The interest in assessing seismic risk in earthquake-prone regions in Morocco has been increasing over recent decades, to a large extent due to the substantial amount of damage imposed by recent events and because the population in these regions has grown significantly. In this context, the present study is aimed to contribute to the understanding of seismic risk in the urban areas of the Rif region, one of the most seismically active zones of Morocco, through the development and analysis of 36 building models representative of this area. Two earthquake scenarios were considered for the assessment of the seismic hazard, based on the national seismic code and the European code adapted to local seismic parameters. The performance points, determined following generated response and capacity spectra, made it possible to establish damage probability matrices. Obtained results corroborate those of previous reports, confirming that the damage is more significant in Imzouren due to the nature of the soil. It has also been shown that the credibility of the response spectra drawn from the national code is questioned, given the extreme damage estimated. The adapted European spectrum proved to be a more reliable probabilistic earthquake scenario for damage estimation.
The last seismic events showed that tunnel lining may suffer extensive damage. Employing numerical modeling has a great importance in predicting the seismic performance of tunnels. This paper tests the tunnel lining of the Zaouit Ait Mellal (ZAM) twin tunnels located between the cities of Marrakesh and Agadir in Morocco. Dynamic analysis was adopted by FLAC 2D software using the finite-difference elements. Four soil cross-sections were chosen, with different support devices installed along the twin tunnels, such as rock bolts and steel ribs. The seismic signals introduced as input were obtained from three different earthquakes: Al Hoceima 2004 in Morocco, EL Centro 1940 in the USA, and Kobe 1995 in Japan. The numerical results show that the deformation of the tunnel lining is more noteworthy in the sections using steel ribs compared to those using rock bolts, which is observed by the large values of relative displacement, reaching 1020 (mm) and 2.29 × 105 (N.m/m) of maximum bending moment. The analysis indicates that these sections present higher vulnerability during an earthquake, which should be considered when looking at the overall safety of the tunnel.
15 August 2026 in Ecological Engineering & Environmental Technology
The city of Saidia is a coastal Mediterranean urban lowland characterized by concentrated population, tourism infrastructure, and seasonal watercourses. This combination makes the city exposed to inundation. This study maps and assesses pluvial and fluvial flood susceptibility across the coastal...