure in a linear elastic half-space. Initial stresses are proportional to the shear modulus.



TPV33		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault. There is a 3D velocity structure with a low-velocity fault zone in a linear elastic half-space. Initial shear stresses are tapered so that the rupture stops spontaneously before reaching the earth's surface or any edge of the fault.



TPV34		Imperial Fault, Model 1. Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault. There is a 3D velocity structure in a linear elastic half-space. The velocity structure is derived from SCEC Community Velocity Model CVM-H in the vicinity of the Imperial Fault. Initial shear and normal stresses are proportional to the shear modulus.



TPV35		Parkfield 2004 M6 Earthquake. Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault. This is our first validation benchmark. In addition to comparing the results of dynamic rupture codes to each other, we are also comparing the results to real-world seismic data. TPV35 is based on a spontaneous rupture model from Ma, Custódio, Archuleta, and Liu (2008), Dynamic modeling of the 2004 Mw 6.0 Parkfield, California, earthquake, J. Geophys. Res., 113, B02301, doi:10.1029/2007JB005216.



TPV36		Spontaneous rupture on a 15 degree dipping thrust fault in a homogeneous halfspace. Material properties are linear elastic. Initial stress conditions are linearly dependent on depth. The rupture reaches the Earth's surface.



TPV37		Spontaneous rupture on a 15 degree dipping thrust fault in a homogeneous halfspace. Material properties are linear elastic. Initial stress conditions are linearly dependent on depth. The rupture stops spontaneously before it reaches the Earth's surface.



TPV101		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous fullspace. Rate-state friction, using an ageing law.



TPV102		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous halfspace. Rate-state friction, using an ageing law.



TPV103		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous fullspace. Rate-state friction, using a slip law with strong rate-weakening.



TPV104		Spontaneous rupture on a vertical strike-slip fault in a homogeneous halfspace. Rate-state friction, using a slip law with strong rate-weakening.



TPV105		Spontaneous rupture on a strike-slip fault. Thermal pressurization, with rate-state friction, using a slip law with strong rate-weakening. This is a 2D benchmark.



TPV105-3D		Spontaneous rupture on a strike-slip fault. Thermal pressurization, with rate-state friction, using a slip law with strong rate-weakening. This is a 3D benchmark.



TPV205 *		Same problem as TPV5, except performed at multiple resolutions.



TPV210		Same problem as TPV10, except performed at multiple resolutions.

* Starred items are benchmark classics.

For benchmark problems TPV3 through TPV5:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 30 km long by 15 km deep.
Nucleation is in a square region 3 km by 3 km, centered both along-strike and along-dip.
Nucleation is achieved by specifying a higher initial shear stress in the nucleation zone.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening, with zero cohesion.

For benchmark problems TPV6 and TPV7:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 30 km long by 15 km deep.
Nucleation is in a square region 3 km by 3 km, centered both along-strike and along-dip.
Nucleation is achieved by specifying a higher initial shear stress in the nucleation zone.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening, with zero cohesion.
Material properties are different on the two sides of the fault.
Note: These problems likely require a smaller element size than the requested 100 m.

For benchmark problems TPV8 and TPV9:

The fault is a vertical fault, measuring 30 km long by 15 km deep.
For TPV8, the fault is strike-slip.
For TPV9, the fault is dip-slip.
Nucleation is in a square region 3 km by 3 km, centered along-strike and at 12 km down-dip.
Nucleation is achieved by specifying a higher initial shear stress in the nucleation zone.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.
The initial shear and normal stress increase linearly with depth.

For benchmark problems TPV10 and TPV11:

The fault is a 60-degree dipping normal fault, measuring 30 km along strike by 15 km down-dip.
Nucleation is in a square region 3 km by 3 km, centered along-strike and at 12 km down-dip.
Nucleation is achieved by specifying a higher initial shear stress in the nucleation zone.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.
There are both 3D and 2D versions of these benchmarks.
TPV10 is intended to produce subshear rupture propagation.
TPV11 is intended to produce supershear rupture propagation.

For benchmark problems TPV12 and TPV13:

The fault is a 60-degree dipping normal fault, measuring 30 km along strike by 15 km down-dip.
Nucleation is in a square region 3 km by 3 km, centered along-strike and at 12 km down-dip.
Nucleation is achieved by specifying a lower static coefficient of friction in the nucleation zone.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.
For TPV12, the material property is linear elastic.
For TPV13, the material property is non-associative Drucker-Prager plastic with yielding in shear.
There are both 3D and 2D versions of these benchmarks.

For benchmark problems TPV14 and TPV15:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault with a rightward branch.
The main fault is 28 km along strike and 15 km deep.
The branch fault is 12 km along strike and 15 km deep.
Nucleation is in a square region 3 km by 3 km on the main fault.
Nucleation is achieved by specifying a higher initial shear stress in the nucleation zone.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening, with zero cohesion.
For TPV14, the faults are right-lateral.
For TPV15, the faults are left-lateral.
There are both 3D and 2D versions of these benchmarks.

For benchmark problems TPV16 and TPV17:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 48 km long by 19.5 km deep.
There are randomly-generated heterogeneous initial stress conditions.
Nucleation is achieved by surrounding the hypocenter with circular zones of forced rupture and reduced fracture energy.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.
Rupture extent is controlled by the initial stress distribution.

For benchmark problems TPV18 through TPV21:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault with a rightward branch.
The main fault is 28 km along strike and 15 km deep.
The branch fault is 12 km along strike and 15 km deep.
Nucleation occurs on the main fault.
Nucleation is achieved by surrounding the hypocenter with circular zones of forced rupture and reduced fracture energy.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.
The initial shear and normal stress increase linearly with depth.
For TPV18 and TPV19, the faults are right-lateral.
For TPV20 and TPV21, the faults are left-lateral.
For TPV18 and TPV20, the material property is linear elastic.
For TPV19 and TPV21, the material property is non-associative Drucker-Prager plastic with yielding in shear.

For benchmarks problems TPV22 and TPV23:

There are two vertical strike-slip faults, each measuring 30 km long by 20 km deep, with an overlap of 10 km.
For TPV22, there is a rightward step (extensional stepover) of 1.6 km.
For TPV23, there is a leftward step (compressional stepover) of 1.0 km.
Nucleation is achieved by surrounding the hypocenter with a circular zone of forced rupture.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.
There is a "soft" boundary at the bottom of the faults, formed by reducing the initial shear stress at depths below 15 km.

For benchmark problems TPV24 and TPV25:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault with a rightward branch.
The main fault is 28 km along strike and 15 km deep.
The branch fault is 12 km along strike and 15 km deep.
Nucleation occurs on the main fault.
Nucleation is achieved by surrounding the hypocenter with a circular zone of forced rupture.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.
The initial shear and normal stress increase linearly with depth.
For TPV24 the faults are right-lateral.
For TPV25, the faults are left-lateral.

For benchmark problems TPV26 and TPV27:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 40 km long and 20 km deep.
For TPV26, the material property is linear elastic.
For TPV27, the material property is non-associative Drucker-Prager viscoplastic with yielding in shear.
Nucleation occurs 15 km from one end of the fault, at a depth of 10 km.
Nucleation is achieved by surrounding the hypocenter with a circular zone of smoothed forced rupture.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.
The initial stress tensor is uniform in the upper 15 km, then tapers so that deviatoric stress is zero at depths below 20 km.
For TPV26v2 and TPV27v2, there are additional off-fault stations located 10 km and 20 km from the fault surface, and the running time is increased to 20 seconds.

For benchmark problem TPV28:

The fault is a non-planar strike-slip fault, measuring 36 km long and 15 km deep.
The fault is a vertical plane except for two hills.
Each hill is circular, with a radius of 3000 m, and a height of 600 m.
Initial shear and normal stresses are obtained by resolving a uniform regional stress tensor onto the non-planar fault surface.
Nucleation occurs in the center of the fault, at a depth of 7.5 km.
Nucleation is achieved by applying an additional initial shear stress in a circular zone surrounding the hypocenter.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening, with zero cohesion.

For benchmark problems TPV29 and TPV30:

The fault is a non-planar vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 40 km long and 20 km deep.
The fault has stochastic roughness, with Hurst exponent equal to 1.
For TPV29, the material property is linear elastic.
For TPV30, the material property is non-associative Drucker-Prager viscoplastic with yielding in shear.
Initial shear and normal stresses are obtained by resolving a depth-dependent regional stress tensor onto the rough fault surface.
Nucleation occurs 15 km from one end of the fault, at a depth of 10 km.
Nucleation is achieved by surrounding the hypocenter with a circular zone of smoothed forced rupture.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.

For benchmark problems TPV31 and TPV32:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 30 km long and 15 km deep.
Material properties are linear elastic.
For TPV31, there is a discontinuous velocity structure, with minimum V_S equal to 2250 m/s.
For TPV30, there is a continuous velocity structure, with minimum V_S equal to 1050 m/s.
The initial stress tensor is proportional to the shear modulus, and so it also has a 1D structure.
Nucleation occurs in the center of the fault, at a depth of 7.5 km.
Nucleation is achieved by applying an additional initial shear stress in a circular zone surrounding the hypocenter.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.

For benchmark problem TPV33:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 16 km long and 10 km deep.
Material properties are linear elastic.
There is a low-velocity fault zone, with minimum V_S equal to 2165 m/s.
The initial shear stress is tapered, so that the rupture does not reach the earth's surface or any edge of the fault.
The initial normal stress is constant.
Nucleation occurs off-center in the fault, at a depth of 6.0 km.
Nucleation is achieved by applying an additional initial shear stress in a circular zone surrounding the hypocenter.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening.

For benchmark problem TPV34:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 30 km long and 15 km deep.
Material properties are linear elastic.
There is a 3D velocity structure, derived from SCEC Community Velocity Model CVM-H in the vicinity of the Imperial Fault, modified so the minimum V_S is equal to 1400 m/s.
The initial shear and normal stresses are proportional to the shear modulus.
Nucleation occurs in the center of the fault, at a depth of 7.5 km.
Nucleation is achieved by applying an additional initial shear stress in a circular zone surrounding the hypocenter.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening.

For benchmark problem TPV35:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 40 km long and 15.5 km deep.
Material properties are linear elastic.
There is a 3D velocity structure, which consists of a 1D velocity structure on each side of the fault. The minimum V_S is equal to 1100 m/s.
The initial shear stress and the yield stress vary with position on the fault surface. The variation is chosen to produce a rupture similar to the Parkfield 2004 M6 earthquake.
Nucleation occurs 10 km from one end of the fault, at a depth of 8.1 km.
Nucleation is achieved by having reduced yield stress in a circular zone surrounding the hypocenter.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening.

For benchmark problems TPV36 and TPV37:

The fault is a 15-degree dipping thrust fault, measuring 30 km along strike by 28 km down-dip.
For TPV36, the rupture reaches the Earth's surface.
For TPV37, the rupture stops spontaneously before it reaches the Earth's surface.
Material properties are linear elastic.
The friction law is linear slip-weakening with cohesion.
Initial shear and normal stresses on the fault are linearly proportional to distance down-dip.
Nucleation occurs in the center of the fault, at a distance of 18 km down-dip.
Nucleation is achieved by surrounding the hypocenter with a circular zone of smoothed forced rupture.

For benchmark problems TPV101 and TPV102:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 30 km long by 15 km deep, surrounded by a transition region 3 km thick.
Nucleation is in a circular region with a radius of 3 km, centered both along-strike and along-dip.
Nucleation is achieved by applying a time-dependent shear stress perturbation in the nucleation zone.
The friction law is rate-and-state using an ageing law.

For benchmark problems TPV103 and TPV104:

The fault is a vertical strike-slip fault, measuring 30 km long by 15 km deep, surrounded by a transition region 3 km thick.
Nucleation is in a circular region with a radius of 3 km, centered both along-strike and along-dip.
Nucleation is achieved by applying a time-dependent shear stress perturbation in the nucleation zone.
The friction law is rate-and-state using a slip law with strong rate-weakening.

For benchmark problem TPV105:

This is a 2D in-plane benchmark, with a fault measuring 30 km long, and a transition region 3 km long at each end.
Thermal pressurization acts to increase pore pressure, and reduce fault strength, due to frictional heating.
Nucleation is in an interval with a radius of 1.5 km, centered along-strike.
Nucleation is achieved by applying a time-dependent shear stress perturbation in the nucleation zone.
The friction law is rate-and-state using a slip law with strong rate-weakening.

For benchmark problem TPV105-3D:

This is a 3D benchmark, with a fault measuring 30 km long by 15 km deep, surrounded by a transition region 3 km wide, surrounded in turn by a velocity-strengthening region.
Thermal pressurization acts to increase pore pressure, and reduce fault strength, due to frictional heating.
Nucleation is in a circular fault patch with a radius of 1.5 km, centered along-strike.
Nucleation is achieved by applying a time-dependent shear stress perturbation in the nucleation zone.
The friction law is rate-and-state using a slip law with strong rate-weakening.

For benchmarks problems TPV205 and TPV210:

These are the same problems as TPV5 and TPV10, except performed at multiple resolutions.
There are both 3D and 2D versions of these benchmarks.

Note: "TPV5" stands for "The Problem, Version 5."

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This page was last updated or reviewed on 15 July 2024.