Prediction and Modeling of Ground Motion: A Case Study to Kuwait

Urban planning and development in Kuwait are increasing rapidly. A large number of buildings including high-rise buildings and other infrastructures have been constructed. Therefore, ground motion prediction is essential for reducing seismic risk. Modeling and simulation of the ground motion have been executed for some earthquake data that were monitored and recorded by the National Seismic Network of Kuwait, using the stochastic simulation method. This powerful technique is very effective at simulating high frequencies (> 1 Hz) of ground motions that are the most important to engineers. It combines parametric descriptions of the amplitude spectrum of ground motion with a spectrum. This random phase spectrum has been modified so that it relates the distribution of ground motion over the duration to the magnitude of the earthquake and its distance from a given location. The effective seismic sources, largest earthquakes, and maximum expected magnitudes were identified and used in conjunction with source, path, and site parameters to estimate accelerations, velocities, displacements, and response spectra. This study shows that nearby local seismic sources have the greatest impact on Kuwait. These results can be powerful for use in land use planning and engineering purposes.