Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research launches national geotechnical database

The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) has announced the development of a national geotechnical database, a strategic digital platform aimed at supporting Kuwait’s smart-city ambitions, enhancing infrastructure safety, and informing national engineering codes. 

Engineer Dana Al‑Enezi, project lead at KISR’s Environment & Life Sciences Research Center, explained that the digital archive will collect, manage, and integrate geotechnical data, such as soil and rock properties, subsurface mapping, historical ground-movement records, and borehole logs—into a GIS-enabled repository to assist engineers, planners, and researchers across Kuwait.

The initiative addresses a long-standing infrastructure challenge; Kuwait currently lacks a unified subsurface database or detailed national mapping of soil conditions, a gap that has previously contributed to construction delays, repeated studies, and increased risk in large-scale urban projects. 

In outlining the need for this database, Al-Enezi referenced the land subsidence events in Al-Dhaher during 1988–1989, noting how the absence of accessible, consolidated geotechnical records hampered swift crisis-response and remediation work. She emphasized that a permanent knowledge system is essential for major developments such as Al Mutlaa Residential City and the island infrastructure on Bubiyan Island, where complex soil conditions and seismic-sensitivity require high-fidelity data for foundation and geohazard design. 

The geotechnical database is being positioned not just as a data archive but as an engineering decision tool. Its intended functionalities include: interactive maps of subsurface characteristics, rapid access to borehole and lab-test datasets, analysis tools to anticipate slope failure, liquefaction, or subsidence risks, and infrastructure-planning interfaces to support pipelines, foundations, tunnels, and drilling operations. 

By institutionalizing this platform, Kuwait also intends to develop independent national engineering codes based on local soil dynamics and geotechnical behavior, reducing dependence on foreign codes and tailoring design guidelines to the Gulf’s subsurface architecture.