Seismic energy prediction to optimize rock fragmentation: a modified approach

Prediction of seismic energy across a fractured rock mass in bench blasting is of great concern and interest to rock engineers in assessing the efficacy of blast design and mine bench stability. A few researchers have predicted the estimation of seismic energy to optimize fragmentation. The same have been reviewed, and considering their limitations and lesser accuracy, a modified analysis with the help of MATLAB was done to estimate the seismic energy. This study was conducted to predict blast-induced seismic energy released from mine blasting and optimize fragmentation results by suggesting a suitable blast design. In total, 84 blast vibration events from limestone mine and dolomite mine and 56 blast vibration events from overburden benches of coal mine were collected and analysed using Advanced Blastware and MATLAB software. The summation of discrete waveforms and exponential relation between scaled distance and peak particle velocity were used to compute modified seismic energy prediction. The results showed a maximum relation between the seismic energy and radial distance (R2 = 0.83). The seismic energy estimated with the modified equation was compared with the previous approaches and the fragmentation results. The results helped to identify the percentage of energy converted into ground vibration. Also, the suggested blast design such as S/B and H/B ratio should be between 1.1 and 1.2 and 2.3 and 2.4, respectively, to optimize the blast.