VIBRATION CHARACTERISTICS OF A FAR FIELD EARTHQUAKE AND ITS SHAKING EFFECTS ON DUBAI EMERGING SKYSCRAPERS

On November 27, 2005, dominant long period earthquake has been recorded at Dibba, Fujairah station in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), generated on 150 kilometers distant epicenter of the seismic source zone at Qeshm island in Iran, known of generating large magnitude earthquakes in the past and recent history of seismic activity along the South-East coast of Iran. Preliminary analysis of time histories of the recorded earthquake motion at Dibba, Fujairah Station has been performed, and corrected acceleration, velocity and displacement time history of horizontal NS Component presented with the response spectra. Long period resonant effects of the recorded earthquake ground motions have been clearly identified, together with short period resonant effects on a firm soil conditions. Frequency and amplitude content of the obtained records have been discussed and relevant vibration characteristics presented with assessment of shaking effects experienced during the earthquake on Dubai high-rise buildings. It is concluded that the UAE could be exposed to frequent large magnitude earthquakes generated from distant seismic source zones (South Zagros Fault) on the South-East coast of Iran, with dominant long period content that may have damaging effect on Dubai rapidly increasing skyscrapers – coupled with the effects of soft soil and semi-reclaimed land on which some of these skyscrapers are built.