Dr Rafael Benites
BSc Physics, Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, Lima, Peru; PhD Geophysics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
Rafael is a geophysicist who specialises in numerical modelling of seismic wave propagation in complex media, and earthquake fault ruptures.
One of his main projects is to combine numerical techniques and observed earthquake data to predict strong ground motion in the Wellington metropolitan region in the event of a large earthquake along the Wellington Fault. His work also includes the computation of ground motion in a three-dimensional digital model of the Wellington-Lower Hutt basin.
Rafael was a member of the ‘It’s Our fault’ project team, a multi-year GNS Science programme investigating the likelihood and impacts of large earthquakes in Wellington, which won the Supreme Award at the 2019 Science New Zealand Awards.
Rafael also works on models to compute ground deformation and stress fields, including generation of synthetic seismicity based on multiple earthquake fault interaction and interactions between volcanic three-dimensional magma chambers of arbitrary shapes, and earthquake faults.
Rafael's work on different subjects of wave propagation has led to numerous collaborations with international colleagues. In 1998 he won a Japanese Fellowship for the Promotion of Science, and in 2003 he worked as a consultant in the Bullard Laboratory, University of Cambridge, England. In 2005 he was an invited speaker at the Department of Geophysics of Beijing University, China, and in 2008 at the Earthquake Research Institute, Tokyo University, Japan.
Rafael is a Member of the American Geophysical Union