Effects of Mine Blasting on Residential Structures

Blasting is common in the coal industry to remove rock overburden so that the exposed coal can be mechanically excavated. The ground vibrations and air blast produced by blasting are often felt by residents surrounding the mines. There has been a trend for regulatory authorities, especially those concerned with the environment, to impose low limits on blast vibration levels in response to community pressure, based on human perception and response to vibration. This paper reports the findings of an extensive study on a house which was located adjacent to a coal mine. The house was monitored for over 1 year and was subjected to ground peak particle velocity ~PPV! ranging from 1.5 to 222 mm/s. The house was instrumented with accelerometers to measure its dynamic response due to blasting and it was also monitored for cracks before and after each blast. Based on this study, ground motion amplifications along the height of the structure have been established. A simplified methodology presented in this paper has been used to estimate the ground PPV at which cracking is likely. DOI: 10.1061/~ASCE!0887-3828~2005!19:3~222! CE Database subject headings: Blast loads; Coal mining; Vibration; Damage assessment; Buildings, residential.