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The analysis of ground vibrations induced by bench blasting at Akyol quarry

and practical blasting charts

Article in Environmental Geology · January 2008

DOI: 10.1007/s00254-007-0859-7

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Environ Geol (2008) 54:737–743
DOI 10.1007/s00254-007-0859-7

ORIGNAL ARTICLE

The analysis of ground vibrations induced by bench blasting

at Akyol quarry and practical blasting charts
Umit Ozer Æ Ali Kahriman Æ Mehmet Aksoy Æ
Deniz Adiguzel Æ Abdulkadir Karadogan

Received: 20 February 2007 / Accepted: 24 May 2007 / Published online: 19 June 2007
Ó Springer-Verlag 2007

Abstract Ground vibrations arising from excavation with Depending on the level of stresses produced from wave
blasting is one of the fundamental problems in the mining motion, they can cause damage to building structures and to
industry. Therefore, the prediction of ground vibration nearby residents by causing dynamic stresses that exceed
components plays an important role in the minimization of the strength of building material or rock material. So the
environmental complaints. In this study, 582 events were level of the ground vibrations induced by blasting on
recorded during limestone production at a quarry (Akyol building structures and human beings need to be predicted,
Quarry) during a period of time. The blasting parameters of monitored and controlled. Vibration control at blasting
these shots were also carefully recorded. During the sta- operations typically involves designing for a safe level,
tistical analysis of the collected data, three predictor which is an industry standard or a regulatory limit, pro-
equations proposed by the United States Bureau of Mines viding an informative public relations program for neigh-
(USBM), Ambraseys–Hendron and Langefors–Kihlstrom bors prior to blasting, pre-blast inspections and
were used to establish a relationship between peak particle documentation of nearby properties, seismographic moni-
velocity and scaled distance described by these prediction toring or use of an alternative such as scaled distance, and
equations. As a result of this analysis, the most powerful post blast inspection to document changes (Dowding 1985).
relationship was determined and proposed to be used in this The prediction of ground vibration components plays an
site. And also, this equation was used in the derivation of important role in the minimization of environmental
the practical blasting charts specific to this site as a prac- complaints. In recent years, one of the problems encoun-
tical way of predicting the peak particle velocity and tered by technical personnel who are responsible for
maximum charge amount per delay for future blasting. excavation with blasting is the rightful or unjustifiable
complaints of people or organizations in the neighborhood
Keywords Blasting
Ground vibration
Practical (Felice 1993; Kahriman et al. 2006a).
blasting chart The number of these kinds of real or psychological
disturbances has gradually increased with the increase in
the population and urbanization. Therefore, an economical
Introduction and safe blasting should eliminate these kinds of problems
at the same time. For this reason, one of the significant
Ground vibrations arising from excavation with blasting is aspects of good blasting is safety in terms of environmental
one of the fundamental problems in the mining industry. effects. One of the requirements to be met by blasting
design is to determine the maximum amount of explosive
per delay for a certain distance, especially in large blasts,
U. Ozer (&)
A. Kahriman
M. Aksoy
and to be able to perform controlled blasting for the
D. Adiguzel
A. Karadogan elimination of these environmental problems (Johnston and
Mining Engineering Department,
Durucan 1994; Ozer et al. 2005).
Istanbul University,
34320 Avcilar, Istanbul, Turkey The purpose of this research is to determine environ-
e-mail: [email protected] mental problems such as ground vibrations induced by

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738 Environ Geol (2008) 54:737–743

blasting on the basis of the shots fired during the limestone limestones of Eocene age are exposed along the periphery
production at Akyol quarry, and also to compare the results of the northwest southeast striking high and on the north-
of three different vibration equations and to present prac- western margins of the area where the crystalline basement
tical blasting charts based on the most favorable vibration rocks are exposed (Turgut and Eseller 2000). A generalized
prediction equation. time–rock stratigraphic table of eastern Thrace basin is
given in Fig. 3. At three quarries, limestone is produced to
supply raw material to the construction industry in the
Test site Istanbul province.
Rock mechanics laboratory tests, the point load strength
Location (Adiguzel 2006), uniaxial compressive strength and triaxial
compressive strength tests, were performed on the lime-
This study was carried out at the Akyol quarry located in stone samples taken from the quarry and the results are
the Çatalca district belonging to Istanbul province in Tur- given in Table 1.
key. The location of the district and the satellite image of
the quarry taken from the Google Earth program are shown
in Fig. 1. Test procedure
As seen in Fig. 1, there is a village called Muratbey,
north of the quarry. The distance of the closest building of Ground vibration components induced by blasting in the
the village to the quarry is around 200 m. quarry were monitored to estimate site-specific attenuation
for the quarry by using different types of vibration moni-
Geology tors. The parameters of charge quantity per delay and the
distance between the source and the station were recorded
Çatalca district is located in Thrace basin, and a simplified carefully. The distances between shot points and monitor
geological map of this basin and vicinity are given in stations were determined by using GPS. Two station points
Fig. 2. were selected at the quarry in such a way that one was
In the study of Turgut and Eseller (2000), it was noted close to quarry buildings and the second one was close to
that there was a horst-like structure located in the east houses.
central part of the area, striking northwest–southeast, with Blasting patterns applied at the quarry were observed
crystalline basement rocks exposed in the central ridge near and investigated. As a result of investigations, it was
the town of Çatalca. This structure is thought to be a recent understood that the blasting model applied in the quarry
rejuvenation related to the activity of the Terzili fault zone was bench blasting. The blasting pattern, drilling pattern
on an old basement high that provided an isolated shoal and explosive charges at the shots were observed and no
environment on which reefal limestones of Eocene age changes were done in these patterns and charge amount. In
were deposited. Good outcrops of the whole Oligocene other words, both blasting pattern and the charging process
series are found on the faulted and uplifted southern mar- were designed by blasters of the company, and the vibra-
gins of the study area. Complete sections of shallow marine tions were measured simultaneously on the surface. Only

Fig. 1 The location of the

district and the satellite image
of the quarry

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Environ Geol (2008) 54:737–743 739

Fig. 2 Simplified geological

map of Thrace basin and
vicinity (Turgut and Eseller
2000)

necessary quantitative measurements and observations Analysis of the measurement results

were performed for the shots on which vibrations would be
monitored. The patterns and protocols applied by the During this study, the number of recorded events is 116. It
company during the shots have been used in the derivation should be noted that in the previous study of the authors
of the necessary data. The generally applied design (Ozer et al. 2007), 466 events recorded at this quarry and
parameters for blasting operations at the quarry are given in events recorded at two other quarries in the vicinity were
Table 2. used to establish a relationship between maximum charge
per delay and scaled distance for the Çatalca region.
However, one of the main purposes of this study was to
establish a relationship specific to Akyol quarry. Therefore,
the previously collected data and recorded events at this
quarry were included in this study, giving a total number of
582 recorded events. The graph of peak particle velocity
(ppv) values at these recorded events is given in Fig. 4.
The frequencies of these recorded peak particle veloci-
ties is given in Fig. 5. According to the norms of the United
States Bureau of Mines (USBM), frequencies less than
40 Hz are classified as low frequencies (Siskind et al. 1980).
This figure shows that a major part of the recorded fre-
quencies was between 13 and 40 Hz. Therefore, it can be
said that the quarry can be classified as a low frequency site.

Table 1 The results of laboratory tests

Test Property Rock hardness
classification
according to ISRM

Point load strength Is(50) 8.20 MPa Very strong

Uniaxial compressive rc 92.2 MPa Strong
strength
Triaxial compressive u 44.56° –
strength c 18.94 MPa

Fig. 3 A generalized time-rock stratigraphic table of eastern Thrace Is(50) point load strength index, rc uniaxial compressive strength,
basin (Turgut and Eseller 2000) u internal friction angle, c cohesion

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Table 2 General applied design parameters at the quarry For ppv predictions, a number of predictors are proposed
Parameters Value
in literature by different researchers (Khandelwal and
Singh 2007). Three of them have been selected (Table 3) to
Diameter, d (mm) 89 be used in this study. It should be stated that in this table,
Slope, a (°) 90 ppv is the peak particle velocity (mm/s), Wd the maximum
Hole length, H (m) 9–12 charge per delay (kg), R the distance between blast location
Bench height, K (m) 8–10 to vibration monitoring point (m), and K and b the site
Burden, B (m) 2.5 constants, which can be determined by multiple regression
Spacing, S (m) 2.5 analysis.
Stemming, h0 (m) 3 The data pairs were transformed into log–log space. By
Number of line 1 using SPSS software (statistical software, SPSS 11.5 for
Maximum charge per delay, Wd (kg) 30–50 Windows), these data pairs with respect to predictors, were
Explosive ANFO subjected to regression analysis. During this analysis, it
Initiation system Non-electric should be noted that scaled distance (SD) represents the
Priming type Emulsion term in the parenthesis for all predictor equations. In order
to find the site constants, namely K and b, the graph be-
tween the recorded ppv values and SD were plotted for all
predictor equations and these graphs with 95% mean pre-
diction interval and 95% individual prediction interval are
given in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, respectively.
The site constants for this quarry and predictor equations
obtained from the regression analyses are summarized in
Table 4. The R2 quantity is generally accepted as a basic
measure of the quality of the fit.
The highest R2value is obtained from Ambraseys–Hen-
dron prediction equation. Therefore, this prediction equa-
tion is accepted as the attenuation formulae of this quarry
and was used in the preparation of practical blasting charts.
Fig. 4 PPV values at recorded events

Practical blasting charts

Practical blasting charts based on the attenuation formulae,

accepted as a result of statistical analysis, are prepared to
estimate peak particle velocity and maximum charge per
delay for this site. In the first chart given in Fig. 9, peak
particle velocity depending on maximum charge amount
per delay and distance (R) can be estimated.
As an example for the use of this chart, the peak particle
velocity is estimated to be 4.5 mm/s for 40 kg charge per
Fig. 5 Frequency distribution of recorded events delay at a distance of 200 m.
In the second chart given in Fig. 10, maximum charge
Statistical analysis of the results amount per delay depending on peak particle velocity and
distance (R) can be predicted. In this chart, it should be
When statistical analysis techniques are applied to blast noted that the values of ppv lines is based on the threshold
vibration data pairs, peak particle velocity and scaled dis- damage limits of the USBM (Siskind et al. 1980) and DIN
tance give a site-specific velocity attenuation equation. 4150 (1999) norms.
Statistically, a sufficient number of blasts (at least 30 As an example, for the use of this chart, maximum
events) have to be measured so that enough data can be charge per delay is estimated to be 47.8 kg at 5 mm/s ppv
gathered to develop a similar formula. In this study, enough level at a distance of 200 m.
data sets have been obtained in accordance with the sta- It should be stated that in the first example, the peak
tistical rule of thumb (Kahriman et al. 2006b). particle velocity was estimated for 40 kg maximum charge

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Environ Geol (2008) 54:737–743 741

Table 3 The prediction equations (Khandelwal and Singh 2007)

Name of predictor equation Equations

b
R
USBM (Duvall and Fogelson 1962) ppv ¼ K 1=2
Wd

b
R
Ambraseys–Hendron (1968) ppv ¼ K 1=3
Wd

qffiffiffiffiffiffib
Wd
Langefors–Kihlstrom (1978) ppv ¼ K R2=3

per delay, which is the average charge amount used in the

quarry at a distance of 200 m and is the average distance
from the quarry to the closest building of Muratbey village.
In the second example, maximum charge per delay was
estimated at the 5 mm/s peak particle velocity level, which
is the threshold damage limit of conservative German DIN
4150 norm for residential buildings and structures at a
distance of 200 m.
These charts can be used as a practical guide for blasting
operations at this quarry in the future.

Fig. 7 The graph between PPV and SD by Ambraseys–Hendron

Conclusion equation

Environmental issues that arise from blasting increasingly for regulating blast designs, parameters of the common
restrict mining operations. So, monitoring the shots and empirical relationship between peak particle velocity and
measurements of ground vibration are extremely impor- scaled distance were established for the Çatalca district.
tant to eliminate environmental problems. Since particle
velocity is still the most common single ground descriptor

Fig. 8 The graph between PPV and SD by Langefors–Kihlstrom

Fig. 6 The graph between PPV and SD by USBM equation equation

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742 Environ Geol (2008) 54:737–743

Table 4 The site constants and prediction equations

Name of predictor equation Log K K b R2 Equations

1:47
USBM 2.84 691.83 1.47 0.65 ppv ¼ 691:83 R1=2
W

d 1:58
Ambraseys–Hendron 3.45 2818.38 1.58 0.72 ppv ¼ 2818:38 R1=3
Wd
qffiffiffiffiffiffi1:44
Wd
Langefors–Kihlstrom 0.41 2.57 1.44 0.17 ppv ¼ 2:57 R2=3

SD is obtained from the Ambraseys–Hendron approach.

Therefore, this relationship is proposed to be used for this
site in future blasting activities.
Practical blasting charts specific to this site were pre-
pared and presented in this study. These charts were based
on the proposed equation. The person in charge of
designing blasts can design future blasts at this site by
utilizing this charts to determine or estimate peak particle
velocities and maximum charge amount per delay.
Finally, it is thought that these charts can be used as a
practical guide for blasting operations at this quarry in
future.

Acknowledgments This work was supported by the Executive

Fig. 9 PPV estimation chart based on charge weight and R Secretariat of Scientific Research Projects of Istanbul University
(Project no. 429/13092005, UDP-465/26042005, UDP-749/11052006,
UDP-892/09012007) and the Scientific and Technological Research
Council of Turkey (Project no. MISAG-283) and the State Planning
Organization (Project no. 2005K120990). The authors are grateful to
the Executive Secretariat of Scientific Research Projects of Istanbul
University and The Scientific and Technological Research Council of
Turkey and the State Planning Organization for their financial sup-
ports and to the authorities of Akyol Company for providing all the
facilities during the field investigation. The opinion and conclusions
are of the authors.

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