Analysis of stochastic seismic wave interaction with a slippery rock fault

Stochastic seismic wave interaction with a slippery rock fault is studied, based on the principle of conservation of momentum at the wave fronts along the fault. By using the displacement discontinuity method, the wave propagation equations are derived for incident longitudinal-(P-) and shear-(S-) waves, respectively. This is an extension of the study by Li and Ma (2010) for blast-induced wave propagation across a linear rock joint. Stochastic seismic waves are generated from a frequency spectrum and used to analyze the seismic wave interaction with a rock fault having a Coulomb-slip behavior. Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effect of the intensity and impinging angle of the incident seismic waves on wave propagation across a slippery rock fault. Results show that the transmission of the incident P-wave is almost not affected by the fault, on the contrary, this is not the case for an incident S-wave, due to the occurrence of a relative slip which is related to the impinging angle of the incident S-wave. A quantitative study is presented which is of help in understanding the propagation and attenuation laws of seismic waves in discontinuous rock masses.