speed – SPEED – SPectral Elements in Elastodynamics with Discontinuous Galerkin

SPEED – SPectral Elements in Elastodynamics with Discontinuous Galerkin

SPEED is an open-source code designed with the aim of simulating large-scale seismic events in three-dimensional complex media: from far-field to near-field including soil-structure interaction effects.
SPEED combines the flexibility of discontinuous Galerkin methods to connect together, through a domain decomposition paradigm, Spectral Element blocks where high-order polynomials are used. SPEED heavily exploits parallelism in the framework of explicit time integration and features optimal scalability properties making use of the open-source libraries METIS and MPI for mesh partitioning and message passing.
SPEED is jointly developed at Politecnico di Milano by The Laboratory for Modeling and Scientific Computing MOX of the Department of Mathematics and by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Snapshots (t = 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 s, from left to right) of the simulated displacement of the Acquasanta viaduct. Displacements are considered in their absolute values. An amplification factor has been adopted for visualization purpose.
Map of permanent ground uplift simulated by SPEED (left) and observed by COSMO-SkyMed InSAR processing (right). In both maps the surface projection of the fault area is shown, together with the intersection of the fault plane with ground surface (dashed line).

On January 13, 1915, at 6:52 local time, a catastrophic earthquake devastated Marsica, Southern Abruzzi, Central Italy, causing around 33,000 fatalities. Among the most important municipalities hit by the earthquake, the ruin of Avezzano was completed, with 10,700 fatalities, 95% of the total population (CFTI, 2015). A single reinforced concrete building in Avezzano, one of the very first ones at those times, withstood the earthquake and was later declared a national monument.