As residents of a dynamic planet, we face an array of geohazards from volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis. From a physical standpoint, fluid-solid coupling drives these dynamic systems. Fluid magma propagates through the solid rock of an active volcano to either remain in storage at depth or erupt at the land surface. The coseismic shift of the solid seafloor from a megathrust earthquake excites the overlying ocean, resulting in tsunami waves. These fluid waves, in turn, interact with the solid coastal areas with devastating consequences. Large earthquakes transfer stress to the near-field region surrounding the rupture. Diffusive flow of pore fluids in the crust and viscous flow of the mantle slowly relax these stresses, producing delayed aftershocks.

We specialize in using Abaqus-based Finite Element Models (FEMs) to simulate fluid-solid coupling that drives deformation systems of earthquakes and active volcanoes. We are particularly focused on developing methods to embed FEMs in nonlinear inverse analyses that use observations of Earth's surface deformation (e.g., GPS and InSAR) to characterize inaccessible deformation sources at depth. The Geodynamics Laboratory is equipped with Heavy Workstations (multi-core CPUs, TFLOP GPU acceleration, Big RAM, and Solid-state drives) that are specifically designed for FEM-based analyses. Example targets include: