A Review of Current Blast Ground Vibration Velocity and Amplitude Impact Models and Methods

Blasting ground vibrations resulting from industrial mining and construction activities can negatively impact residential and geotechnical structures; however, blasters and engineers can generally predict and control the effects using site and blast specific data. Numerous industry-developed methods and models for predicting blasting ground vibration are reviewed to provide an understanding into the best approach for effectively characterizing and predicting their impacts. These models and methods consider subsurface parameters such as geotechnical, geological, and geophysical conditions, as well as blast design parameters such blast geometry, monitoring direction, and monitoring distance for assessing the resultant blast ground vibration data, particularly in terms of characteristic surface wave velocities and amplitudes. The models and methods overview identifies current gaps in the understanding of blast ground vibrations and makes recommendations for future work.