Analysis of the environmental effects of ground vibrations produced by blasting in quarries

Abstract

This paper describes software to analyse the vibrations produced by blasts in quarries and their effects on surrounding structures. The methodology is easily extrapolated to other open pits with other rock masses. The software needs a small amount of input data and accounts for all the factors that play a role in vibration phenomena. The data that can be quantified are introduced directly as numerical values and those that are not quantified are simulated by the use of a random factor, thus giving a very realistic model. The software is especially suitable for quarries at full and continuous production where blasts are very similar. In these routine blasts, the vibrations are not usually a critical problem but are important enough that they should be observed and controlled. In applications such as these, this software is very useful due to its simplicity and ease of usage.