Webuiltathree-dimensionalmodeltosimulatethedisturbanceofthestressfieldnearthereversefaultinZhaziao,LeyiTownshipowingtohydraulicfracturing.Theporepressure,andshearandnormalstressesduringfracturingareanalyzedindetail.Inputrockmechanicsparametersaretakenfromlaboratorytestdataofshalesamplesfromthestudyarea.Thesimulationresultssuggestthatafter16hoursoffluidinjection,thepore-pressurevariationcanactivatethereversefault,i.e.,weobservereverseslip,andtheshearstressanddisplacementonthefaultplaneincreasewithtime.Thebiggeststress–strainchangeoccursafteronehouroffluidinjectionandtheyieldpointappearsabout0.5hafterinjection.Toobservethestressevolutionineachsection,thenormaldisplacementontheboundaryisconstrainedandthefaultplaneissetasnonpermeable.Thus,theslidingislimitedandthesheardisplacementisonlyinthescaleofmillimeters,andthecalculatedmagnitudeoftheinducedearthquakesisbetweenMw-3.5andMw-0.2.Thesimulationresultssuggestthatfluidwaterinjectionresultsininhomogeneousfracturing.Themainrupturedareasarearoundtheinjectionpositions,whereastheextentofrupturingandcracksinotherareasarerelativelysmall.Nevertheless,nonnegligiblefaultactivationisrecorded.Sensitivityanalysisofthekeyparameterssuggeststhattheporepressureismostsensitivetothemaximumunbalancedforceandtheinternalfrictionanglestronglyaffectsthefaultslip.Finally,thecomparisonbetweentheeffectivenormalstressandthemaximumandminimumprincipalstressesonthefaultplaneexplainsthefaultinstability,i.e.,theMohrcirclemovestowardstheleftwithdecreasingradiusreducesandintersectsthecriticalslipenvelope,andcausesthefaulttoslip.
