Module 11: Rock Blasting

LECTURE 38

11.3.3 Blast Damage & Vibration Criteria

Three major nuisance of blasting,
1. Ground vibration - structural damage resulting from the vibration and blast shock
wave
2. Flyrock - ejected rock pieces from the blast
3. Airblast and noise - Damage due to air overpressure generated in the atmosphere

Ground vibration

To reduce these nuisance one must opt for controlled blasting. One of the important
parameter governs the ground vibration is the peak particle velocity (PPV). Particle velocity
is the particles of a medium that are displaced from their random motion in the presence of a
Sound Wave. The speed or velocity of a particle during this displacement is called the
particle velocity, having units m/s. PPV is the greatest instantaneous particle velocity during
a given time interval. If measurements are made in 3-axis then the resultant PPV is the vector
sum of the square root of the summed squares of the maximum velocities, regardless of
when in the time history those occur. PPV can be measured using seismographs. In case of
blasting, as per USBM empirical equation, at a given location, peak particle velocity (PPV)
depends on the distance from the blast and the maximum charge per delay and is given by,

Where, V is the peak particle velocity (mm/s), D is the distance between the blast and the
monitoring station (m), Q is the maximum charge per delay (kg), and K and ‘b’ are the site
constants. Conventionally, D/ Q1/2 is called scaled distance. The damage or the disturbance
corresponding to different PPV is given in table 11.1. Table 11.2 gives the permissible PPV
(mm/s) as per DGMS (Tech) (S&T) Circular No.7 of 1997.

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Table 11.1: Damage criteria for Ground transmitted vibrations

Peak Particle velocity Effect
threshold, mm/s
600 New Cracks form in rock
300 Falls of rock in unlined tunnels
190 Falls of plaster and serious cracking in buildings
140 Minor new cracks, opening of old cracks
100 Safe limit for lined tunnels, reinforced concrete
50 Safe limit for residential buildings
30 Feels severe
10 Disturbing to people
5 Some complaints likely
1 Vibrations are noticeable
<1 Barely perceptible vibrations

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Table 11.2: Permissible PPV (mm/s) as per DGMS (Tech) (S&T) Circular No.7 of 1997

Table 11.3: Range of PPV as a function of the class of structure (Chae, 1978)
100mm/s Class A: Structures of substantial construction

50mm/s Class B: Relatively new structures in poor condition

25mm/s Class C: Relatively old structures in poor condition

13mm/s Class D: Old residential structures in very poor condition

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Dowding(1996) suggests maximum allowable PPV for various structure types and conditions
(Table 11.4)

Table 11.4: Dowding building structure vibration criteria

The American association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTHO) 1990
identifies maximum vibration levels for preventing damage to structure from intermittent
construction or maintenance activities.

Table 11.5: AASTHO maximum vibration levels for preventing damage

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Figure 11.16: Maximum charge weight versus safe distance for various classes of
structure.
A- Structures of substantial construction,
B- Relatively new structures in poor condition
C- Relatively old structures in poor condition
D- Old residential structures in very poor condition

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FLY ROCK

Flyrock is always a major concern during blasting. Flyrock from surface blasting operations
can cause serious injury and death to employees and other persons and damages to structures
and machineries and other installations. Flyrock is caused by a mismatch of the distribution
of explosive energy, type of confinement of the explosive charge, and mechanical strength of
the rock. Factors responsible for creating this mismatch include,
1) Abrupt change in the rock resistance due to presence of joints, cracks, layers of mud,
silt, or soft material in the host rock.
2) Differential weathering of rocks near an outcrop;
3) faults and slip planes; back breaks, overhangs, and uneven highwall face;
4) High explosive concentration leading to excessive localized energy density due to
migration of explosive charge into fissures, caverns, voids, and mud seams;
5) Deviation of blast holes from the intended direction causing a reduction in burden or
spacing;
6) Insufficient or improper stemming leading to stemming ejection and bench-top
flyrock;
7) Inappropriate or poor blast design.

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Figure 11.16: Common causes of flyrock a) Inadequate front row burden b) hole mis-
alighnment resulting in concentration of explosives c) weak seams vent gas to rock face, d)
holes loaded close to bench surface e) some holes with no stemming f) blocks holes loaded
with fixed weight of explosive or number of cartridges

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AIR OVERPRESSURE
When explosives are used to break rock in a mine or construction project, the blast
produces both ground vibration and air overpressure (noise). In most cases the atmosphere
selectively absorbs the higher frequencies from a blast, leaving relatively low energy (5 hertz)
sound waves to effect structures. If a structure has a natural vibration frequency around 5
hertz, it will respond to the air overpressure by producing higher frequency secondary noise
on internal walls. It is this response from the middle of flat walls in a structure which causes
much of the secondary rattling noise and other observed effects such as movement of
pictures, clocks, etc. Most concern about structural damage comes from people who feel the
effects while inside their homes. They are actually responding to the structural motion that
produces rattling and motion and not to the actual noise and ground vibration from the blast,
which are often imperceptible when outside the structure.
Air overpressure produced by blasting is expressed in pressure units called decibels
(dB). This overpressure can be measured accurately with specialized instruments called
seismometers. The stress on a structure from a 131.7 dB overpressure produced by a blast is
roughly equivalent to the stress produced by a 25 mph wind. The wind isn’t as noticeable as
the air overpressure due to its slow rate of pressure change and the correspondingly minor or
nonexistent rattling, in contrast to the relatively rapid pressure changes produced by air
overpressure waves
The relationship between decibels and pressure P (kPa) is given by the equation,
where Po is the overpressure of the lowest sound that can be heard about 2x10-5kPa.

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The following table gives the decibel levels produced by some typical situations:

Figure 11.17: Human and structural response to sound pressure level

(Ladegaad-Pedersen and Dally, 1975)

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