Figure 4

Geometry of the parametric study. (a) Fault heterogeneity was defined by one large ellipse with high fracture energy and four small circles with low fracture energy. The hypocenter was set at (0, 0) on the figure. Around the hypocenter and in order to avoid the rapid onset of the initial crack, it was assumed that fracture energy increases linearly with hypocentral distance. The difference in peak strength is three times in such a case (case 2 in Figure 5) and was then varied in the parametric study. (b) Wave propagation was calculated for the same geometry as in Figure 2, with the same mechanism (strike N 205°E, dip 15°, and rake 90°) and hypocenter. However, the patch distribution is for synthetic studies, and so we renamed the five stations as R1 to R5 and focus on the E-W (X) component as it is the most significant. The panel shows a snapshot of the simulation corresponding to case (a).