The Egyptian Building Code: Recommended Modifications for

the Input Seismic Hazard Parameters

Rashad Sawires(1), Jos A. Pelez(2) and Raafat E. Fat-Helbary(3)
(1)
Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, 71516-Assiut, Egypt, rashad.sawires@gmail.com
(2)
Department of Physics, University of Jan, Jan, Spain, japelaez@ujaen.es
(3)
Aswan Regional Earthquake Research Center, 152-Aswan, Egypt, fat_helbary2@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
Some Egyptian building codes have been published in Egypt during the last three
decades. These codes are the Regulations of the Egyptian Society of Earthquake Engineering
(ESEE, 1988), and the Egyptian Codes for the Calculation of Loads and Forces (ECP-201:
1993, 2004, 2008, and 2011). Great variations in the representation and values of the seismic
action parameters can be observed among them. The current representation of the seismic
action (ECP-201, 2011), which is based mainly on the seismic hazard study done by Riad et
al. (2000), and follows the same framework adopted in Eurocode 8 (2004), do not give a
specific ground-motion value for each Egyptian city, but it just divides the whole territory of
Egypt into six broad zones, assigning to each of them a unique seismic action value. For
zones 1, 2, 3 and 4, the peak ground acceleration (PGA) values are 0.10, 0.13, 0.15 and 0.20
g, respectively. Zone 5 is subdivided into two sub-zones, 5a and 5b, with PGA values of 0.25
and 0.30 g, respectively.
Recently, an updated probabilistic seismic hazard for Egypt, in terms of PGA and
spectral acceleration (SA) values, for both rock and stiff-soil site conditions, has been
assessed. Seismic hazard results have been computed for the whole territory, and specific
seismic hazard values have been estimated in detail for mostly important cities in Egypt.
Moreover, taking into account the noticeable differences among the input seismic actions in
the previous building codes, a new approach for establishing the design spectra, using only
two SA values for oscillation periods of 0.2 and 1.0 s, is suggested and recommended for the
upcoming building code in Egypt. The procedure developed by Malhotra (2005) for the
establishment of the design spectra was used here. The obtained design response spectra
using this approach have been analysed, comparing it with the computed uniform hazard
spectra and the ECP-201 (2011) design spectra for several selected Egyptian cities. It clearly
appears that, for a specific location, it is a good approach to include a design spectra defined
by only two values (the computed SA values for 0.2 and 1.0 s) in the building code.

KEYWORDS

Building codes, Design spectra, Seismic hazard, Peak ground acceleration, Spectral
acceleration, Egypt.