On the Investigation of Interacting Fault Movement in a Viscoelastic Structure

The present paper investigates the ground deformation caused by interaction between an infinite and finite fault. The nature of the faults are inclined, surface-breaking, strike-slip and situated in a viscoelastic half-space of Maxwell medium. The fault movement across the infinite fault is creeping and after a sudden movement across the finite fault it stops to move. The analytical solution of displacement, stress-strain components are deduced for absence of fault movement and due to interaction between the faults by inducing appropriate boundary conditions. A closed form of displacement, stress-strain are determined by employing Mittag-Leffler function, Integral transform, and Green’s function technique. The efficacy of different affecting parameters such as inclinations, velocity of the fault movement, distance between the faults, depth of the faults from the free surface and fractional order are portrayed graphically which may help us to study earthquake prediction programs.