new project on induced seismicity by the NWO-DeepNL programme december 2023

FastSlip: Bridging Dynamic Fault Slip Multiphysics to All Relevant Scales of Induced Seismicity

Earthquakes often result in damage to buildings and infrastructure and sometimes loss of human lives. Induced earthquakes due to human activities like gas extraction, are the result of fast slip on powder‐filled pre‐existing faults in the subsurface due to a rapid breakdown of their strength. The physical mechanisms contributing to the rapid failure remain unclear. In this project, we will perform experiments at scales of a single rock grain to millions of grains combined with computer models to investigate these weakening mechanisms. Our results will help to better constrain the hazard of induced earthquakes.

 The FastSlip project is born from a collaborative effort between the Surface Technology and Tribology Chair and the Soil MicroMechanics Chair within the ET faculty. Dr. Hongyang Cheng and Dr. Tanmaya Mishra are driven by the same passion: to advance the multi-physical understanding and upscaling of dynamic slip in subsurface faults resulting in induced seismicity.

Two PhD students will be hired in this project at UT to work on the experimental and numerical aspects of dynamic fault friction and slip. They will collaborate closely with a postdoc at Utrecht University, to be supervised by Dr. André Niemeijer, a renowned expert in fault and earthquake mechanics, leading the FastSlip project. The findings of this project will be key to improving constraints on forecasting of the magnitude of induced earthquakes.

 (source: https://www.nwo.nl/en/news/eight-new-deepnl-projects-investigate-the-dynamics-of-the-deep-subsurface-under-the-influence-of-human-interventions)