I perform multicycle dynamic simulations of a restraining double bend that is simplified from
the Aksay bend along the Altyn Tagh Fault in northwest China. The earthquake cycle
includes a coseismic dynamic rupture phase and an interseismic stress loading and
relaxation phase. The double bend fault system has two fault strands and each strand
comprises a stem segment that strikes parallel to the maximum shear loading direction and
a bend segment that deviates from the loading direction. I find that the restraining double …

We study rupture behavior of the Aksay bend along the Altyn Tagh fault in northwest China
over multiple earthquake cycles. A finite element method is used to numerically simulate
spontaneous rupture during a coseismic process, and a viscoelastic model is used to
analytically compute the fault stresses during an interseismic process. We find that the Aksay
bend is an effective barrier to halt dynamically propagating ruptures from either side of the
bend within a range of model parameters, with statistically only about 10% of ruptures …