2023-09-13
Luca Dal Zilio awarded the Jason Morgan Early Career Award
Congratulations to our team member and senior researcher Luca Dal Zilio for being awarded the Jason Morgan Early Career Award by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Luca's principal research interests include the development and use of physics-based computational simulations to characterize and understand earthquake physics, fault mechanics, mechanics of porous media, lithospheric deformation and seismicity, and surface evolution.
At the BedrettoLab, Luca has been focused on advancing the frontiers of our understanding of earthquake source processes. His group is responsible for developing physics-based modeling tools that simulate fault slip, fluid-flow, and poroelastic effects in a highly integrated manner. Within the context of the FEAR project, these models are employed to simulate fluid injection experiments conducted at the BedrettoLab. Luca's work aims to gain invaluable insights into how earthquakes start and stop.
Specifically, Luca's models shed light on the complex interactions between hydraulic stimulation and stress modification, allowing us to understand how small, non-damaging earthquakes—measured at approximately magnitude ~1.0 events on fault patches of 10-50m scale—can be initiated in the vicinity of the Bedretto tunnel. These numerical experiments will provide new near-field perspectives into the physics of earthquake processes, significantly contributing to our efforts to extend the boundaries of current earthquake predictability.