Spectral elements numerical simulation of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake on a detailed reconstructed domain

10/2021

Spectral elements numerical simulation of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake on a detailed reconstructed domain

Tuesday 2nd March 2021

Di Michele, F.; May, J.; Pera, D.; Kastelic, V.; Carafa, M.; Smerzini, C.; Mazzieri, I.; Rubino, B.; Antonietti, P.F.; Quarteroni, A.; Aloisio, R.; Marcati, P.

In this paper we simulate the earthquake that hit the city of L’Aquila on the 6th of April 2009 using the SPEED code (SPectral Elements in Elastodynamics with Discontinuous Galerkin), an open source library able to simulate the propagation of seismic waves in complex three dimensional (3D) domains. Our model includes an accurate 3D reconstruction of the Quaternary deposits, according to the most up-to-date data obtained from the Microzonation studies in Central Italy and a detailed reconstruction of the topography reported using a newly developed tool [61]. The sensitivity of our results with respect to different kinematic seis- mic sources is investigated. The results obtained are in good agreement with the recordings at all available seismic stations at epicentral dis- tances within 20 km range. Finally, a blind source prediction scenario shows that an acceptable agreement between simulations and recordings can be obtained by simulating stochastic rupture realizations with basic input data. A similar approach can be used to model future and past earthquakes for which little information is generally available, thus allowing an enhancement of the associated risk assessment.