Training Programme On

CONTROLLING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF

ROCK EXCAVATION BY BLASTING
19-20 July, 2011
SAFETY CRITERIA FOR GROUND VIBRATION
By
Dr. I.D. Gupta, Director
Central Water And Power Research Station,
Khadakwasala, Pune-411 024
SAFETY CRITERIA
Safety criteria refer to the maximum level of ground
vibration which a structure can withstand without
any damage.
Safety criteria can be defined by collecting data on
the minimum level of ground vibrations causing
threshold of damage in a structure.
Damage is cumulative in nature and it initiates as
soon as a structural element is stressed beyond
its elastic limit.
TYPES OF STRUCTURAL DAMAGE
STRUCTURAL
Damage to the
structural as a
whole.
NON-STRUCTURAL
Damage to the secondary
components like plaster,
wall, furnishings, etc
Threshold Damage
Loosening of paint,
small plaster cracks,
lengthening of old
cracks

Minor Damage
Loosening and
falling of plaster,
cracks in masonry,
hairline to 3 mm
cracks, fall of loose
mortar.
Major Damage
Structural weaken-
ing (load support
ability affected), fall
of masonry, cracks
of several mm in
walls.
GROUND MOTION PARAMETERS OF IMPORTANCE
Parameters responsible for damage are:

-- Amplitude (PA, PV, PD)

-- Frequency (Predominant & Bandwidth)

-- Duration (Total & Strong Motion)
All these depend on source, path and site characteristics.
EFFECT OF SITE SOIL CONDITION
EFFECTS OF CHARGE WEIGHT AND DISTANCE
ATTENUATION OF FREQUENCY WITH DISTANCE
PPV AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE
Peak particle displacement, velocity and acceleration
along with their associated frequencies are three
possibilities to correlate with damage.
Damage is more closely associated with peak particle
velocity (Duvall & Fogelson, 1962)
Physical basis lies in the following simple relationship
V
resp
is the peak response velocity (mm/s)
V
C
is the wave propagation velocity (km/s)
c = V
resp
/V
C

FREQUENCY-INDEPENDENT SAFETY CRITERIA
Frequency, Hz
Three different data sets
from Canada, Sweden and
US then available provided
2.0 ips (50 mm/s) as a
reasonable separation
between safe and damage
zones (Duvall & Fogelson,
1962).
The data used has f > 8 Hz,
whereas structures had
lower natural frequencies.
Damage could occur for
lower PPV for other type
and condition of
structures and their
foundations.
STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF IMPORTANCE
Dynamic properties of the structure
(natural frequency and damping)

Type and condition of structure
(masonry, RCC, new, old)

Type and condition of foundation
(soil, rock, fractured, differential settlement)

STRUCTURES WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF FOUNDATION
(Langefors and Kihlstrom, 1978)
Peak Particle Velocity (mm/s) for
Type of
Foundation
Rock
Compress
-ional
Wave
Velocity
(km/s)
No
Noticeable
Cracks
Threshold
of
Cracking
Significant
Cracking
Major
Cracks
Sand, Shingle,
Clay
0.3 1.5 4 18 6 30 8 40 12 60
Moraine, Slate,
Soft Limestone
2.0 3.03 35 55 80 115
Hard
Limestone,
Sandstone,
Gneiss, Granite
4.5 6.0 70 110 160 230

IS : 6922 1973 gives 50 mm/s on soft rock and 70 mm/s on hard rock.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF STRUCTURE (Chae, 1978)
Class of
Structure
Description of Structure
Peak Particle
Velocity (mm/s)

Scaled Distance
(m/kg
1/2
)

I
Structures of substantial
construction

100.0 4.5
II
Relatively new
residential structures in
sound condition


50.0

9.0
III
Relatively old residential
structures in poor
condition

25.0 13.5
IV
Old residential
structures in very poor
condition

12.5 22.5

Category is lowered by one for repeated blasts.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF FOUNDATION AND STRUCTURES
(Esteves, 1978)
PPV (mm/s) for Different types of Constructions Compressional
Wave Velocity
(km/s)
Type I Type II Type - III
A B A B A B
< 1.0 2.5 1.7 5.0 3.5 10.0 7.0
1.0 2.0 5.0 3.5 10.0 7.0 20.0 14.0
> 2.0 15.0 10.5 30.0 21.0 60.0 42.0

Type-I: Hospitals, historical monuments and tall buildings
requiring special care.
Type-II: Current constructions
Type-III: RCC structures designed to withstand earthquakes
A & B Refers to 3 & more blasts per day respectively.
HUMAN RESPONSE TO VIBRATIONS (Goldman, 1948)
Unbearable
Annoying
Perceptible
In frequency range of 10
100 Hz, vibration levels
around 5 10 mm/s are
considered unpleasant by
most people.

As construction blasts lie
in this frequency range, it
is necessary to control
PPV within 10 mm/s to
minimize the complaints.
FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT SAFETY CRITERIA
USBM collected comprehensive damage data from
219 production blasts observed on 76 test structures
during 1976 1979.
Fundamental frequencies of test houses ranged
between 4 12 Hz (whole houses) and 10 25 Hz
(ceilings and walls), whereas predominant frequency
of ground motion ranged between 5 30 Hz.
Utilizing these data with earlier data collected by
various investigators, Siskind et al. (1980) carried
out damage probability analysis to propose
frequency-dependent safety criteria.
DAMAGE PROBABILITY ANALYSIS
Damage probability is the % of observations at lower levels of PPV:
D
a
m
a
g
e

P
r
o
b
a
b
i
l
i
t
y

(
%
)

Particle Velocity, in/s
Particle Velocity, mm/s
(a)
(b)

(c)

(a) For all the data, 5 % probability of cosmetic or threshold cracking
occurs at 12.5 mm/s
(b) For high frequency data (> 40 Hz) this value is 75 mm/s
(c) For new USBM data the value is 19 mm/s
Particle Velocity, in/s Particle Velocity, in/s
FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT SAFETY CRITERIA
(Siskind et al., 1981)
2.7 Hz 10 Hz
40 Hz
GERMAN VIBRATION STANDARDS, DIN 4150 (1984)



Safe Particle Velocity, mm/s



Structural Type

Foundation Level


Top Story
at Floor
Level (all
frequencies)


< 10 Hz


10 50 Hz


50 100
Hz

Office and
industrial
premises


20


20 40


40 50


40

Domestic houses
and similar
constructions


5


5 15


15 20


15

Ancient and
historical
buildings


3


3 8


8 10


8

SWISS ASSOCIATION OF STANDARDS (1978)
Type of Structure
Frequency
Range (Hz)
Safe PPV
(mm/s)
Steel or reinforced concrete structures
such as factories, retaining walls,
bridges, open channels, underground
tunnels and chambers.
10 60

60 90
30

30 40
Buildings with foundation walls and
floors in concrete, walls in concrete or
masonry, underground chambers and
tunnels with masonry linings.
10 60

60 90
18

30 40
Buildings with masonry walls and
wooden ceilings.
10 60

60 - 90
12

12 18
Objects of historic interest or other
sensitive structures.
10 60

60 90
8

8 12

SAFETY CRITERIA DUE TO SINGH (1998)
Type of Structure

Safe Particle Velocity, mm/s


< 10 Hz

10 25 Hz

> 25 Hz

Industrial Buildings, RCC
& Framed structures

20


35


50

Domestic structures
(brick & cement with
RCC roof, brick & mud
plastered with cement
and wooden ceiling, mud
with thatched roof)

10


15


25

Objects of historical
importance and sensitive
structure


2


5


10

Type of Structure

Safe Particle Velocity, mm/s



< 8 Hz

8 25 Hz

> 25 Hz

A) Buildings/ Structures not belonging
to owner
1. Domestic houses/structures
(kuchha, brick & cement)
2. Industrial buildings (RCC & framed
structures)
3. Objects of historical importance
and sensitive structures




5

10

2




10

20

5



15

25

10






10

15




15

25




25

50

SAFETY CRITERIA RECOMMENDED BY DGMS (1982)
B) Buildings/ Structures belonging
to owner
1. Domestic Houses/ structures
(kuchha, brick & cement)
2. Industrial buildings (RCC & framed
structures)
SAFETY CRITERIA FOR OTHER STRUCTURES
The foregoing safety criteria mostly pertains to
buildings (residential or other) and thus are not strictly
applicable to other structures.

Data on damage to other structures are far less than
adequate to define the required safety criteria.

The safety criteria for other structures are thus based
on physical considerations, supported by limited data
on damage.

Safety criteria for structures with sensitive equipment,
unlined tunnel, green and fully cured concrete are
discussed.
STRUCTURES WITH SENSITIVE EQUIPMENTS
Not much data are available for structures installed
with sensitive electrical or electronic equipment.

Whiffin and Leonard (1971) gives 4.8 mm/s as the safe
PPV against traffic induced vibration.

Safe PPV for blasting may be somewhat higher.
DAMAGE OBSERVATIONS FOR UNLINED TUNNELS
Hendron (1977) has reported the results of some large
explosions by US Army Corps of Engineers near
unlined tunnels in sandstone, which indicated
intermittent fall of stone or observable damage for
PPV above 900 mm/s.

Holmberg (1974) reports that for Swedish rock with
tensile strength 5 11 MPa, damage was found to
occur beyond 700 1000 mm/s.

Kidybinski (1986) reports that small roof falls or floor
heave in underground coal mines may occur for PPV
in the range of 50 100 mm/s and large roof falls at
PPV of 100 200 mm/s.
SAFETY CRITERIA FOR UNLINED TUNNELS
(Nicholls et al., 1960)
Rock
Type
Dynamic
Breaking
Strain,
Propagation
Velocity V
C
(km/s)
Particle
Velocity at
Failure V
P
,
(mm/s)
Granite 360 5.6 2016
Sandstone 550 1.5 825
Marlstone 310 4.0 1240
Chalk 300 2.3 690
Salt 310 4.4 1364
Relation V
P
= cV
C
between dynamic breaking strain & wave
velocity with c based on crater test can be used to get
safety criteria with suitable safety factor (say 10):
SAFETY CRITERIA FOR FULLY CURED MASS CONCRETE
Following relationship based on physical considerations
can be used to define safety criteria for mass concrete:
V
P
= (S
T
/V
C
)10
3
S
T
: Failure Tensile Strength (MPa)
: Density (gm/cc)
V
C
: Compressional Wave Velocity (km/s)
Tensile strength can approximately be taken as 10% of
the compressive strength.
For M-20 grade concrete, taking = 2.4 gm/cc and
V
C
=4.5 km/s, the safe PPV works out to be 185 mm/s


For fully cured concrete, Wiss (1967), Atkin & Dixon (1979) and Scott (1986)
Have respectively given 125, 100 and 254 mm/s as the safe vibration limits.
EXPERIMENTS FOR DAMAGE TO CONCRETE BLOCKS
Minor Damages
Major Damages
More than 30 concrete blocks (0.6m1.2m 1.8m) of M-20
grade concrete were tested for charge weights varying
from 1 10 kg detonated at different distances.
SAFETY CRITERIA FROM TETING OF CONCRETE BLOCKS
185 mm/s at 130 Hz


185 mm/s at 755 Hz

(Natural frequency of
Block is more than
500 Hz)
EFFECT OF BLASTING ON GREEN CONCRETE
The concrete before gaining full strength at about 28
days is termed as green concrete. Blasting near green
concrete is involved in many practical situations.
Up to 4 hrs. concrete does not begin to harden and
hence it can be subjected to very high vibration level
without affecting its strength.
Hardening starts slowly from 4 24 hrs. and 2/3
rd
strength is achieved by 7 days.
Curing of concrete is faster in the beginning and slows
down with time.
Early age concrete (after 4 hrs.) is more susceptible to
damage due to ground vibration.
Howes (1974) found no structural distress for 7 days
old concrete under sinusoidal vibrations with PPV of
127 mm/s on a shake table.
Scott (1986) observed no decrease in compressive
strength for 3 days old concrete under a PPV of 94
mm/s.
Oriard & Coulom (1980) found no change in sonic wave
velocity before and after the blasting with a PPV of 1750
mm/s on 3 days old concrete.
EFFECT OF VIBRATIONS ON GREEN CONCRETE
(some obsevations)
The published safety criteria differ widely as they
pertain to the concrete made from different materials
and cured under different climatic conditions.
Also, the characteristics of the vibrations applied differ
significantly in the experiments carried out by different
investigators.
In general, the safe vibration level is expected to be
proportional to the strength gained by the concrete at a
specific age.
Safety criteria for green concrete can thus also be
evaluated from physical relationships between stress &
strain and strain & PPV.
SAFETY CRITERIA FOR GREEN CONCRETE
STRENGTH BASED SAFETY CRITERIA
Safe PPV can be related to the tensile stress induced and
the compressional velocity & density of the concrete at
time t as
V
P
(t) = (S
T
(t)/V
C
(t))10
3

A conservative estimate of tensile strength can be taken
as 2% of ultimate cube compressive strength.
Age of
Curing
Compressive
Strength
(MPa)
Tensile
Stress
S
T
(t), (MPa)
Velocity
V
C
(t), (km/s)
Density ,
(gm/cm
3
)
Safe PPV
V
P
, (mm/s)
6 hrs 0.8 0.016 2.4 2.8
12 hrs 3.6 0.072 2.5 12.0
3 days 14.1 0.282 3.7 2.4 31.8
7 days 22.0 0.440 4.2 43.7
28 days 35.3 0.706 4.5 65.4


Strength based method for defining safety criteria for
green concrete are characterized by very large instability
and uncertainty.
Kwan and Lee (2000) correlated the damaging PPV with
the wave velocity and dynamic strain capacity, which
was shown to be independent of strength.
They conducted detailed experiments on 1440 specimens
of 150 mm 150 mm 750 mm size of M-20, 30 & 40
concrete prisms cured at 20
0
C and 30
0
C of temperature.
The concrete specimens cured for different times were
subjected to hammer blows in longitudinal direction and
inspected for any transverse cracks. The intensity and
frequency of the resulting vibration were measured by
fixing an accelerometer to the test specimen.

STRAIN BASED SAFETY CRITERIA
1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
Longitudinal Wave Propagation Velocity (m/s)
Best fit equation
Characteristic equation
Experimental data
P
P
V
4

(
m
m
/
s
)
( )
24 1
4
047 0
.
C
V . PPV =
( )
24 1
4
023 0
.
C
V . PPV =
STRAIN BASED SAFETY CRITERIA Contd
The test results were used to
defined the lowest value, PPV
1
,
that caused failure and the
highest value, PPV
2
, that did
not cause any failure of a
particular type of specimen.
Average of PPV
1
& PPV
2
was
used to define the vibration
resistant PPV
4
to have more
stable safety criterion.
By plotting PPV
4
as a function of V
c
at the time of hammering,
the characteristic equation representing 5% confidence level
is recommended to be used with a factor of safety of 5 in
practical applications.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Best fit equation
Characteristic value
Experimental data
Cube Compressive Strength (MPa)
D
y
n
a
m
i
c

T
e
n
s
i
l
e

S
t
r
a
i
n

C
a
p
a
c
i
t
y
STRAIN BASED SAFETY CRITERIA Contd
The plot of dynamic tensile strain capacity, defined by the
ratio of PPV
4
and V
C
against the cube compressive
strength indicates no strength dependence.

With a safety factor of 10, the characteristic relationship
with 5% confidence level leads to a safe vibration level of
PPV=16V
C
(T).
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Age of concrete (days)
W
a
v
e

v
e
l
o
c
i
t
y

(
k
m
/
s
)
M-10 M-20 M-25
WAVE VELOCITY AS A FUNCTION OF TIME
( )
( )
( )

+
+
+
=
25 3329 3 ln 5451 0
20 9716 2 ln 5841 0
10 8792 2 ln 5671 0
) (
M for . T .
M for . T .
M for . T .
T V
C
This relation is valid for
T greater than 12 hours
Vibration levels of 10 mm/s have been used safely for
concrete of less than 12 hours of curing at several project
sites in India.
Thus based on these field observations, 10 mm/s is
adopted as safe vibration level for concrete up to 12
hours of age.
Esteves (1978) has observed that fresh concrete between
the age of 11 and 16 hours can also withstand quite large
vibrations.
Using these observations and the wave propagation
velocities for the M-10 grade of concrete, the most
conservative safety criteria for green concrete is
proposed.
PROPSED SAFETY CRITERIA FOR GREEN CONCRETE
Age of
Concrete
Safe PPV
(mm/s)
< 12 hours 10
12 hrs 1 day 20
1- 2 days 40
2 3 days 50
3 7 days 55
7 28 days 65
> 28 days 75
COMPARISON OF PROPSED SAFETY CRITERIA
WITH OTHER CRITERIA
IMPORTANT INVESTIGATIONS FOR
ARRIVING AT SUITABLE SAFETY CRITERIA
Pre-blast Survey: helps to avoid post-blast litigations.

Ambient Vibration Survey: 2 to 3 times higher transient
vibration could be permitted.

Predominant Frequency of Ground Motion: higher the
frequency, lesser the damage.

Natural Frequency of Structure: to avoid resonance.

Review of Existing Safety Criteria: helps to select an
appropriate criteria.
CONCLUSIONS
Damage to structures depends in a very complicated
manner on the properties of the structure and its
foundation as well as on the ground motion parameters.
Safety criteria are defined in terms of the peak particle
velocity (PPV) and the associated frequency, which
depend on various blast design parameters and
properties of the transmitting rock mass.
Expert judgements based on site knowledge and past
experience plays important role in deciding a safety
criterion.
To adhere to the adopted safety criterion, PPV should
be monitored at all critical locations.