ISSN 1062-7391, Journal of Mining Science, 2014, Vol. 50, No. 5, pp. 865–877. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2014.

Original Russian Text © V.N. Oparin, V.F. Yushkin, N.N. Porokhovsky, A.N. Grishin, N.A. Kulinich, D.E. Rublev, A.V. Yushkin, published in Fiziko-Tekhnicheskie
Problemy Razrabotki Poleznykh Iskopaemykh, 2014, No. 5, pp. 74–89.

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FAILURE
Effect of Large-Scale Blasting on Spectrum of Seismic Waves
in a Stone Quarry
V. N. Oparina, V. F. Yushkina, N. N. Porokhovskyb, A. N. Grishinc,
N. A. Kulinicha, D. E. Rubleva, and A. V. Yushkina
a
Chinakal Institute of Mining, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences,
Krasnyi pr. 54, Novosibirsk, 630091 Russia
e-mail: 114@ngs.ru
b
Iskitim Quarry, Novosibirsk Open Pit Mine Management JSC,
Komsomolskii pr. 22, Novosibirsk, 630004 Russia
e-mail: porohovskiy@nkuoao.ru
c
Siberian State Transport University,
ul. D. Kovalchuk 191, Novosibirsk, 630049 Russia
e-mail: gan66@mail.ru
Received September 5, 2014

Abstract—The article discusses the interaction between the groups of explosive charges installed at the free
surface of rock exposure along the open pit mine perimeter. The spectrum analysis of the explosion-induced
seismic waves shows that peak density frequencies of the seismic waves are governed by the formation of
the canonical low-frequency components as a result of successive actuation of explosive charges, and are
conditioned by hierarchical block structure of blasted rock masses.
Keywords: Open pit mine, hierarchical block structure of rocks, limestone, large-scale blast, seismic wave,
spectrum analysis, grain-size composition.
DOI: 10.1134/S1062739114050068

INTRODUCTION
The role and share of blasting in mining, civil construction and other industries is hard to
overestimate and often impossible to substitute. By now there is a huge informational background on
theoretical and practical research concerned with blasting in geomedia in the form of reference
guides, books and monographs [1–7].
The researches show that large-scale blasting performance in mineral mining greatly depends on
the appropriateness of theories on mechanisms of transformation of explosive energy in the
mechanical energy of explosive fracture of rocks with related seismic wave release. Description of
such processes for a long time used “continuum” models of the dynamic theory of elasticity and crack
formation [4–6]. Structure of real rock mass and, seldom, stress state of rocks were taken in account
indirectly, in terms of values used in description of “effective” mechanical moduli of geomedium.
In the mid-1970s, alongside with the active experimental studies into effect exerted by structure of
rock masses on geomechanical processes running in rocks surrounding underground excavations, the
growing evidence of the key role of rock mass structure in quasistatic and dynamic response of rocks
to formation of underground void arose. Considering the discovery of anomalous-high strain
sensitivity of geophysical fields at interfaces (“contacts) of different scale structural blocks in rock
masses [8, 9], methodological background appeared for quantitative estimation of linear dimension of
such blocks. For instance, the discovered relationship became the basis for development of
spectroscopy in the area of geophysical borehole defect detection [10], which for the first time
enabled quantitative assessment of sizes of rock mass structure elements and monitoring dynamics of

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breakage and clustering of geoblocks [11], and greatly contributed to the discovery of alternating
response of rocks to blasting [12, 13] and, later on, wide velocity range pendulum waves [14–17].
At that time Academician Sadovsky put forward the idea on hierarchical block structure of rocks
and rock masses [18, 19], which mightily spurred hunting for new methods of quantitative description
of geomedium structure, analysis-suitable nonlinear quasistatic and dynamic processes, including
science of rocks [20]. A detailed analysis of evolution of modern opinions on interaction between
rock mass and anthropogenic activity can be found in [21–25].
The recent work [26] emphasizes currentness of such nonlinear geomechanics tasks as “ability to
control destruction in mechanically stressed rock specimens using electromagnetic, acoustic or
combined acoustic-electromagnetic response of the specimens in the form of wave packet split with
regard to amplitude or period spectra or pulse ratio.” The discovered phenomena of pendulum waves
and anomalous low friction in block rock masses [14, 27] allow adding pulsed mechanical impact in
the methods of rock specimen treatment in the above task.
The fundamental scientific work [25] considers the above task applicable to “controlling stress–
strain state of rocks in areas of increased stress concentration by means of external physical fields
based on feed-back: active version of use of amplitude–period spectra and porosity of physical fields
emitting from source zones of disasters—by structure of the external physical fields influencing these
source zones, aiming to control relaxation processes.” The authors of this scientific work offer
conceptual and procedural background for handling the formulated task and a sufficient set of the
related formulas.
Large-scale blasting in extraction of minerals from high stress rock mass can also be assumed as a
special case of formation of damage “source zones” (with sufficient size and grain-size composition).
Aiming to implement project tasks and spend rationally explosive energy, it is required to take into
account both initial physico-mechanical properties of rocks (in the framework of the assigned grain-
size classification) and initial structure features of rock mass [28].
Among the set of the calculation formulas for damage source zones in high-stress hierarchical
block structure rock masses [25], one formula directly deals with optimized selection of delays in
large-scale blasting. This formula was obtained by the authors [16, 17, 27] in the research of the
mechanism of pendulum waves and the phenomenon of anomalous low friction in rock masses. This
formula is related to the condition of anomalous low friction between rock blocks that exist in space-
limited environment and undergo joint orthogonally oriented pulsed force impacts (in “one-
dimensional” representation) in terms of delay between the impacts [27]:
δ t i = ( 2 ) i δ t 0 , i = 0, ± 1, ± 2, ... , (1)
2∆ ⋅ χ 9
δt0 = , χ = 2 ≈ 22.63 .
Up
Here, ∆ is the typical linear size of “interacting” blocks; U p is the P-wave velocity in material of a
rock block ∆, estimated using mechanical moduli of the geomedium (density, Young modulus,
Poisson’s ratio).
The formula (1) appeared to be connected with the frequency content of elastic wave packets for
blasting- (or mechanically) generated pendulum waves [17]. The frequency composition of this group
of waves is in its turn connected with the linear sizes of the wave carriers—structural blocks clusters of
which represent damage volume in a rock mass or a “source zone:”
f i = ( 2 )i f 0 , i = 0, ± 1, ± 2, ... , (2)
f 0 = U p / 2∆ .

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The formula (2) and its vector analogs are obtained empirically, from the analysis of amplitude–
frequency spectra of seismic waves generated in production blasting in the Talnakh–Oktyabrsky
copper–nickel ore mining [17], and based on physical modeling of mechanical conditions for
pendulum waves [16].
As said in [26], with the sufficiently universal law of “quantization” applied to structural blocks of
rock masses and geomaterials from [21]:
∆ j = ∆0 ( 2 ) j , ∆ 0 ≈ 2.5 ⋅10 6 m, (3)
j ∈ N —integers (order for sizes of rock blocks smaller
than ∆0—with negative sign),
replacement of ∆ in (2) for the reference frequency f 0 with the canonical size ∆ j from (3) yields an
expression analogous to f i from (2). This is important as it allows using spectroscopy approach to the
analysis of interaction between the shape of elastic wave packets (seismic waves) and the structure of
rock masses from the viewpoint of technological optimization of large-scale blasting.
Considering the aforesaid and in elaboration of the research [17], the next section reports the data
of spectral analysis of seismic records obtained during large-scale blasting along Iskitim building
stone quarry in the Novosibirsk Region.
Blasting conditions have influence on rock fragmentation quality in a preset volume of rocks in an
open pit mine and on discontinuity generated beyond the designed blasting perimeter. Therefore,
frequency content of elastic vibrations (seismic waves) in the near-field zone and the speed
characteristics of the seismic waves along exposed rocks is of interest in the analysis of pitwall
stability under dynamic loading.
Blasting practice [29] shows that with nonelectric blast initiation systems (NEBIS), it is possible to
better use blast energy for rock fragmentation in the specific mine-technical conditions by optimizing
ratios between values of charges, depth and spacing of shotholes, and by delayed blasting of charges
(unlike with blasting using detonating cords, pyrotechnic relays and electric blasting caps, when
initiation is implemented by groups of shotholes). The task is to find optimized delays for shotholes in
a round and for the rounds of shotholes.
Though the evident advancement associated with NEBIS, the latter is incapable to solve, in
particular, the problem of air-decoupled charge blasting since actual shooting time differs from the
nominal shooting time set by manufacturer. Improvement of rock fragmentation quality under
blasting requires a more general approach and making grain-size composition of blasted rock mass
closer to marketable standards (not only for reducing oversizes) in order to cut down running costs of
mineral processing, which is the topical problem of the mining and processing industry. However, by
now the research of blasting in high-stress hierarchical block structure rock masses remains
incomplete.
Usually a blast effect is studied in an “infinite” uniform medium with the assumed spherical
symmetry. For more comprehensive in situ data on the dynamic and kinematic characteristics of
seismic waves in geomedia with a structure, it is required to account for the blast effect on the damage
zone and the presence of rock blocks. Below, the data of spectral analysis of seismic wave generated
by shothole charge blasting in rock mass are reported with the purpose to check the connections of the
type of (2) and (3).
1. GROUND CONDITIONS IN ISKITIM QUARRY
Geology of the territory on the right-hand shore of the River Ob in the south of the Western
Siberian is the result of the long-term destruction of the mountain system. In the Iskitim town area in
the Novosibirsk Region, dense rocks occur nearby the ground surface. The igneous and volcano-

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metamorphic minerals form deposits of anthracites and building materials: limestone, marble, cement
materials. Other minerals involve granite, ornamental stone, expanded clay aggregates, basalt,
building limestone, heat-resisting clay, loam, sand, etc.
The Shipunovo limestone deposit (Fig. 1a) occurs in the territory of Iskitim district of the
Novosibirsk Region, 6 km southeastward of the town of Iskitim. Mining commenced in 1939. In the
north, there is a marble quarry and two main water courses—the Berd River and Shipunikha tributary.
In the west, there is Shipunovo limestone deposit-2. The relief is a hilly valley with elevations ranged
from + 65 to + 150 m, heavily cut with modern drainage system [30].
The deposit is explored down to level + 40 m and covers the area of 355.7 thou m2. Stripping levels
are + 125, + 130 m, extraction levels are + 125, 110, 95, 80, 65 and 50 m. The productive stratum is
composed of limestone, with step monoclonal dip and varied karsting: 14.8% down to a depth of 6 m
and 5% beneath this depth. The productive stratum roof has an extremely irregular surface, with
limestone sinks and crab holes. Karst is filled with clay and various loam. The upper lying limestone
is medium-jointy and medium- and large-blocky. The lower lying limestone is weak-jointy and large-
blocky.
On the surface, the limestone is solid, hard, with uneven inflection, small-grain, with varied color
ranged from dark grey to light grey, almost white; the northwestern part of the deposit contains
marmorized limestone, pink grey in color, fine-grain, solid, sometimes white-grey. In the east, the
limestone is dark grey, almost black, fine-grain; cuts are pityroid due to complex shear zones.
Cryptocrystalline areas contain seldom veins of white coarse-grain calcite.
The tectonic structures are insufficiently studied. Faulting is wide spread, has various shapes and
amplitude. The stratigraphic amplitude ranges from 100 to 400 m. Faulting goes with wide (tens meters)
crushed zones and small-amplitude dislocation areas. Mid- and small-amplitude fractures are of various
morphology: mainly upthrows and thrusts, seldom downthrows and multilayer displacements in
marmorized limestone. Karst shows itself mainly in subsurface area, at contacts with aqueous soil.

Fig. 1. (a) Layout of Iskitim limestone quarry and large-scale blasting area; (b) measuring design for blast-
generated seismic wave with pickups installed along the slope and upper bench of the quarry.

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Table 1. Physico-mechanical properties of limestone

Description Value Average
3
Density, kg/m 2680–2820 2740
Unit weight, kg/m3 2640–2820 2700
Porosity, % 0.3–3.2 1.06
Water adsorption, % 0.1–0.57 0.24
Air-dry compression strength, MPa 6.22–13.24 —
Water-saturated compression strength, MPa 6.08–12.21 —
C o m m e n t : P-wave velocity in the limestone specimen is accepted as 4000 m/s.

2. MINERAL
The analysis of Shipunovo limestone was performed from the standpoint of the industrial
requirements imposed on raw material used for production of break stone for heavy concrete grades
200 and 400 with freeze resistance of Mrz-50, 1st grade building lime, and break stone for motor
roads, in accord with the RF State Standards 26333-91, 8267-93, 8736-93, 25607-94. The physico-
mechanical properties of the limestone are described in Table 1.
Grain-size composition of building stone conditions coarseness of rock blocks. The goal of
blasting is to separate preset size blocks from the natural rock mass in order to enhance further
processing efficiency. Blasting produces rock blocks of various shape and linear and angular sizes.
This is contributed to by systems of polygonal fractures generated in petrogenesis owing to stored
internal energy. Complicating factors also are stress state, tectonics and movability of internal layers,
faulting, anisotropy and heterogeneity of properties of rock mass as a whole. Climatic factors exert
appreciable influence in subsurface layers.

Fig. 2. Rock mass in the quarry before and after large-scale blasting: (a) fragment of photo-realistic model of
pitwall prepared for blasting; (b) photo; (c) photo-realistic model after blasted rock scanning with identification of
large blocks over 0.7 m in linear size.

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The polygonal jointing is defined by the composition of rocks, their initial occurrence and
petrogenesis (Fig. 2a). The polygonal systems of joints feature:
—predominance of multiangular fragments (5, 6 angles and more);
—predominance of centers of “rays” of joints in the systems;
—comparative regularity of perimeters of units in the jointing systems;
—predominance of intersections of joints at non-square angles;
—opening of joints positively correlates with their lengths.
The use of seismic data to control blasting effect and application of laser scanning to measurement
of blasted rock fragments enables an integrated quantitative analysis of rock failure mechanism.
3. EXPERIMENTAL SCHEME AND MEASURING EQUIPMENT
For estimation of dynamic-kinematic characteristics of seismic wave packet generated by large-scale
blasting and the influence of group of explosive charges installed near free surface of rocks on the wave
packet generation, the bench was chosen at level + 123–134 m (Fig. 1), where the lower level is
composed of limestone and granite blocks overlaid with sedimentary loam.
The blast-generated seismic wave recording used 14-channel LAKKOLIT 24-M seismic station
[31] and pickups GS20-DX (Fig. 1c) installed pairwise in soil at spacing of 10 m, with the sensitivity
axes oriented vertically to the ground in case of pickups 1–7 and horizontally (in perpendicular to the
pitwalll for each pair) for pickups 8–14. Pairs of pickups 1–8 in hard rocks were fixed with gypsum.
The trace length made 55 m. Owing to the chosen orientation of the pickups, both vertical and
horizontal component of the seismic wave generated by blast at a distance of 400 m from the pitwall
were recorded. The signal delay time in the mode “upon detection” was 8 ms.
4. LARGE-SCALE BLAST AND ITS DESTRUCTIVE EFFECT
Blasting was carried out on the east pitwall bench (Fig. 1c). The blast was aimed at fragmentation
of hard rocks. The blasted bench was at level + 95 m, the bench height was 15.7 m.
Blasted rock: limestone, category under construction standards SNiP-8, Protodyakonov hardness
10, blasted rock volume 40 500 m3.
Shothole parameters: diameter 165 mm, angle relative to horizon 90°, average length 17.2 m, total
number 107. The charges are decoupled depth-wise the shothole by means of drill cuttings used as
stemming material. The decoupling is 1 m long. The spacing of shotholes in a round is 4.8 , the
rounds are spaced at 4.4 m, the subdrilling is 1.0–1.5 m. The number of shotholes per round is varied
from 7 to 9, blasting is initiated in groups of 5–9 holes.
The large-scale blast uses explosive total weight of 43 t. NEBIS initiation involves Iskra_P-25 and
Iskra-S-500 devices [32]. Delays are 25 ms for surface charges and 500 ms for shothole charges.
Initiation place is set opposite to the area of installation of pickups (Fig. 1c).
The blast disturbs continuity of rocks, fragments of blasted rocks have average size and angles of
positional relationship of surfaces (Figs. 1b and 2c). There are also oversized fragments of complex
polygonal geometry, with 8–10 and more surfaces. This complicates processing in accord with the
quality requirements of state standards. Technologically, a blast is intended to minimize further
processing, so, it is important to know grain-size composition of blasted rocks. The rain-size
composition was defined by the data of laser scanning of the blasted bench, by means of metering
angles between surfaces of fragments and their typical sizes (Fig. 3).
From the observation, the blast exerted the highest influence on fracturing at the edge of the
pitwall rock mass, due to displacement of blocks along the existing joint and then along the newly
induced joints (Fig. 2). Factors that cause various oriented and seemingly chaotic systems of joints are
still poorly studied.

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Fig. 3. (a) Angles between surfaces and (b) sizes of rock fragments after the large-scale blasting by the data of laser
scanning: NΣ—total number of scanned fragments; NL—number of fragments of the given angle between the
surfaces (a) or the given linear size (b).

From the analysis of the sizes of fragments in Fig. 3b, the linear scale used to represent grain-size
composition of blasted rocks is weak-informative, including oversizes. In further research, with more
in situ data accumulated, it is suggested to use the canonical representation of rock mass structure
hierarchy, that is more natural for the science on rocks [20, 30], and which equally represents linear
sizes of structural elements from any level of rock mass hierarchy (including overground fragments
and oversizes).
Mechanical condition of a blasted rock mass is greatly influenced by the degree of discontinuity
(or topological interconnectivity) of systems of joints, that depends on initial deformation and
strength characteristics of rocks, and on concentration of different-type minerals, structural elements
and other inclusions in rocks. These factors are intrinsic to almost any types of rocks.
As seen in Fig. 3, the angles of surfaces and linear sizes differ in different groups of fragments
after the blast.
5. GENERATION OF SEISMIC WAVE BY LARGE-SCALE BLASTING IN OPEN PIT MINE
The large-scale blast was performed in vertically arranged rounds of shotholes (Fig. 4), where
charges of 107 shotholes united in 16 groups were initiated with a delay of 25 ms in each group.
Initiation used surface NEBIS caps with rated delay of 25 ms for surface charges and caps with rated
delay of 500 ms for shothole charges.
Figure 4b shows a fragment of pattern of NEBIS caps, including the first round hole blasted with
the rated delay of 500 ms and the second round hole basted with the total rated delay of 525 ms,
which is the sum of delays for the surface and shothole charges. Considering blasting error of 10%,
actual firing time of some caps will be: 550 ms for the first group shotholes, 577.5 ms for the second
group shotholes; i.e. the time of overlapping for these shothole groups may reach 52.5 ms.
To visualize the initiation process, high-speed photography with frame frequency of 50 frames per
second was used.
Thus, it follows from the above-said that inconsistent initiation is possible not only between
neighbor groups of shotholes in a round but also between the first and third groups. This
inconsistency shows itself in blasting of individual holes and groups of holes. This is confirmed by
the frame-by-frame analysis of the high-rate video record (refer to Fig. 5 showing successive
blasting of the first and second groups of shothole charges).
This circumstance is very important as it reveals the necessity of improvement and advancement of
drilling-and-blasting technologies based on the available engineering solutions on the control of
initiation and blasting with the adaptable delays both for individual charges and groups of charges.
The key tasks also involve the accuracy (under 5%) of firing time of individual blasting caps.

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Fig. 4. (a) Pattern of drilling-and-blasting; (b) occurrence of rocks, design of shothole charge and NEBIS scheme.
The delays with error included are given in parenthesis.

Fig. 5. Successive blasting of (a) the first and (b) second groups of shotholes from the high-rate photography at
50 frames per second. The interval between the events is 20 ms, the interval between firing of the first cap and
explosion of the first shothole group is 50 ms.

Blasting design calculations as a rule use the empirical formula:

t = AW , (4)
where А is a dimensional coefficient conditioned by rock hardness and meaning specific delay per
1 m of distance between neighbor charges; W is the line of weakness.
To make the structure of the delay steps canonical by the type of (1), the mismatch of the steps
must be under 5%. This follows from the accuracy of representing linear sizes of structural rock
blocks on the canonical scale [20, 30].
The analysis of the seismogram plotted by the elastic wave arrivals under blasting of groups of
shothole charges confirms deviation of charge initiation from the rated values. Figure 6 shows the
record of the rock displacement velocity under seismic wave by the readings from channel 1 at a
distance of 400 m from the blasting site (Fig. 1c). The ordinate axis shows the amplitude of the
vertical velocity of displacement, the abscissa axis gives the time from the seismic station actuation. It
is seen that elastic wave arrivals under detonation of the respective groups of shothole charges does
not always coincide with the related rated delays.

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Fig. 6. Seismic pickup 1 recording of the elastic wave arrival at a distance of 400 m from the blasting site.
Table 2. Grouping of shotholes, and rated and factual (seismogram) delays in blasting
Order number of group 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Number of shotholes 1 5 6 7 9 7 6 8 8 9 7 7 7 7 7 6
Rated delay, ms 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375
Delay by arrivals (seismogram), ms
26 52 74 98 125 154 183 212 237 264 295 318 344 364 386
Factual delay (seismogram), ms
26 25 20 26 28 29 29 29 25 27 31 24 25 20 22
Limestone blasting generates a damage zone near the shotholes. As pressure shock weakens, rock
destruction stops and a body wave form is the rock mass. The minimum possible time of a pressure
shock (the time of decompounding of a 15-m cylindrical Emulast charge) is 3 ms. For this time the
blast-induced seismic wave front travels the distance up to 12 m (at P-wave velocity of 4 km/s). The
influence of the latter changes with distance due to geometrical divergence and interference with
other elastic waves inside rocks.
With the known delays, it is possible to identify arrivals of elastic wave generated by blasting for
all groups of shotholes as pickup 1 is installed in the zone of direct effect of the blasted shotholes.
According to the seismogram in Fig. 6, by the moment of arrival of the elastic wave generated by
blasting of a group of shotholes with a given delay, the vibration velocity of rocks under blasting of
shotholes with the previous delay has not vanished though is decelerated. Thus, the rock mass under
blasting with the rated delay of 25 ms has not time to “quieten” and the previous blast-induced
seismic wave overlaps the next blast seismic wave.
The grouping of shotholes by delays, the rated and factual delays of blasting are given in Table 2.
The factual delays were defined for each groups of shotholes by the seismograms (refer to Fig. 6).
Below the authors present the analysis of all recorded vibrations.
After blasting of the first two groups of shotholes with the delay of 26 ms, the seismic wave has
two clear maximums of the first half-cycles in each interval. The respective half-cycle of the 2nd
interval wave has higher amplitude than the 1st interval wave half-cycle since the power of group 2
charge (the number of shotholes blasted) is higher than in group 1. In blasting of shothole groups 3
and 4, the factual arrivals of the elastic wave in the seismogram have the delays of 26 and 22 ms, and
the corresponding half-cycles of the blast wave have much lower amplitudes.
In blasting shothole group 5 with the factual delay of 24 ms, the seismic wave half-cycle grows
and its amplitude exceeds the maximum of the wave after blasting shothole group 2. The seismic
wave half-cycle amplitude after blasting shothole group 6 is smaller than the maximum amplitude of
group 4, and the factual delay by the seismogram is 27 ms. The delays for groups 7–9 is 29 ms. The
first half-cycle of the blast-generated seismic wave in group 7 has almost the same amplitude as in
group 5 blasting. The respective half-cycles of the blast wave in groups 8 and 9 have the amplitude
somewhat higher than the maximum of the wave in group 4 but smaller than the maximum of the
wave in group 2. At the delay of group 9 blasting, there is a common maximum of the seismic wave
amplitude for all blasted holes.

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Blasting of group 10 has the delay of 25 ms, the first half-cycle of the wave has the amplitude that
is close to the maximum of blasting groups 5 and 7. Blasts of groups 11–14 have the delays of 27, 31,
23 and 26 ms, respectively; here, the amplitude of the first half-cycle is close to the maximum under
blasting charges in group 2 but is under its magnitude. Charges of groups 15 and 16 are blasted at the
delays of 20 and 22 ms, respectively, and the half-cycles of seismic wave in each interval gradually
decrease in the amplitude.
So, the analysis of the seismogram recorded in blasting with delays for the same power charges
shows factual difference in the amplitude of the blasted rock displacement velocities. The latter is
conditioned both by the power of the charges in the corresponding groups of charges and by the
structure of the blasted rock mass.
Inspection of the blasted rock mass revealed areas with increased fly rock range and areas with small
or almost zero fly rock range. This implies inconsistency between the drilling-and-blasting standards
and the real ground conditions that influence the factual delays and the rated size of stemming. The
increased fly rock range means that the kinetic energy of blasting is irrationally distributed in rocks.
6. SPECTRUM ANALYSIS OF SEISMIC WAVE OF LARGE-SCALE BLASTING
The blast-induced wave is generated under pressure of gasses and compressive wave in the blast
focus and causes rock damage between the neighbor shothole rounds with further conversion of the
compressive wave in the elastic wave as the seismic waves propagate in rock masses.
The elastic vibration of rock particles under the blast seismic waves is usually a nonstationary
process with theoretically suggests spectrum where some periods prevail. The spectrum of such
vibrations can be obtained using the Fourier transform [33]. The analysis of elastic vibrations induced
in rock mass by blasting should take into account that the analytical function describing such
vibrations exists on a finite time interval and the main of its spectrum lies inside a limited frequency
range (0, ω ). For this reason, integration of the spectrum can be started at the moment of initiation of
the vibrations until their damping, in the frequency range from 0 to ω , where ω is the maximum
circular frequency identified in the given spectrum. Using the blast-induced seismic wave record,
values of a table function are defined in accord with the chosen quantization interval, based on which
the amplitude and phase spectra are constructed.
For finding spectrum content of the seismic wave packet generated by blasting, in the capacity of
the initial function, the in situ record of rock mass displacement velocities under large-scale blasting
is accepted (refer to Fig. 6). The ordinate readout with the quantification interval of 0.5 ms revealed,
according to the theorem by Kotelnikov [34], the components of the elastic vibration spectrum in the
frequency range up to 120 Hz. The spectra are defined for the whole seismic record and for the other
delays for each group of shotholes.
Since the spectral concentrations on different intervals of the initial seismic record differ as a result
of various conditions of blasting of shothole groups and varied spacing of the blast points and
measurement points, for the graphical consistency, the ordinate axis shows not the absolute values of
the spectral concentrations of amplitudes in each harmonics but their ratio to the maximum value of
the spectral concentration. Plotting of relative values enables analysis of the spectral concentration
distribution along the frequency axis irrespective of the absolute value of the rock mass displacement
velocity at the measurement point.
The amplitude and frequency spectrum of the total record of the rock mass displacement velocities
by pickup 1 readings is shown in Fig. 7. The maximum spectral concentrations are observed at the
frequencies 13, 19 and 36 Hz. The frequency ranges where the spectral concentrations have
amplitudes higher than 0.7 are 18–20 and 35–37 Hz. The spectral concentration at the frequencies
12–14, 22–28, 32 and 40–42 Hz have amplitudes of 0.3–0.4 of the maximum. Spikes up to 0.2–0.3 of
the maximum are observed in the frequency ranges 8–10, 44–56 and 68–72 Hz. The maximums at the
frequencies over 100 Hz are under 0.05.

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 EFFECT OF LARGE-SCALE BLASTING ON SPECTRUM OF SEISMIC WAVES IN A STONE QUARRY 875

Fig. 7. Spectrum of displacement velocities for Fig. 8. Frequency of maximum spectral

seismic wave at measurement point 1 under concentrations of rock displacement velocities by
large-scale blasting. intervals in blasting shothole groups.

According to Table 2, blasting impacts generating vibrations in rocks cannot be the same due to
different power of charges in the blasted shotholes and owing to structural changes in rocks where
blast-generated seismic waves propagate. The charges differ in number, arrangement and explosive
weight, as well as the distance from the measurement point. This is also displayed in the record of the
rock displacement velocities with identification of spectra produced by blasting different groups of
shotholes.
It follows from Fig. 8 that the frequencies of maximum spectral concentrations of rock displacement
velocities change at the chosen delays. It is seen that the carrier frequencies of the maximum spectral
concentrations mainly change from 24 to 38 Hz. There are two shifts to 90 and 48 Hz, and the related
spectral concentration is not higher than 0.3–0.4 of the maximum (Fig. 7).
So, the spectral analysis of the velocity of seismic vibration in rocks at the chosen delays of
blasting show that each group of shotholes induces frequency specific to the particular blast
conditions (geomechanical, structural).
The intensity of the mechanical impact of seismic wave generated by blasting at the measurement
points is within the range of values at which natural continuity of a rock mass is broken. The carriers of
the maximum spectral concentrations are independent (in the experiments) of the charge parameters and
the distance from the blasting site. This means that the revealed frequencies are probably conditioned by
the accepted drilling standard parameters and by the frequencies of eigen vibration of rock blocks at the
blasting site. As follows from Fig. 7, when seismic wave is generated at a distance of 400 m from the
blast site, at the measurement point, at the frequencies 12–13 and 19 Hz, a low-frequency (pendulum)
wave arises that has multiplicity 2 in the array of frequencies of the maximum peaks in Fig. 8, or the
root of 2 in the array of frequencies in Fig. 7.
CONCLUSIONS
The theoretical and experimental studies aimed at quantitative description of structure and
nonlinear deformation of rocks in the framework of the fundamental concept of hierarchical block
structure of rock masses by Sadovsky, that are currently evolving, make the background for the
improvement and creation of energy-saving technologies of drilling-and-blasting.
The potential increase in the energy efficiency of the destructive effect of large-scale blasting in
rock masses consists in initiation of vibrations of natural blocks and opening of joints (in the
“pendulum” approximation) for the preset range of linear sizes of such blocks and joints in the
blasting zones. The implementation of this requires targeted research and development in order to

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876 OPARIN et al.

create explosive charge caps with the sufficient accuracy delays and firing, and being canonically
consistent with the linear sizes of grain-size composition of the blasted rock mass.
The in situ experimental research of the seismic effect produced on rocks by blasting in terms of a
building stone quarry revealed that the frequency of the maximum spectral concentration of the
vibration velocity in rocks put in disequilibrium under explosion load depends on the blocks structure
of the rock mass. The frequencies of the maximum spectral concentrations of seismic waves depend
on the number of charges per shothole groups and on the delays. With the increase in time of the
dynamic loading of rocks, the frequencies of the maximum spectral concentrations of the vibration
velocities, identified by the delays in blasting successively shothole groups, undergo nonmonotonic
change with a tendency of shifting to higher frequency range.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are thankful to V. N. Kabanets, A. P. Stakhnev and M. V. Mikhailov, specialists of the
Iskitim Quarry, Novosibirsk OPM Management Company for the help in the research execution.
This work was partially supported by the Russian Academy of Sciences, project ONZ RAN-3.1.

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