Prediction of particle velocity caused by blasting for an infrastructure excavation covering granite bedrock

Environmental problems arising from ground vibration and air blast have been faced and discussed in various industries such as mining, construction, quarry, pipe line etc. where blasting is unavoidable and the solution methods have been sought in order to make the problems as small as possible. With increasing environmental constraints on the levels of disturbance induced by blasting operations nearby residents, there is a growing need to be able to design in cautious blasting with greater precision. Therefore, the determination of maximum amount of explosive per delay for a certain distance especially in large blasts is of great importance for the minimisation of these environmental problems, as well as the estimation of particle velocity. This paper presents the result of ground vibration measurements induced by bench blasting performed during excavation activity for construction of an organised industrial region located close to Istanbul. Within the scope of this study, in order to predict peak particle velocity level for this site that granite encountered as major rock unit, bench blasting operations were carried out and ground vibration components were measured for all blasting events. During the study 149 ground vibration data with varying blast design and charging pattern were generated. At the end of a statistical analysis of 149 data sets, an empirical relationship between peak particle velocity and scaled distance, which gives the 50% line and the upper bound 95% prediction limit, was established with reasonable correlation coefficient and suggested to evaluate the vibration impact both past term and future blasting operations for the current site.