Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Experimental Study on the Seismic Efficiency of Rock Blasting and Its Influencing Factors

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The seismic efficiency of a blast is the percentage of seismic energy in the total energy delivered by the explosives. It is a key indicator of the blast effects in civil engineering and seismic exploration. A method to determine seismic efficiency has been proposed based on the assumption of spherical wave radiation in an indefinite elastic medium and has been used in a series of blast tests performed at the construction site of a nuclear power plant. Analysis of the influencing factors of seismic efficiency shows that seismic efficiency increases with an increasing explosive charge and stemming length of the blastholes, while it decreases with an increasing decoupling coefficient. Generally, seismic efficiency is markedly lower in bench blasts than in paddock blasts due to free surface effects. Under any circumstances, the seismic energy only accounts for a few percent of the explosive energy. A comparison with theoretical solutions proves that the errors in the present method are low and acceptable in engineering. Therefore, some practical measures have been proposed to improve or lower the seismic efficiency according to the specific requirements of the blast operations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

DP:

Detonation pressure

PPV:

Peak particle velocity

VoD:

Velocity of detonation

γ :

Pressure decay parameter

ϕ :

Position angle of the monitoring point

Φ :

Energy flux

η s :

Seismic efficiency

ρ :

Rock density

τ p :

Dimensionless P-wave travel time difference of the monitoring point

τ s :

Dimensionless S-wave travel time difference of the monitoring point

a :

Borehole radius

2L :

Charge length

L h :

Depth of the blasthole

r :

Radial distance of the monitoring point to charge center

r e :

Radius of the explosive charge

E e :

Explosive energy

E s :

Total seismic energy

E sl :

Seismic energy component relating to longitudinal waves

E st :

Seismic energy component relating to transverse waves

c L :

Longitudinal wave speed

c T :

Transverse wave speed

R :

Radius of the spherical control surface

S :

Area of an enclosed control surface

\( \vec{t} \) :

Stress tensor

\( \vec{v} \) :

Particle velocity vector

References

  • Adushkin VV, Budkov AM, Kocharyan GG (2007) Features of forming an explosive fracture zone in a hard rock mass. J Min Sci 43:273–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aki K, Richards PG (1980) Quantitative seismology, vol I. Freeman Co., San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Aleksandrova NI, Sher YN (1999) Effect of stemming on rock breaking with explosion of a cylindrical charge. J Min Sci 35:483–493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez-Vigil AE, Gonzalez-Nicieza C, Gayarre FL, Alvarez-Fernandez MI (2012) Predicting blasting propagation velocity and vibration frequency using artificial neural networks. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 55:108–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Bastante FG, Alejano L, Gonzalez-Cao J (2012) Predicting the extent of blast-induced damage in rock masses. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 56:44–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair DP (2007) A comparison of Heelan and exact solutions for seismic radiation from a short cylindrical charge. Geophysics 72:E33–E41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blair DP (2010) Seismic radiation from an explosive column. Geophysics 75:E55–E65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blair DP (2014) Blast vibration dependence on charge length, velocity of detonation and layered media. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 65:29–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair DP (2015) The free surface influence on blast vibration. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 77:182–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair DP, Armstrong LW (2005) The influence of burden on blast vibration. Int J Blast Fragment 5:108–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair DP, Jiang JJ (1995) Surface vibrations due to a vertical column of explosive. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 32:149–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brocher TM (2003) Detonation charge size versus coda magnitude relations in California and Nevada. Bull Seismol Soc Am 93:2089–2105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cevizci H, Ozkahraman HT (2012) The effect of blast hole stemming length to rockpile fragmentation at limestone quarries. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 53:32–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esen S, Onederra I, Bilgin HA (2003) Modelling the size of the crushed zone around a blasthole. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 40:485–495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esen S, Souers PC, Vitello P (2005) Prediction of the non-ideal detonation performance of commercial explosives using the DeNE and JWL plus plus codes. Int J Numer Meth Eng 64:1889–1914

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fogelson DE, Atchinson TC, Duvall WI (1959) Propagation of peak strain and strain energy for explosion-generated strain pulses in rock. In: Proceedings of the third US symposium on rock mechanics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, pp 271–284

  • Heelan PA (1953) Radiation from a cylindrical source of finite length. Geophysics 18:685–696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinzen KG (1998) Comparison of seismic and explosive energy in five smooth blasting test rounds. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 35:957–967

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howell BF, Budenstein D (1955) Energy distribution in explosion-generated seismic pulses. Geophysics 20:33–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huerta M, Vigil MG (2006) Design, analyses, and field test of a 0.7 m conical shaped charge. Int J Impact Eng 32:1201–1213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen RP, Preece DS (2000) Modelling explosive/rock interaction during presplitting using ALE computational methods. J S Afr Inst Min Metall 100:23–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahriman A (2001) Prediction of practice velocity caused by blasting for an infrastructure excavation covering granite bedrock. Miner Resour Eng 10:205–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leidig M, Bonner JL, Rath T, Murray D (2010) Quantification of ground vibration differences from well-confined single-hole explosions with variable velocity of detonation. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 47:42–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Xia X, Li J, Zhao J, Liu B, Liu Y (2011) Rock damage control in bedrock blasting excavation for a nuclear power plant. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 48:210–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mikhalyuk AV, Parshukov PA (1998) Effectiveness of charges of various designs in rock blasting by a contact explosion. Combust Explos Shock Waves 34:598–602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholls HR (1962) Coupling explosive energy to rock. Geophysics 27:305–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rai R, Singh TN (2004) A new predictor for ground vibration prediction and its comparison with other predictors. Indian J Eng Mater Sci 11:178–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Reamer SK, Hinzen KG, Stump BW (1992) Near source characterisation of the seismic wave field radiated from quarry blasts. Geophys J Int 110:435–450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchidrian JA, Ouchterlony F (2017) A distribution-free description of fragmentation by blasting based on dimensional analysis. Rock Mech Rock Eng 50:781–806

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchidrian JA, Segarra P, Lopez LM (2007) Energy components in rock blasting. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 44:130–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sher EN, Aleksandrova NI (2007) Effect of borehole charge structure on the parameters of a failure zone in rocks under blasting. J Min Sci 43:409–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spathis AT (1999) On the energy efficiency of blasting. In: Proceedings of the sixth international symposium on rock fragmentation by blasting, Johannesburg, pp 81–90

  • Trivino LF, Mohanty B, Milkereit B (2012) Seismic waveforms from explosive sources located in boreholes and initiated in different directions. J Appl Geophys 87:81–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei XY, Zhao ZY, Gu J (2009) Numerical simulations of rock mass damage induced by underground explosion. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 46:1206–1213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xia X, Li HB, Li JC, Liu B, Yu C (2013) A case study on rock damage prediction and control method for underground tunnels subjected to adjacent excavation blasting. Tunnel Undergr Space Technol 35:1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xia X, Li H, Niu J, Li J (2014) Experimental study on amplitude change of blast vibrations through steps and ditches. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 71:77–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu ZM, Xie HP, Mohanty B (2008) Numerical investigation of blasting-induced damage in cylindrical rocks. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 45:111–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The research work has been partially funded by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Authorizing No. 41572307, 51779248 and 51439008). We would like to thank our colleagues for their measurement work in the field. All the support and assistance are gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Xiang Xia, Chong Yu, Bo Liu, Yaqun Liu & Haibo Li

Authors
  1. Xiang Xia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chong Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bo Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yaqun Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Haibo Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiang Xia.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xia, X., Yu, C., Liu, B. et al. Experimental Study on the Seismic Efficiency of Rock Blasting and Its Influencing Factors. Rock Mech Rock Eng 51, 2415–2425 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-018-1477-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-018-1477-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation