A parametric study of ground vibration induced by quarry blasting: An application of group method of data handling

• Main Authors: Zeng, Jie, Mohammed, Ahmed Salih, Mirzaei, Fatemeh, Moosavi, Seyed Mohammad Hossein, Armaghani, Danial Jahed, Samui, Pijush
• Format: Article
• Published: Springer Verlag (Germany) 2022
• Subjects: GB Physical geography; GE Environmental Sciences; GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography; QE Geology
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/33448/

Blasting is a common technique for rock breakage in the numerous civil and mining engineering activities such as excavation, leveling, and tunneling. However, this technique has several environmental issues, such as ground vibration. More importantly, the peak particle velocity (PPV), as the main indicator of ground vibration, should be considered by engineers/designers due to its potential risk of damaging structures in the nearby area. This research introduces a different modeling procedure to predict PPV resulting from blasting by developing a group method of data handling (GMDH) technique. Data collection and preparation were conducted based on 117 blasting operations at a quarry site, and the effective parameters were considered for prediction purposes. Then, various strategies were defined based on the most important PPV factors, and these strategies were modeled using a variety of parametric studies. After an evaluation process, the best GMDH model was selected for each strategy. As a result, the best GMDH model was related to strategy 3 where four input parameters, i.e., powder factor, charge per delay, sub-drilling, and distance were selected and used. Coefficient correlation results of 0.933 and 0.942 were obtained, respectively, for the training and testing stages of the best GMDH model. To indicate the capability and power of the GMDH model in predicting PPV values, a neuro-fuzzy technique was also proposed for PPV prediction. The obtained results confirmed the power of the developed GMDH model as well as the practical application of this technique in predicting PPV values resulting from blasting.