EAGER: The Burridge-Willis-Eshelby Waves from a Self-Similarly Expanding Ellipsoidal Region of Phase Change and Application to Deep-Focus Earthquakes

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This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award supports fundamental research to obtain the complete mechanics based analysis of the acoustic and energetic aspects of the Burridge-Willis-Eshelby wave problems. This model will be applied to predict the acoustic emissions due to phase transitions in the process that generates deep focus earthquakes, a physical phenomenon that has defied modeling for over 50 years. The results would enable future collaborations between applied mechanics researchers and the geophysical research community to perform quantitative predictions and interpretation of field data on deep focus earthquakes. The project will also connect to ongoing mentoring programs for women researchers at the University of California - San Diego.A model of the solution for waves emitted by a self-similarly expanding ellipsoidal region, in which the material undergoes phase change as it expands under high pressure, will be derived. This problem constitutes the dynamic generalization of the seminal Eshelby ellipsoidal inclusion problem both in isotropy and anisotropy. The equivalent transformation strain will be obtained for the specific phase transitions occurring in the experimental analogs and the theoretical acoustic emissions will be compared with experimental ones from previous geophysics research.