Blast vibration modeling using linear superposition method

A linear superposition method was used for modeling the time history of the production blast vibrations and optimizing the blast sequence to reduce vibration levels in Sar-Cheshmeh copper mine, Kerman, Iran. A single-hole blast for modeling and two double-hole blasts with time delays of 25 and 65 ms between two holes for modeling validation were carried out. The generated vibrations were measured at seven points with different distances and directions around the blasts. These records contain information about the complex mechanism of seismic energy radiation from an explosive source as well as the filtering effect of the signal travel path. Totally, 40 seismograms were synthesized (3 components for each point) for two blasts using the linear superposition method. The results obtained presented a good correlation between the synthetic and measured seismograms. Also, a comparison was made between the measured peak particle velocities (PPVs) and those obtained from the scaled-distance method and linear superposition modeling. This shows the merits of linear superposition modeling to predict PPVs. Moreover, the recorded seismograms of the single-hole blast were used to simulate the vibrations produced by a production blast at seven points. Furthermore, by using a systematic variation of firing delay in the modeling procedure, the effect of delay on the production blast vibrations was studied. The production blast simulations showed that for Sar-Cheshmeh copper mine, the blasts carried out with the inter-row delays more than 40 ms can significantly reduce vibration levels.