Numerical simulation of stress field adjustment caused by the loss of fault load-bearing capacity in Chinese mainland

In this paper, a three-dimensional finite element model is utilized to investigate the basic features of stress field change of Chinese mainland caused by the loss of fault load-bearing capacity and its influencing factors through the fault destruction with the killing element group method. This method provides a new way to explore the short term change of stress field in a large area and the corresponding migration of strong earthquakes. Our results show that killing the element group will cause the stress field adjustment in a large area. The equivalent stress in more than 55% elements is increased by more than 0.1 MPa. The change in the direction of principal stress is less than 20 degrees in 99.7% areas. The initial stress field greatly influences the stress field adjustment caused by killing the element group. By killing the element group around the 14 November 2001 Kunlunshan Ms 8.1 strong earthquake area, the perturbed stress field is consistent with the actual observed value of in-situ stress. Furthermore, a maximum equivalent stress element appears near the epicenter of the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan Ms 8.1 earthquake. These results suggest that the killing element group method can simulate some earthquake sequences, but further investigations are still required in the killing element group method by considering more non-linear influences on the stress perturbations.