Earthquake Hazard Assessment Studies in the State of Kuwait

Abstract

This study addresses the first and most important step in measuring the level of seismic hazard in Kuwait. As a result of development, there has been a rise in urban growth leading to the establishment of massive structures and skyscrapers in Kuwait. Therefore, there is demand for seismic risk assessment and the creation of a single seismic code for the country. Consequently, the historical and instrumental data were compiled into seismic catalogs of Kuwait and the active Zagros Seismic Belt. The magnitudes have been unified, extraneous earthquakes removed, and the catalogs' entirety has been taken into account. A seismotectonic model for the Kuwait region has been built to minimize the epistemic uncertainties. The model functions by combining seismicity patterns and structural geological conditions. The probability of experiencing the largest predicted earthquake emerging from every seismic source was calculated together with the parameters set for recurrence. Furthermore, the creation of hazard maps required a suitable ground motion attenuation relation within a logic tree design. Considering recurrence intervals of 100, 475, 975, and 2475 years (corresponding to 39.3 percent, 10%, 5%, and 2%, accordingly, the likelihood of exceedance in 50 years), a probability-based technique is utilized in the study to construct hazard maps at the following 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 4 seconds. The maps of scaling hazard areas were created using a 0.2 ° x 0.2 ° spacing grid throughout Kuwait. The five regions of Kuwait (Kuwait City, Salmiya Area, Sabriya Area, Managish Area, and Um Gudair Area) have all implemented a consistent spectrum of hazards. The findings of this study plus the vulnerability index serve the essential features required to calculate Kuwait's seismic risk.

Effect of Fines Content on Liquefaction Resistance During Steady-State Conditions

“…The propagation of S waves will generate an alternating shear force, which propagates from the bedrock to the surface in the form of peak ground acceleration, which with a relative density of more than 75%, will increase the vertical stresses. In some studies, the method of determining the maximum likelihood was used in determining the a-b value of the Gutenberg-Richter relation [2], [3], in which the results obtained are based on the fault distance and maximum magnitude of several return periods.…”