DETERMINING RUPTURE ENVELOPES OF A FAULT SYSTEM

Provided are a method, computer-readable medium, and a system for determining rupture envelopes for a fault system. The method includes obtaining a representation that depicts one or more faults in a region of the earth as triangulated surfaces; selecting variables from among parameters comprising stress ratio, orientation of far field stress maximum principal stress, intermediate principal stress, minimum principal stress for the far field stress, and sliding friction and cohesion of the fault system; determining a strain energy of a triangular element based on a friction coefficient, a normal stress on the triangular element, and a cohesion for the variables; summing the strain energy of each triangle in the triangulated surfaces to yield an effective shear strain energy; extracting one or more iso-surfaces of the effective shear strain energy based on the summing; and creating rupture envelopes for specific values of the effective shear strain energy.