INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF GROUND VIBRATION ON BUILDINGS DUE TO BLASTING

The ground vibrations caused by bench blasting at open pit mines have been explored since the 1930’s and several approaches have been made regarding the damage criteria. In all these studies, the amount of explosives and distance to the blasting points are taken as basis as the main variable of ground vibration while other variables are evaluated within the coefficients of the developed formulae. This study majorly focuses on how ground vibrations propagate through buildings. For this purpose, two prototype buildings were constructed in the laboratory and in the field and they were exposed to blasting vibrations. The levels of vibration on several floors of the building were determined and a mathematical model was proposed for the estimation of these vibrations.