1 Introduction

This first MIT-Kuwait institutional Signature Project is a collaborative and multidisciplinary research effort between MIT and Kuwaiti researchers aiming at the development of innovative methods and solutions for the sustainability of Kuwait’s built environment. With a three-level multi-scale approach of materials, buildings, and urban neighborhoods, the effort represents a wide scope leadership activity in science and engineering through world-class research. The project started on February 1, 2013, and ended on July 31, 2017.

The overall objective of the MIT-Kuwait Signature Project is to develop innovative solutions and methodologies to design, evaluate, and improve the sustainability of Kuwait’s built environment and establish a new paradigm in engineering design. These solutions and methodologies are directed toward both improvement of the existing buildings and infrastructure and for creating sustainable designs of new systems. The project approach includes three well-defined, interrelated research focus areas including nanoengineered construction materials, performance-based engineering and reliability of buildings, and energy efficiency and life cycle performance of construction materials and buildings in Kuwait. The project activity at MIT spans the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Architecture, and Nuclear Science and Engineering. The participating institutions in Kuwait include the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) and Kuwait University (KU). The project has promoted collaboration between MIT and Kuwaiti researchers as well as a strong interaction among the participating departments at MIT and between KISR and KU within Kuwait.

2 Focus Areas

Based on the overall goal of the project, three distinct but related focus research areas have been defined for this signature project: (a) nanoengineered sustainable construction materials for durability in aggressive environments, (b) ground motion modeling and structural monitoring for performance-based engineering and reliability, and (c) enhanced operational energy efficiency and life cycle performance of buildings and cities in Kuwait (refer to Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Three related focus areas of research as part of the main pillars of the Signature Project

Full size image

The goal of Focus Area A is to develop a science-based design for durable and sustainable concrete materials and structures for extreme environments in Kuwait and the Gulf region. This is achieved through a combined and evolutionary approach involving experiments with sustainable micro- and nanocement additives as well as computational multi-scale modeling and simulation of material design extending the engineering design space to the fundamental levels as a basis for durable and sustainable construction materials. The goal of Focus Area B is to ensure the safety and reliability of Kuwait’s built environment, including tall buildings, against natural forces such as earthquakes, winds, and climate factors. The study includes computational modeling for building performance, determining characteristics (amplitude, frequency, duration) of ground motion due to local and regional earthquakes, instrumenting and monitoring the response of selected tall buildings, and correlating the measurements with the model-based predictions. The goal of Focus Area C is to develop innovative solutions and methodologies for the sustainability of Kuwait’s built environment in the area of energy efficiency and life cycle performance. These solutions are directed toward both improvements of existing buildings and neighborhoods and the creation of more sustainable building designs and urban planning for new resilient cities.

In what follows, we highlight several major achievements for the focus areas.

2.1 Focus Area A: Nanoengineered Sustainable Construction Materials for Durability in Aggressive Environments

To address this challenge , the overall objective of the MIT Focus Area A group is to develop a bottom-up multi-scale framework for investigating the influence of additives on cement paste at multiple length scales as a basis for designing more durable cementitious materials for the Kuwait environment. The framework described below is a first implementation for seamlessly connecting atomistic and continuum behavior in cementitious materials and provides a foundation for future exploration and innovation. The development of this framework is supported by experimental studies, including joint studies conducted collaboratively by researchers at MIT and Kuwait. These experiments allow us to determine the impact of additives such as volcanic ash, nanosilica, silica fume, and metakaolin on the formation and durability of cement paste materials. Where appropriate, these experiments also provide inputs to computational models.

Large volcanic resources are available in the region of Saudi Arabia. Kuwait being a neighbor to Saudi Arabia used the volcanic ash from Saudi Arabia since Kuwait’s goal was to use locally available materials for preparing eco-friendly cements and concretes for the Gulf region. Volcanic ash-based concretes were designed by varying the particle size, and its effect on hydration was examined via synchrotron and beamline techniques [1, 2]. Enhanced strength and durability properties were detected when 30% of Portland cement was substituted with 6 μm volcanic ash [3]. In addition, the pore structure was densified when silica fume was added with volcanic ash thus providing durable and sustainable solutions for building new infrastructure in the Gulf region [4].

In addition to experimental research, computational modeling was performed to examine the cohesive–frictional interactions of hardened cement paste microstructure with and without additives [5]. The cohesive–frictional force field (CFFF) along with coarse-graining approach provided an essential connection between nanoscale molecular interactions and macroscale continuum behavior for hydrated cementitious materials [6, 7].

2.2 Focus Area B: Ground Motion Modeling and Structural Monitoring for Performance-Based Engineering and Reliability

The goal of Focus Area B was to ensure the safety and reliability of Kuwait’s built environment, including tall buildings, against natural forces such as earthquakes, winds, and climate factors. The study includes computational modeling for building performance, determining characteristics (amplitude, frequency, duration) of ground motion due to local and regional earthquakes, and instrumenting and monitoring the response of selected tall buildings and correlating the measurements with the model-based predictions. In particular, significant work has been completed in ground motion simulation, development of a full-scale finite element analysis model for the Al Hamra Tower with extensive data processing algorithms, and GPS installation and data collection and processing. Seismic instrumentation design and planning for the Al Hamra building was accomplished.

The Al Hamra Tower represents the tallest sculptured concrete structure in the world located in Kuwait City. A detailed study of this unique structure has been made by using a high-fidelity computational model with ETABS for structural health monitoring applications [8]. The tower is made of cast-in-place reinforced concrete with a core of shear walls and two curved shear walls running the height of the building (approximately 413 m with 86 floors in total). Interesting static and dynamic characteristics of the tower are described. System identification, interferometry-based wave propagation analysis, and wave-based damage detection are performed using synthetic data. This computational study serves as a basis for correlating the field monitoring data with the predictive model of the building.

Ground motion in Kuwait from regional and local earthquakes was examined to evaluate the effects on tall buildings [9]. In recent years, the construction of tall buildings has been increasing in many countries, including Kuwait and other Gulf states. These tall buildings are especially sensitive to ground shaking due to long-period seismic surface waves. Although Kuwait is relatively aseismic, it has been affected by large (Mw > 6) regional earthquakes in the Zagros Fold–Thrust Belt (ZFTB). Accurate ground motion prediction for large earthquakes is important to assess the seismic hazard to tall buildings. An analysis is performed of the observed ground motions due to two earthquakes widely felt in Kuwait: the August 18, 2014, Mw 6.2 earthquake, 360 km NNE of Kuwait City, and the November 12, 2017, Mw 7.3 earthquake, 642 km NNE of Kuwait City. The peak spectral displacement periods of the ground motion from the August 18, 2014, Mw 6.2 earthquake matched well with the ambient vibration spectra of the tallest building—the Al Hamra Tower. Ground motions from potential regional and local earthquakes are calculated using a velocity model obtained by matching the observed seismograms of the 2014 and 2017 earthquakes. Our study shows that a significant source of seismic hazard to tall buildings in Kuwait comes from the regional tectonic earthquakes. However, local earthquakes have the potential to generate high peak ground accelerations (~98 cm/s2) close to their epicenters.

Global positioning systems (GPS) have been used for long-term monitoring of deformation for tectonic applications for many decades. Our recently published study shows the global positioning system (GPS) measured response of the tallest building in Kuwait, the Al Hamra Tower, to the November 12, 2017, Mw 7.3 earthquake, 642 km to the north, on the Iran–Iraq border [10]. Nearby GPS and seismic stations measure the ground motion near the building. The ground motions have amplitudes of ∼40 mm, while the top of the building moves by up to 160 mm. The building motion continues with levels greater than the noise level of the GPS measurement for about 15 min after the earthquake. After the ground motion excitation ends, the building motion decays with a time constant of ∼2 min, and the beat between the two lowest frequency modes of deformation of the building can be seen. There are two large amplitude peaks in the building motion with magnitudes of 120 and 160 mm. The timing of the peaks is consistent with ground excitation in an 8.3–6.5 s period (120–180 mHz) band, which covers the 7.25 and 5.81 s periods (138 and 172 mHz frequencies) of the fundamental modes of the building. The ground motions in this band show two large pulses of the excitation, which have timing consistent with the large amplitude building signals. The response of the top of the building is amplified by an order magnitude over the ground motions in this band. There is no apparent permanent displacement of the top of the tower.

2.3 Focus Area C: Enhanced Operational Energy Efficiency and Life Cycle Performance of Buildings and Cities in Kuwait

A major part of Focus Area C research involved in examining the embodied energy studies from material to building scale [11]. One common strategy for reducing CO2 emission is by replacing Portland cement with supplementary cementitious materials (SCM). Moreover, the reduction in CO2 emission due to the usage of SCM significantly contributes to the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and Embodied Energy (EE) of the concrete. The effect on embodied energy (EE) of concrete is studied when Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is partially replaced with natural Pozzolanic Volcanic Ash (VA) at the material and the building scale. The work aims to demonstrate potential improvements to the EE of buildings by comparing the EE of the cement mix with VA replacement to that of baseline case of traditional concrete. Embodied energy coefficients (EEC) express the EE of each building product in megajoules (MJ) per kg of material. Hardened cement paste made with up to 50% of the OPC replaced by volcanic ash with a mean particle size of either 17 or 6 mm is considered. Replacement of OPC with volcanic ash decreases the EEC; however, the mix design must be engineered considering the volcanic ash composition to maintain the optimum mechanical strength . Grinding the volcanic ash from 17 mm to 6 mm led to increased compressive strength when replacing up to 40% of OPC with 6-mm-sized volcanic ash. An average of 16% decrease in EEC values can be achieved when 40% OPC was replaced with VA. On a building scale, the initial EE is the energy consumed related to the extraction, production, and transportation of materials. For buildings with an average structural material quantity (SMQ , expressed in mass of material per area) value of approximately 2000 kg/m2, a 16% decrease in EE value was observed among a sample set of 26 residential and commercial buildings when 50% of OPC is replaced with VA. The demonstrated reduction in EE values was calculated when natural supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) such as volcanic ash are used as a partial replacement to OPC, and it can be adapted to design and build energy-efficient systems tailored for structural and nonstructural applications.

3 Project Team and Activities

The first MIT-Kuwait Signature Project (SP1) was conducted under the leadership of the Principal Investigator Professor Oral Buyukozturk, with Dr. Kunal Kupwade-Patil as project manager and Dr. Hasan Kamal as the coordinator of the Kuwait work. The project activity at MIT spans the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Architecture, and Nuclear Science and Engineering. The participating research institutions in Kuwait are KISR and KU. The project has successfully promoted collaboration between MIT and Kuwaiti researchers as well as a strong interaction among the participating departments at MIT and between KISR and KU within Kuwait. The project involved 37 Kuwaiti researchers including 6 Co-PIs and 24 MIT researchers including 6 Co-PIs, with an overall total of 61 researchers (refer to Table 1).

Table 1 Research team members from MIT and Kuwait
Full size table

3.1 Students

Student involvement including research and academic theses was one of the major aspects of SP1:

  • Doctoral students: 7, 6 MIT Ph.D. theses and 1 Ph.D. thesis from KU were completed.

  • Master of Science students: 6 master’s theses were completed from Kuwait.

  • Bachelor of Science: 1 MIT thesis was completed from MIT.

3.2 Capacity Building

The primary objective of the signature project was to perform high-level collaborative research to develop innovative solutions and methodologies for evaluating and improving sustainability of Kuwait’s built environment and to establish a new paradigm in engineering design.

However, in this process the project has also undertaken and delivered a significant knowledge transfer/capacity building activities. These activities involved holding well-organized workshops, developing skills through special training sessions, and providing analysis codes and tools. The following is a brief summary of activities:

  • Number of project workshops: 15

  • Special training sessions: 30

  • Analysis codes and tools: 22

  • Total number of capacity building activities: 67

  • Scientific publications: 82

Extensive capacity building: The project has been effective in capacity building by training researchers, and students from Kuwait, in performing sophisticated experimentation, high-fidelity computational modeling, sensing, and data processing. Many students from Kuwait University have been closely engaged in the project, which also led to the initiation of a new postgraduate program in Material Science and Engineering at KU.

3.3 Outreach

MIT and Kuwaiti teams have successfully organized three major outreach activities in Kuwait:

  1. 1.

    Kuwait 2030: A Blueprint for Managing Kuwait’s Building-Related Energy Needs, December 3, 2015

  2. 2.

    Al Hamra Day, January 17, 2016

  3. 3.

    Outreach Day-Signature Project “Sustainably of Kuwait’s Built Environment,” April 25, 2016

As a final product of the SP1, a major conference has been organized jointly by MIT and Kuwait on “Gulf Conference on Sustainable Built Environment.” This conference was held in Kuwait from March 10–13, 2019.

3.4 Educational Impact

As a result of the SP1 project, a new postgraduate program related to Material Science and Engineering was proposed to Kuwait University. Four thrust areas are being initiated in (1) construction materials, (2) polymeric materials, (3) bio- and nanomaterials, and (4) electronic materials.

This initiative together with all the other educational training of students and research staff will open new directions in the education of future students who will be motivated by science and applications of scientific knowledge to the improvement of existing built environment and design of new durable infrastructure.

3.5 Potential for Industry Development

The methodologies, solutions, and tools developed through this multidisciplinary project have many components potential for industry use and commercialization in the field of construction materials, sensor technologies, energy-efficient construction, buildings, and cities. Opportunities exists for follow-up projects and start-ups in the assessment of buildings, oil field deformations, and motions, as well as in the use of innovative and sustainable materials in construction. The SP1 investigators have already been contacted by some industry representatives for further application projects.

3.6 Managerial Challenges

In addition to the scientific challenges, the project with its 12 Co-PIs and total 61 researchers has undertaken significant managerial challenges. Although some difficulties related to the personnel have been encountered (e.g., internal conflicts within and among groups, nonuniform performance levels, communication, budget management, unresolved NDA issues), at the end, a good engagement and effective collaboration has been achieved with established processes, norms of writing and reporting, and open communication channels.

We can state that all teams engaged in this project have now developed a sense of accomplishment and success, and with the created potential and experience, we believe that the project represents a model for a large-scale interdisciplinary research conduct with all its scientific and management challenges.

3.7 Benefits of the First Signature Project Between MIT and Kuwait

The benefits of this unique, multidisciplinary, multi-team project to Kuwait as well as to the general scientific community are many. We emphasize some highlights below:

  • Successful delivery of scientifically high-quality research in broad but coherent areas of study concerning sustainability of Kuwait’s built environment. The overall collaboration has contributed to expanding research vision with significant research and educational experience.

  • The knowledge and methodologies developed as a basis for real-life implementation directly contributing to the industrial development and benefitting existing physical infrastructure for better performance and for building future infrastructure projects.

  • Extensive capacity building: The project has been effective in capacity building by training researchers, and students, from Kuwait in performing sophisticated experimentation, high-fidelity computational modeling, sensing, and data processing. Many students from Kuwait University have been closely engaged in the project, which also led to the initiation of a new postgraduate program in Material Science and Engineering at KU.

  • An essential added value of our project is to provide the intellectual framework and background for the required mechanisms for follow-up projects for both continued scientific research and for technology transfer and start-up activities contributing to industrial, economic, and social developments in Kuwait.

4 Gulf Conference on Sustainable Built Environment

As an output of the successful completion of the first MIT-Kuwait Signature Project, the Gulf Conference on Sustainable Built Environment was held from March 10–13, 2019, in Kuwait. In this conference, developments, methods, and results of the SP1 were presented. Additionally, the Gulf Conference on Sustainable Built Environment provided an international platform giving the opportunity to the engineers, scientists, distinguished speakers, and all attendees to discuss research needs and application areas for sustainable development of future infrastructure as well as for retrofitting existing systems. In view of the grand societal and engineering challenges, such as expected population growth, increase in carbon emissions, need for sustainable materials and systems, impact of climate change, and complexity of new infrastructure systems, the developed capabilities and new engineering approaches are extremely timely and provide a road map for future engineering projects. The results obtained from this project through a world-class collaborative research are applicable not only to Kuwait and the Gulf region but to many other regions of the world.

5 Conclusions

The first MIT-Kuwait Signature Project (SP1) is a collaborative and multidisciplinary research between MIT and Kuwaiti researchers aiming at the development of innovative methods and solutions for the sustainability of Kuwait’s built environment. With a three-level multi-scale approach of materials (Focus Area A), buildings (Focus Area B), and urban neighborhoods (Focus Area C), the effort represents a wide scope leadership activity in science and engineering through a world-class research.

Integrated knowledge developed from the project has led to synergetic results forming a fundamental basis for intellectual development contributing to education, industrial competitiveness, and economic growth in Kuwait. In Focus Area A, microstructural characterization work has been completed by all parties using advanced experimentation techniques. Computational material modeling studies have been completed in parallel with the experimental work including investigation on the atomistic mechanical behavior of C-S-H under mixed-mode loading and multi-scale description of cement paste systems incorporating volcanic ash. In Focus Area B, significant work has been completed in ground motion simulation, development of a full-scale finite element analysis model for the Al Hamra Tower with extensive data processing algorithms, and GPS installation and data collection and processing. Seismic instrumentation design and planning for the Al Hamra building has been accomplished. In Focus Area C, the work has been completed in developing and adapting approaches to comprehensively model the operational and embodied energy content for buildings and neighborhoods in Kuwait City using the developed simulation models.

The collaborative work between MIT and Kuwaiti teams resulted in productive research as well as extensive publications and other activities including capacity building, student involvement, and outreach. From this research 82 publications have resulted, including published journal papers, conference papers, and academic theses. The overall activity has contributed to KU and KISR in advancing their research vision and agenda.

The project has successfully promoted collaboration between MIT and Kuwaiti researchers as well as a strong interaction among the participating departments at MIT and between KISR and KU within Kuwait. The project involved 37 Kuwaiti researchers including 6 Co-PIs and 24 MIT researchers including 6 Co-PIs, with an overall total of 61 researchers. Integrated knowledge developed from the project has led to synergetic results forming a fundamental basis for intellectual development contributing to education, industrial competitiveness, and economic growth of Kuwait.

It is anticipated that the outcomes of this unique project with developed methodologies and innovations will lead to effective infrastructure solutions and sustainability of the built environment. The published material from this project will represent a major reference in infrastructure science and engineering for many years to come.