Training Programme On

CONTROLLING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF

ROCK EXCAVATION BY BLASTING
19-20 July, 2011
PREDICTION AND CONTROL OF GROUND VIBRATION
By
Dr. I.D. Gupta
Director
Central Water And Power Research Station,
Khadakwasala, Pune-411 024
GENERATION OF GROUND VIBRATION
Crushed Zone (1 2 D)

Inner Zone of Intense
Cracks (9 - 12 D)

Outer Zone of Stray
Radial Cracks (~ 25 D)

Zone of Elastic Waves
Ground vibration is caused due to the propagation of
elastic waves in all the directions.
ELASTIC WAVES RESPONSIBLE FOR GROUND MOTION
Type of Motion
Wave Motion
Particle Motion
Type of
Waves
Body
Surface
Compressional
Shear
Love
Rayleigh
A SCHEMATIC PICTURE OF VARIOUS WAVES
Body Waves

Surface Waves
P - wave
S - wave
Love - wave
Love - Wave
Rayleigh - Wave
Love - Wave
A TYPICAL BLAST VIBRATION RECORD
Time, sec
G
r
o
u
n
d

V
i
b
r
a
t
i
o
n

V
e
l
o
c
i
t
y
,

c
m
/
s

Transverse
Vertical
Longitudinal
Body Waves
Surface Waves
Blast-induced ground vibration is commonly measured
in three mutually perpendicular directions; viz.,
transverse, vertical and longitudinal.
Damage to structure could occur if vibration level
exceeds the safe vibration level in any of the three
components.
As it is not possible to know before-hand that which
component is the largest, the resultant of the three
components is used to ensure the required safety.
Resultant can be computed as follows:
True Vector Sum:
Pseudo Vector Sum:
RESULTANT PEAK PARTICLE VELOCITY
( ) ) t ( V ) t ( V ) t ( V t V
2
v
2
t
2
l T
+ + =
2
v
2
t
2
l P
V V V V + + =
PARAMETERS GOVERNING GROUND MOTION
1. Charge Weight (distribution of charge weight and delay
intervals also affect)

2. Distance (different types of waves travel along different
paths and inhomogeneities along the travel path play
important role)

3. Rock Characteristics (density and pattern of joints,
condition of rock affects the ground motion)
DIFFICULTIES IN PREDICTION OF GROUND VIBRATION
Exact prediction is not possible due to lack of a
precise relationship between ground motion and the
factors on which it depends.

Ground vibrations from apparently identical blasts
are not identical. Field data are seen to be associated
with large scattering.

Due to lack of a simple analytical model, for practical
applications, attenuation characteristics are generally
studied empirically by using the field data collected
by experimental studies.
GENERALISED FORM OF THE ATTENUATION RELATION
R n m
P
e R KQ V
o
=
V
P
: Resultant PPV (mm/s)
Q : Charge Weight per Delay (kg)
R : Distance (m) from blasting site
K, m, n and o are constants.
At Short Distances: V
P
= KQ
m
R
-n
Standard Form:
n / m s where ;
Q
R
K V
n
s
P
= |
.
|

\
|
=

Generalized form of attenuation relation is:
VARIOUS FORCED SCALING RELATIONS
The 2/3
rd
law was
proposed by Langefors
& Kihlstrom (1978) on
the basis of the
observations that R/Q
0.66

is constant for a given
level of damage.
This law is not suitable
for describing the
ground motion at
short as well as long
distances as observed
from a large database.
VARIOUS FORCED SCALING RELATIONS Contd
Cube-root scaling is
based on the assump-
tion that the radiation
source is spherical, so
that linear dimension
can be scaled to the
cube-root of charge size.
This scaling law
predicts unrealistically
small charges for
distances less than 10 m
and non-conservative
charges beyond 20-25 m
distance.
Square-root scaling is
based on the assump-
tion that explosive
charge is distributed in a
cylindrical hole.
As the charge weight for
construction blasting is
mostly distributed in
cylindrical holes, the
square root scaling can
be considered more
appropriate for construc-
tion blasts.
VARIOUS FORCED SCALING RELATIONS Contd
DEVELOPING SITE-SPECIFIC ATTENUATION RELATION
Experimental blast studies are conducted to develop
site-specific attenuation relations, which account for
the rock type and blast design.

Test blasts are also useful to determine the frequency
content of ground motion at different distances, which
may be helpful in deciding appropriate safety criteria.

Flexible relations are more realistic, but squareroot
law is found to be good for most practical purposes.
FITTING OF ATTENUATION RELATIONS TO SELECTED DATA
To illustrate the main characteristics of site-specific
attenuation relations, 14 data sets with wide range of Q,
R and V
P
have been used to find the parameters of the
relations fitted.

The following form of flexible attenuation relation has
been fitted to all the data sets:



The observed data are seen to be scattered widely
around the mean attenuation relations, which need to be
described by suitable probability distribution to obtain
the results with higher confidence level.
n s
P
Q R K V

= ) / (
Range of Various Quantities Data
Set
Name of Project Rock
Type
Q (kg) R (m) V
P
(mm/s)
No.of
Obser-
vations
01 Tarapur APP,
Maharashtra
Basalt 1.0-10.0 13-135 0.9-38.8 61
02 Maheshwar Project,
M.P.
Basalt 1.3-15.0 10-145 1.0-63.0 48
03 Kakrapar APP,
Gujarat
Weathered
Basalt
0.3-22.0 5-98 1.9-54.9 42
04 Surya Project,
Maharashtra
Basalt 0.1-1.0 2-37 1.1-95.8 9
05 Champaner, Gujarat Basalt 0.2-5.8 6-484 0.1-36.5 10
06 Bembla Project,
Maharashtra
Basalt 8.0-37.0 30-550 0.3-55.4 18
07 Rajghat Project,
Uttar Pradesh
Granite 0.7-13.5 10-85 1.0-24.0 42
08 PJP Gadwal,
Andhra Pradesh
Granite 0.7-3.6 11-64 0.5-11.0 31
09 Kaiga APP,
Karnataka
Weathered
Granite
0.1-17.0 2-92 1.7-44.8 20
10 Singur Project,
Andhra Pradesh
Granite 0.4-1.4 5-32 1.8-41.8 11
11 Omkareshwar
Project M.P.
Quartzite 1.0-25.0 30-630 0.1-4.5 24
12 Srisailam Project,
Andhra Pradesh
Quartzite 2.0-10.3 5-245 1.2-300.0 45
13 Rajasthan APP,
Rajasthan
Sandstone 0.3-2.9 10-131 0.3-168.0 61
14 Hidkal Project,
Karnataka
Sandstone 3.1-31.0 25-200 0.7-38.0 62
DETAILS OF DATA BASE USED
|
|
.
|

\
|

=


, t
P
P
V ln
2
1
P
e
V 2
1
) V ( P
FITTING OF LOG-NORMAL DISTRIBUTION TO OBSERVED DATA
) e 64 . 1 ( K K
95 . 0

REGRESSION PARAMETERS FOR VARIOUS DATA SETS

Data
Set
Rock Type Mean Regression Coefficients Parameter
K
.95
Correlation
Coefficient
K s n
01 Basalt 665 0.5283 1.3575 1719 0.9803
02 Basalt 585 0.4806 1.1781 1786 0.9789
03 Weathered
Basalt
485 0.4181 1.2336 1304 0.9829
04 Basalt 733 0.5086 1.4740 1621 0.9938
05 Basalt 441 0.4249 1.3322 925 0.9935
06 Basalt 271 0.5416 1.2666 717 0.9652
07 Granite 219 0.6556 1.2960 621 0.9584
08 Granite 126 0.6122 1.1545 306 0.9570
09 Weathered
Granite
294 0.4129 1.0990 756 0.9869
10 Granite 974 0.5641 1.5928 2014 0.9969
11 Quartzite 515 0.4578 1.5084 1289 0.9051
12 Quartzite 504 0.5410 1.4495 1518 0.9829
13 Sandstone 3353 0.4698 1.6981 8237 0.9868
14 Sandstone 1333 0.3474 1.5663 3686 0.9330
COMMENTS ON ATTENUATION RELATIONS
Correlation coefficients are close to 1.0, indicating
suitability of the selected form.
In most cases, parameter s is close to 0.5, indicating
that the use of square-root scaled distance is suitable in
most cases.

However, parameters K and n differ significantly, even
for the same type of rock.
The site-specific characteristics of the attenuation is
mainly represented by these two parameters, which
depend on both the rock properties and the blast design
parameters.
Q / R SD , ) SD ( K V
n
P
= =

INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN CONSTANTS K AND n
Parameter K represents the
source strength and has
smaller value for compact and
massive rocks.
Increase in n with K provides
a natural safety mechanism.
K is found to be higher for
small charge weight which
produce high level of high-
frequency motion at close
distance. But, the high
frequencies attenuate faster
with distance, leading to
larger n value.
GENERALISED ATTENUATION RELATIONSHIPS
) SD log( 36 . 1 839 . 2 V log
: Basalt
P
=
458 . 0 ) SD log( 36 . 1 839 . 2 V log
: Basalt
P
=
464 . 0 ) SD log( 40 . 1 602 . 2 V log
: Granite
P
=
457 . 0 ) SD log( 55 . 1 814 . 2 V log
: Quartzite
P
=
513 . 0 ) SD log( 63 . 1 196 . 3 V log
: Sandstone
P
=
COMPARISON BETWEEN MINING AND CONSTRUCTION BLASTS
CONTROLLING GROUND VIBRATIONS
Ground vibration is directly proportional to charge
weight per delay and inversely proportional to distance.
As distance of a structure is fixed, various means used
to reduce the charge weight per delay helps in
minimising the ground vibration effects.
Constructive interference can be totally avoided with
delays greater than 25 ms.
Making suitable choices of the various geometrical
parameters of blasting pattern can also help to control
the vibration. As general guidelines, B, S, T & J should
not be excessive, D should be smaller, H should be at
least 2B and PF should be optimum.
Deck charging and air cushioning are also useful.
SAFETY CRITERIA IN TERMS OF SECTRAL AMPLITUDES
PPV is not equally effective to produce damage in all the
structure with different dynamic characterisics.
Most of the existing safety criteria are based on
observation of damage to 1 2 storey buildings due to
mining blasts at long distances.
Relative velocity response of structures are expected to
provide better measure for safety criteria.
The first step towards this direction is to predict in a
simple way the maximum structural response from
specified charge weight at a given distance.
This can be achieved with the use of the response
spectrum approach.
COMPUTATION OF RESPONSE SPECTRA
KM 2
C
and
M
K
with
2
0
= = , e
) t ( z ) t ( x ) t ( x 2 ) t ( x
2
0 0
= + + e ,e
) t ( z M ) t ( Kx ) t ( x C ) t ( x M = + +
Equation of motion is:
This can be further written as:
Fourier transform of response:
e e e e
e e e
e
n
2 2
n
g
i 2 ) (
) ( X i ) ( Z
) ( X
+

=

Response time-history is given by:
}

= e e
t
e
d e ) ( X
2
1
) t ( x
t i
VARIOUS TYPES OF RESPONSE SPECTRA
Displacement, Velocity & Acceleration Spectra.
For low values of damping present in most civil
engineering structures, following approximations
are used:
max
) t ( z ) t ( x SA

+ =
SV
T
2
PSA and SD
T
2
PSV = =
t t
PSV is related to strain in the structure :
, ) t ( x SD
max
=
max
) t ( x SV

= &
C
V / PSV = c
COMPARISON OF SPECTRA FOR CONSTRUCTION & MINING BLASTS
Though the shape of both the
spectra is similar, construction
blasts are much richer in high
frequencies.
The two types of blasts produce
quite different structural
response.
For structures in the frequency
range of 4 25 Hz, the mining
blasts generate much higher
response.
COMPARISON OF PSV & FOURIER SPECTRA
Predominant
frequency of
ground motion as
seen from the FS is
identical that at
which PSV spectra
for all the damping
values have their
peak amplitude.
STRUCTURAL AMPLIFICATION FACTOR
Ratios of the peak ampli-
tudes of PSV spectra and
the corresponding PPV
are plotted as function of
predominant frequency
of ground motion.
Response amplification
for 5% damping
increases from about 3 to
4 with frequency from 4
100 Hz.
These ratios are
applicable only for the
resonance condition.
Natural Frequency, Hz
PREDICTIVE MODEL FOR PSV SPECTRUM
If the predominant frequency of ground motion is far
away from the structural frequency, the spectral
amplification will be much less.
Much higher PPV values can be considered safe in
such cases, an assessment of which needs the
prediction of complete PSV spectrum for given charge
weight and distance values.
A complete PSV spectrum is defined by its amplitudes
at a large number of frequencies over the entire range
of interest.
Thus an attenuation relation similar to that for PPV has
to be developed for each frequency:
) f (
) f (
) SD )( f ( K
Q
R
) f ( K ) f ( PSV
|
|

=
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
COMPARISON OF REAL AND PREDICTED SPECTRA
Frequency, Hz
10 100 10 100
Frequency, Hz
10
-2

1
10
-1

10
1
10
10
2

10
-1

1
10
1
10
10
2

Q = 7 kg & R = 518 m
Q = 2 kg & R = 16 m
Q = 65 kg & R = 560 m
Q = 245 kg & R = 160 m
CONCLUSIONS
At any location, ground vibration is characterised by its
amplitudes and associated frequencies and depends on
various blast design parameters and properties of the
transmitting medium.
For reliable prediction, site specific attenuation law
needs to be developed for each site before taking up the
actual blasting work.
Safe vibration level in conjunction with site-specific
attenuation is useful for estimating the safe charge
weights per delay for different distances.
Site-specific attenuation relation with 95 % confidence
level can help to obtain quite reliable safe charge weight
per delay to control the vibration.
CONCLUSIONS Contd
Safety criteria are commonly defined in terms of the
PPV and associated frequency. However, the use of
response spectrum approach may help to arrive at
more realistic and effective safe PPV.
Currently, without the use of response spectra, experts
judgement based on site knowledge and past
experience plays crucial role in deciding a safety
criterion.
To adhere to the adopted safety criterion, PPV and
associated frequency should be measured at critical
locations by using three component engineering
seismograph.