Computer Model Takes In Earthquake Data And Runs A Simulation In Real Time

The best way to describe research at Carnegie Mellon University that uses Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center equipment is "earth-shaking."

For starters, the research focuses on earthquakes. But it also uses novel methods of simulating earthquake physics with the goal of saving lives, buildings and infrastructure in Southern California.

Jacobo Bielak, David O'Hallaron and their "Quake Group" of six other researchers in CMU's Computational Seismology Laboratory and computer science department have used PSC's "BigBen" supercomputer to simulate a Los Angeles-area earthquake and show how ground motions propagated destruction in a 70,000-square-mile region.

"This work already is being used in practice by the California Department of Transportation," said Dr. Bielak, CMU professor of civil and environmental engineering.

Since 1993, CMU's team has participated in research at Southern California Earthquake Center based at the University of Southern California.

"We are the only ones not in California," Dr. Bielak said. "We have the luxury of working with them without the fear of an earthquake."


Last week, the team ran a supercomputer simulation that used its Hercules computation code and analysis method to perform complex supercomputer simulations with 2,048 processors running simultaneously to reach higher levels of resolution. The simulation shows how ground motion from an earthquake selects a propagation path to spread throughout a region, but affects some areas more than others.

"Because of the work we do, we have a much better understanding of the entire earthquake phenomenon from the source through the propagation path of waves and local side effects," Dr. Bielak said.

The successful simulation marks the latest research tremor in a string of successes.

In November, the team -- which includes researchers from the University of Texas, University of California, Davis, and the supercomputing center -- won the SC06 Analytics Challenge Award in Tampa, Fla., for its earthquake simulation that explains why earthquakes so dramatically affect populated basins such as Los Angeles