Geotechnical Mapping of Seismic Risk for Sharjah City, United Arab Emirates

Seismic hazard and geotechnical microzonation maps of urban communities make it conceivable to describe potential seismic zones that should be considered when planning new structures or retrofitting existing ones. This study looked at a local site-specific ground response analysis, which is an important step in estimating the effects of earthquakes. The soil data from 200 boreholes up to 30 m depth were collected and analyzed using SHAKE2000 and NovoLiq in order to develop local site amplification and liquefaction potential maps for the city of Sharjah. In addition, Geographical Information System (GIS) was utilized to create amplification and liquefaction potentials maps at different areas in Sharjah. These maps show zones of high vulnerability earthquake risk used for earthquake-resistant design of structures. The city of Sharjah was divided into areas, according to the amplification factor, which ranged from 1.44 to 1.83. A high amplification factor was found near the central region of the city, while the rest of the city lies in low amplification potential and relatively low seismic risk. Finally, liquefaction risk of Sharjah estimated and expressed in terms of safety factor. The low values of the safety factors against liquefaction were found in the north, northeastern, and southeastern portions of the city. Higher values were found in central and toward south central parts of the studied area. In these parts, the higher safety factor indicates low liquefaction potential of the soil and relatively low seismic risk.