Definition of soil characteristics and ground response at the northwestern part of the Gulf of Suez, Egypt: Fid-Bau Portal

Definition of soil characteristics and ground response at the northwestern part of the Gulf of Suez, Egypt

M E Mohamed Adel / A Deif / S El-Hadidy / S R Moustafa Sayed / A El Werr

The area of interest represents the industrial part of Ain El-Sokhna new port, located in the northwestern part of the seismically active Gulf of Suez zone. The main objective of the current study is to estimate the site characteristics of the area of interest in terms of the fundamental frequency and the corresponding peak amplitude using noise measurements. The microtremor measurements were performed at 44 sites distributed over the study area in order to calculate the horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratio. The standard spectral ratio (SSR) is used in addition to the numerical modelling of horizontal shear (SH) waves in soil at selected sites in order to have a comparison with the H/V spectral ratio. The required 1D soil models for the numerical modelling of SH-waves were derived from 220 P-wave shallow seismic refraction profiles in addition to 30 SH-wave profiles. Maps of the fundamental frequency (f₀) and its corresponding H/V peak amplitude (A₀) were provided, and a range of site conditions in the area were shown. The amplification factor results derived from the SSR technique are very similar to those derived from the H/V spectral ratio. In most cases, the H/V spectral ratio proved to be suitable for calculating the fundamental resonance. Results were found to be compatible with the surface geology of the area of interest.