Defining an Energy in the Olami-Feder-Christensen Model

Speaker: James Silva

When: September 30, 2015 (Wed), 01:00PM to 02:00PM (add to my calendar)
Location: SCI 328

This event is part of the Departmental Seminars.

Dissertation Committee: William Klein, Karl Ludwig, Pankaj Mehta, Shyamsunder Erramilli, James Miller

Abstract: Recently there have been predictions of large 6.7+ magnitude earthquakes in the near future along the Hayward fault that runs across Northern California endangering large metropolitan areas. The destructive power of earthquakes has motivated research on understanding earthquake fault systems to mitigate the consequences of large earthquakes. To begin understanding earthquake models using physics for equilibrium processes work will be presented on defining energies in earthquake models. Specifically two earthquake fault models will be considered. The Olami-Feder-Christensen (OFC) and Rundle-Jackson-Brown (RJB) model will be connected by defining an energy analog in the OFC model. Both of these models will be introduced and motivated in the context of earthquakes. Lastly the consequences, future work, and goals of building more realistic earthquake fault models through asperities will be introduced.

James