A model of nonuniform fracture system for Langcang-Gengma earthquake sequence and elasto-plastic computation method

Based on the observation data, it is found that the Lancang-Gengma earthquake sequence is resulting from the propagation of a nonuniform fracture system in which the lengths and strikes of fractures are different from each other, the stress field and medium condition around fractures are also heterogeneous. Therefore, a mechanical model simulating suitably the fracture processes of the Lancang-Gengma earthquake sequence is suggested in this paper. The fracture criterions and computation method for elastic fracture and elasto-plastic fracture are studied. The stress intensity factor, strain energy release rate and J-integral are evaluated respectively. The forward and inverse method jointing a variety of observation data to determine the earthquake fracture processes is also developed in this paper. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,14, 463–471, 1992. This project was sponsored by the Chinese Jonit Seismological Science Foundation.