Representative-Area Approach to Define Blast-Induced Ground Vibrations—Damage Prevention Criterion Abacus

Abstract

Ground vibrations due to blasting can cause damage to nearby structures. In this context, a damage prevention criterion was developed to avoid this potential risk, establishing a limit value for the Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) as a function of ground natural frequency and type of structure to protect. In addition, several empirical attenuation laws to estimate the PPV and frequency as a function of the distance and amount of explosive were also developed. These models can be used to separately predict PPV and frequency, obtaining the representative point of the designed blast and decide if a potential damage could exist or not. The proposed approach allows one to simultaneously work with an attenuation law for the PPV and another one for the frequency, defining an area in the damage criterion abacus instead of a single representative point. The system was applied using data from 75 blasts in different limestone quarries in the north of Spain.