Influence of explosive maximum instantaneous charge on blasting environmental impact

Abstract

Our research looked at the effect of explosive maximum instantaneous charge on ground vibrations and noise levels during blasting operations at the Calaba limestone quarry in Nigeria. Vibrock (V9000) seismograph was used to take readings related to ground vibrations and noise generated during all blasting operations that took place in the quarry for a period of one year. The results obtained indicate that the average ground vibration readings fall between 0.25mm/s to 3.6mm/s and the average noise decibel generated during the blasting operations between 35 to 158 dB. An artificial neural network (ANN) model is developed in this study for the prediction of blast-induced ground vibration and noise level. The proposed ANN model was compared with existing empirical models and was found to give the highest prediction accuracy. It was revealed that both noises generated and ground vibrations during all blasting operations increase with an increase in explosive maximum instantaneous charge. Additionally, the measuring equipment distance from the blast site was also revealed to have a negative correlation with noise generated and ground vibrations.