Trajectory of fault-plane-induced tensile crack in relation to the primary stress field

Summary The predetermination of the trajectory of a tensile crack induced at the tip of a stress-free fault plane (open slit, in two dimensional approximation) was investigated. Both the primary field of the tensile component of principal stress and the primary field of the strain energy density factor were computed and compared with the trajectory of the subsequent tensile crack. It was found that it is not the field of the strain energy density factor, but the field of the tensile component of principal stress which determines the trajectory of the tensile crack. Moreover, this field is responsible for the trajectory of the tensile crack not only in its seismoactive phase of its development, but also in the following aseismic stage characterized by slow stable growth.