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A comprehensive geotechnical and geophysical assessment of the foundation sublayers in egypt’s new administrative capital

2025-12-05
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Mahmoud A. Abed, Adel A. A. Othman, Salah Shebl, Mahmoud Zayed, Mohamed H. Farag

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive geotechnical and geophysical characterization of foundation sublayers in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, using thirteen Electrical resistivity Tomography (ERT) profiles with seismic velocity data from seventeen Shallow seismic refraction sites and three strategically selected Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) locations. The MASW sites were selected based on geoelectric profiles that reflect the complete types of lithologic variability across the study area, ensuring representative shear wave velocity (Vs) measurements. Resistivity results delineating four major subsurface units: a variable unit of sand, clay, and rock fragments; a limestone unit, a clay unit, and a sandstone unit. Seismic data enabled the calculation of key geotechnical parameters such as: rigidity modulus, Poisson’s ratio, Young’s modulus, and bulk modulus, revealing zones of high competence in the northeastern and northwestern parts, and incompetent materials in the central and southwestern parts of the study area and fairy to moderately competence between them. Material competence was assessed using the concentration index, material index, and stress ratio, which collectively divided the area into zones of slightly, moderately, and highly competent materials. Bearing capacity analysis showed ultimate and allowable bearing capacity values high in the eastern and southern zones, while central regions exhibited reduced capacities. These results provide a good assessment for site-specific foundation design and highlight the value of using geoelectric and seismic methods in complex urban planning.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

Open access funding provided by The Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) in cooperation with The Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB). This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, 11884, Egypt

    Mahmoud A. Abed, Adel A. A. Othman & Mahmoud Zayed

  2. Geophysics Laboratory, Exploration Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt

    Salah Shebl & Mohamed H. Farag

  3. EPRI Core Analysis Center, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI), Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed H. Farag

Authors
  1. Mahmoud A. Abed
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  2. Adel A. A. Othman
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  3. Salah Shebl
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  4. Mahmoud Zayed
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  5. Mohamed H. Farag
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Contributions

Mahmoud A Abed: Writing – review & editing **,** Writing–original draft, Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Software, Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization.Adel A. A. Othman: Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Software, Resources participated in writing – review & editing.Salah Shebl: Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Software, Resources and participated in writing – review & editing.Mahmoud Zayed: Visualization, Validation, Software, Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Supervision, Conceptualization and participated in writing – review & editing.Mohamed H. Farag: Visualization, Validation, Software, Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Supervision, Conceptualization and participated in writing – review & editing.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Mahmoud A. Abed or Mohamed H. Farag.

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Abed, M.A., Othman, A.A.A., Shebl, S. et al. A comprehensive geotechnical and geophysical assessment of the foundation sublayers in egypt’s new administrative capital. Sci Rep (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-29246-1

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  • Received: 05 October 2025

  • Accepted: 14 November 2025

  • Published: 05 December 2025

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-29246-1

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Keywords

  • Geotechnical
  • Geophysical
  • ERT
  • Shallow seismic refraction
  • New administrative capital

Subjects

  • Engineering
  • Solid Earth sciences

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