Rock Mech Rock Eng (2009) 42:449–473

DOI 10.1007/s00603-008-0016-y

ORIGINAL PAPER

A Numerical Study on the Screening of Blast-Induced

Waves for Reducing Ground Vibration

Dohyun Park Æ Byungkyu Jeon Æ Seokwon Jeon

Received: 14 January 2008 / Accepted: 18 September 2008 / Published online: 25 October 2008
Ó Springer-Verlag 2008

Abstract Blasting is often a necessary part of mining and construction opera-

tions, and is the most cost-effective way to break rock, but blasting generates both
noise and ground vibration. In urban areas, noise and vibration have an envi-
ronmental impact, and cause structural damage to nearby structures. Various
wave-screening methods have been used for many years to reduce blast-induced
ground vibration. However, these methods have not been quantitatively studied for
their reduction effect of ground vibration. The present study focused on the
quantitative assessment of the effectiveness in vibration reduction of line-drilling
as a screening method using a numerical method. Two numerical methods were
used to analyze the reduction effect toward ground vibration, namely, the ‘‘distinct
element method’’ and the ‘‘non-linear hydrocode.’’ The distinct element method,
by particle flow code in two dimensions (PFC 2D), was used for two-dimensional
parametric analyses, and some cases of two-dimensional analyses were analyzed
three-dimensionally using AUTODYN 3D, the program of the non-linear hydro-
code. To analyze the screening effectiveness of line-drilling, parametric analyses
were carried out under various conditions, with the spacing, diameter of drill
holes, distance between the blasthole and line-drilling, and the number of rows of
drill holes, including their arrangement, used as parameters. The screening
effectiveness was assessed via a comparison of the vibration amplitude between
cases both with and without screening. Also, the frequency distribution of ground

D. Park
The Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea, Seoul, South Korea

D. Park
B. Jeon
School of Civil, Urban and Geosystem Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

S. Jeon (&)
Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering Laboratory, Department of Energy Systems Engineering,
Seoul National University, 599 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-744, South Korea
e-mail: sjeon@snu.ac.kr

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motion of the two cases was investigated through fast Fourier transform (FFT),
with the differences also examined. From our study, it was concluded that line-
drilling as a screening method of blast-induced waves was considerably effective
under certain design conditions. The design details for field application have also
been proposed.

Keywords Screening of waves
Line-drilling
Blast-induced vibration

Reduction of ground vibration

1 Introduction

In mining and construction operations, the use of explosives is probably the most
widely used means of fracturing rock, as well as the most cost-effective excavation
method. In a properly designed blast, the major part of the explosion energy is used
in crushing and breaking the rock. However, some energy also causes noise and
ground vibration. In urban areas, the noise and ground vibration can have an
environmental impact on neighbors, and cause structural damage to those structures
close to the blasting source. Several wave-screening methods, such as trench, line-
drilling, and pre-splitting, have been used for many years to reduce the amplitude of
blast-induced ground vibration, but remain to be quantitatively studied for their
reduction effect on ground vibration.
In the present study, a quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of line-drilling
in reducing the amplitude of blast-induced ground vibration was performed
numerically. The ‘‘distinct element method’’ and the ‘‘non-linear hydrocode’’ (or
‘‘wave code’’) were used to analyze the reduction effect on ground vibration. The
distinct element method, by particle flow code in two dimensions (PFC 2D, Itasca
2002), was used for a two-dimensional analysis, with the non-linear hydrocode, by
AUTODYN 3D (Century Dynamics Inc. 2003), being applied for a three-
dimensional analysis.
The main physical process of blasting can be divided into two phases: (1) the
detonation of charge (or explosives); and (2) the propagation of blast waves.
Numerical modeling methods of a blasting process can be defined as either the
‘‘partial coupled method’’ or the ‘‘full coupled method.’’ With the partial coupled
method, in the first phase of blasting, the detonation of charge is modeled by
applying the blast pressure, calculated by empirical formulas, to the wall of the
blasthole. The full coupled method can numerically model chemical explosives and
more realistically simulate interactions between explosives and the ground.
However, with the full coupled method, the calculation time is very large as the
numerically modeled element size of explosives is commonly very small, which
causes a small time step for the calculation. Conversely, with the partial coupled
method, the calculation time is relatively small compared to that of the full coupled
method. In the present study, the partial and full coupled methods were both
adopted. Considering the relatively small calculation time of the partial coupled
method, the two-dimensional partial coupled method was used to analyze the
vibration reduction effectiveness of line-drilling under various conditions, with the

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 451

three-dimensional full coupled method being used to verify the results of some of
the two-dimensional analyses.
To analyze the screening effectiveness of line-drilling, parametric analyses were
carried out under various conditions, with the spacing, diameter of drill holes,
distance between the blasthole and line-drilling, and the number of rows of drill
holes, including their arrangement, used as parameters. The screening effectiveness
was assessed via a comparison of the vibration amplitude between cases both with
and without screening. Also, the frequency distribution of ground motion was
investigated through fast Fourier transform (FFT), with the differences also
examined.

2 Screening of Blast-Induced Waves

It has become well known that the use of a trench as a screening method of
waves reduces the amplitude of ground vibration, as well as the high-frequency
components in the hundreds of Hz range. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the
trench effect on vibration propagation, which shows that the amplitude of high-
frequency components of ground motion generated by a vibration source are
reduced by a trench. This means that a trench absorbs vibrational energy related to
high frequency. E1, E2, and Etotal indicated in Fig. 1 are the energies relating to
vibration propagation.
When studying the screening of elastic waves, it is convenient to subdivide the
problem into two categories: (1) active isolation (isolation at the source); and (2)

Fig. 1a, b Schematic diagram of the trench effect on vibration propagation

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452 D. Park et al.

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of active isolation for the reduction of ground vibration

Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of passive isolation for the reduction of ground vibration

passive isolation (screening at a distance) (Woods 1968). With active isolation, a

barrier, such as a trench, line-drilling, or pre-splitting, is located at points close to or
surrounding the source of vibration to reduce the amount of wave energy (Fig. 2).
Conversely, with passive isolation, barriers are located at points remote from the
source of vibration, but near a site where the amplitude of vibration must be reduced
(Fig. 3).
When blasting is carried out in the vicinity of a structure or in urban areas, the
blast-induced ground vibration can cause complaints from the neighbors or
structural damage where the amplitude of vibration is greater than an acceptance
limit. As mentioned earlier, passive isolation is applied at points near a site for the
necessary vibration reduction. Since passive isolation is constructed in the vicinity
of a structure, construction work can give rise to additional noise and vibration prior
to the primary construction operations. Noise and vibration can also cause
secondary pollution from both environmental and structural viewpoints. Therefore,
it is believed that, in the screening of waves related to blasting, active isolation is
more effective than passive isolation. In addition, when passive isolation is installed
in the vicinity of a structure during blasting work, it is necessary for the original
ground state to be restored following the completion of construction, as the isolation
will no longer be required. In conclusion, it is believed that, compared to active
isolation, passive isolation is not practically effective in the screening of blast-
induced waves from various constructional features. Therefore, only the problem of
active isolation was investigated in this study.

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 453

There are three screening methods used for reducing blast-induced vibration: (1)
a trench; (2) line-drilling; and (3) pre-splitting. A trench by mechanized excavation
is the most effective screening method, in that it is capable of relatively complete
isolation compared to line-drilling and pre-splitting, but does requires great expense.
In addition, the excavation of a trench into rock is very difficult, contrary to that for
weak ground conditions, such as soil, and is not practical from a constructional point
of view. Line-drilling comprises an array of closely spaced concentrated drill holes
at the base of a rock face. Even though line-drilling has the advantage of being
economical compared to a trench, it requires additional work for the provision of
closely spaced concentrated drill holes. Therefore, according to the circumstances, it
may be ineffective from an economic view. Pre-splitting has a similar drilling
pattern to line-drilling, but contrary to line-drilling, blasting with reduced-diameter
explosives decoupled from the wall of a drill hole is carried out. Therefore, the
amplitude of the ground vibration generated by pre-splitting can be greater than that
from primary blasting.
When considering the details of the above screening methods, line-drilling is
believed to be the optimal method from economic, environmental, and construc-
tional points of view. Therefore, the present study focused on the quantitative
assessment of the vibration reduction effectiveness of line-drilling under various
design conditions for its application to hard ground, such as rock.
In the mean time, we carried out field tests in the Duhak tunnel and Yeongwol
limestone quarry in Korea in order to investigate the effectiveness of line-drilling
experimentally (GS Engineering & Construction 2007). In the Duhak tunnel, the
line-drilling of a zig-zag arrangement of a double row of drill holes with a 200-
mm spacing was applied along the final excavation line and the vibration
reduction effect was about 46.5%. In the Yeongwol limestone quarry, the line-
drilling of a single row with a 300-mm spacing was applied along the final
excavation (bench blasting) and the vibration reduction effect was about 15.5%.
From the field tests, it was found that the vibration effects of field tests were
greater than those of numerical analyses in the present study. Therefore, it was
concluded that line-drilling was significantly effective for the reduction of blast-
induced vibration.

3 Method of Numerical Modeling for Blasting Analysis

3.1 Numerical Modeling Using the Distinct Element Method

PFC 2D, the program employed with the distinct element method, can model the
movement and interaction of circular particles. The particles may represent
individual grains in a material, such as sand, or may bond together to represent a
solid material, such as concrete or rock. The particles are assumed to be rigid,
but can locally deform at contact points. In the code, there is no limit to
displacement, rotation, sliding, and separation. Due to this feature, the code is
suited for simulating the large displacement and microcracking of a material due
to blasting.

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3.1.1 Basic Procedure and Model Generation

The contact bond model, among the available contact constitutive models, was
used in the present study, in which the micro-parameters of the contact bond
model should be determined for simulating the mechanical behavior of rock mass.
The micro-parameters used for model generation were as follows: ball density,
ball–ball contact modulus, ball stiffness ratio, ball friction coefficient, mean and
standard deviation of contact-bond normal strength, as well as the mean and
standard deviation of the contact-bond shear strength. For the generation of a
model using the mechanical properties of rock mass, these parameters were
determined using an optimization method employing the uniaxial compression test
code developed by Jong (2006). In brief, the optimization for model generation
was carried out using the following process: (1) model generation using initial
micro-parameter values; (2) calculation of the uniaxial compressive strength,
deformation modulus, and Poisson’s ratio from the model; (3) comparison of the
values with those from the model and the desired values; (4) repeat steps 1–3 until
there is little difference between the model and desired values within the given
tolerance.
We are well aware of the importance of the tensile fracturing process in modeling
blasting, as well as the difficulties in implementing the process in model calibration
in combination with the shear fracturing process. Since, however, we were not very
interested in blast performance but in vibration reduction, the tensile tests and
triaxial tests were not considered in the model calibration process in this study.
However, using the values of micro-parameters obtained from the uniaxial
compression test code, we numerically carried out the Brazilian test to measure
the tensile strength of rock mass. From the numerical test, we found that the ratio of
tensile strength to compressive strength was about 1/5.2.
All analyses of the blasting in the present study were carried out under fair rock
mass condition. The properties of rock mass were determined by analyzing several
empirical equations suggested by Bieniawski (1978, 1989), Serafim and Pereira
(1983), Barton et al. (1980), Barton (2002), and Aydan et al. (1997). Table 1 shows
the mechanical properties of rock mass used in the present study.

3.1.2 Explosion Pressure and its Application to a Blasthole

The explosion pressure, which is the pressure exerted by the expansion of gases
from the explosion, can be calculated from the following equation, as suggested by
the National Highway Institute (Konya and Walter 1991):

Table 1 Mechanical properties of rock mass used in the present study

Ground condition RMR Em (MPa) rcm (MPa) q (kg/m3) t

Fair 41–60 1.000 9 104 28.3 2.500 9 103 0.24

RMR = rock mass rating; Em = deformation modulus; rcm = uniaxial compressive strength; q = density of
rock mass; t = Poisson’s ratio

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 455

449:93  SGe  VOD2

Pd ¼ ð1Þ
1 þ 0:8SGe
where Pd is the detonation pressure (Pa), SGe the density of the explosive (g/cm3),
and VOD is the detonation velocity of the explosive (m/s).
The detonation pressure is the pressure of a fully coupled charge completely filling
the blasthole. In the field, however, the decoupling technique is used, which refers to
leaving an empty space between an explosive column and the blasthole wall. For
considering the decoupling effect, the following calibration equation was used:

3
dc
PB ¼ Pd ð2Þ
dh
where PB is the blasthole pressure considering decoupling (Pa), and dc and dh the
diameters of the explosive and blasthole (mm), respectively.
To obtain the pressure–time profile of the explosion gases, the wave-shape
function is needed. Most researchers have used exponential functions to model the
wave-shape of explosive pressure (Farsangi et al. 1999). Starfield and Pugliese
(1968) introduced a combination of exponential and sinusoidal functions as the
pressure function. In the present study, the following wave-shape function, based on
the equation used by Jiang (1993), was adopted to characterize the source of
vibration (Park et al. 2004):
t
f ðtÞ ¼ eð1tr Þ
t
ð3Þ
tr
where f(t) is the shape function, t the elapsed time, and tr (= 0.0003361 s) is the time
to reach peak pressure.
Table 2 and Fig. 4 show the explosive properties by type of dynamite and the
pressure–time history used in the present study, respectively.
To apply the blasthole pressure to the wall of a blasthole, the pressure was
converted into force. The force was applied to the particles around the blasthole in
the radial direction. To prevent the generation of an irregular force around the
blasthole due to the coarse particle size, the particles around the blasthole had a
radius smaller than that of the surrounding particles. Figure 5 shows the propagation
of blast pressure applied in the present study.

3.2 Numerical Modeling Using the Non-Linear Hydrocode

As previously mentioned, the full coupled method can consider numerically

modeled chemical explosives. It is difficult to incorporate the explosion source into

Table 2 Explosive properties used in the present study

Explosive type qo (kg/m3) VOD (m/s) dc (mm) dh (mm)

Dynamite 1.400 9 103 6.100 9 103 32 45

qo = density of the explosive; VOD = detonation velocity; dc and dh = diameters of the explosive and
blasthole, respectively

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Fig. 4 Pressure–time history used in the present study

Fig. 5a–d Propagation of blast pressure applied in the present study

the numerical analysis using common analysis codes. The hydrocode is suited for
simulating a high-speed impact, especially an explosion. AUTODYN is an explicit
software package used for non-linear dynamics, which incorporates a finite element

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 457

analysis, computational fluid dynamics, a mesh-free (smoothed particle hydrody-

namics [SPH]) capability, and coupling between these techniques and material
physics.

3.2.1 Basic Procedure

SPH is a meshless Lagrangian technique which originated in 1977 from an

application to astrophysics (Lucy 1977). The main advantage of this method is its
applicability to a large deformation. Since there is no real mesh in the SPH method,
the difficulty associated with severe mesh distortion, as in the Lagrangian mesh, can
be avoided (Wang et al. 2005).
Accurate SPH simulations require a large number of particles in the region of
interest, which creates a large calculation time due to the small time step.
Therefore, the joining of SPH to the Lagrange finite element method (FEM) is
considered to be a good solution to this problem. Joining refers to the modeling of
the materials in the low-deformation regions using a common FEM element with
a relatively coarse size (Lagrange FEM), and SPH is used in these regions,
including explosives and a certain surrounding ground material, for simulating the
large deformation, which was adopted in the present study to reduce the
calculation time.

3.2.2 Material Model of the Ground

The response of ground material under shock loading is a non-linear, rate-

dependent process. The Riedel, Hiermaier, and Thoma (RHT) model of materials,
with cube strengths of 35 and 140 MPa, was developed by Riedel et al. (1999).
The RHT model equations are described in the Appendix. This model can
compute the following phenomena associated with brittle materials: pressure
hardening, strain hardening, strain rate hardening, third invariant dependence for
compressive and tensile meridians, damage effects (strain-softening), volumetric
compaction, and crack-softening. In summary, this is a new model for general
brittle materials.
Rock is well known as a brittle material, and the uniaxial compressive strength in
the fair rock mass condition is within the range 50–100 MPa (Barton 2002). The
conversion of the strength of cube samples to an in-situ drilled sample is as follows
(Palmström and Nilsen 2000):
finsitu ¼ fcube  CFs  CFin- situ ð4Þ
where fin-situ is the strength-tested in-situ cylindrical sample, fcube the strength of cast
cube samples, CFs the conversion factor for cubic versus cylinder specimens
(CFs = 0.8), and CFin-situ is the conversion factor for in-situ sampling (CFin-situ =
0.8).
From the above conversion equation, the in-situ compressive strength for the
cube compressive strength of 140 MPa is 89.6 MPa. As mentioned previously, the
compressive strength of fair rock mass is within the range 50–100 MPa. With
the in-situ compressive strength for the cube strength of 140 MPa being within the

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range of the compressive strength under fair rock mass condition, the ground
material was modeled using the RHT model employing a cube compressive strength
of 140 MPa. Table 3 shows the parameters of the RHT model used in the present
study.

3.2.3 Material Model of the Explosive

The existing techniques for determining the equation of state (EOS) of condensed-
phase explosives detect how detonation products push a metal. Historically, the
most common method has been the cylinder expansion test, where a cylindrical
charge expands a surrounding copper pipe. Although several EOS forms have been
proposed, the Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equation is almost exclusively used, which
is largely historical; the JWL EOS was developed in conjunction with the cylinder
test, which, despite its known shortcomings, such as the underestimation of
expansion by the effect of metal cylinder confinement (Hamashima et al. 2004) and
inadequacy under the condition of pressure above Chapman-Jouguet (CJ), known as
the overdriven regime (Tang et al. 1997), satisfactorily reproduces data. The JWL
EOS can model the relationship between the pressure and volume generated by the

Table 3 Parameters of the Riedel, Hiermaier, and Thoma (RHT) model used in the present study
Equation of state P alpha Strength model RHT
3
Reference density 2.75 (g/cm ) Shear modulus 2.206 9 107
(kPa)
Porous density 2.52 (g/cm3) Compressive strength fc 1.400 9 105
(kPa)
Porous sound speed 3.242 9 103 (m/s) Tensile strength ft/fc 0.100
Initial compaction 9.330 9 104 (kPa) Shear strength fs/fc 0.180
pressure
Solid compaction 6.000 9 106 (kPa) Intact failure surface constant A 1.600
pressure
Compaction exponent 3.000 Intact failure surface constant N 0.610
Bulk modulus A1 3.527 9 107 (kPa) Tens./comp. meridian ratio Q 6.805 9 10-1
7
Parameter A2 3.958 9 10 (kPa) Brittle to ductile transition 1.050 9 10-2
6
Parameter A3 9.040 9 10 (kPa) G (elas.)/(elas.-plas.) 2.000
Parameter B0 1.220 Elastic strength/ft 0.700
Parameter B1 1.220 Elastic strength/fc 0.530
Parameter T1 3.527 9 107 (kPa) Fractured strength constant B 1.600
Parameter T2 0.000 (kPa) Fractured strength exponent M 0.610
Reference temperature 300 (K) Compressive strain rate exponent 9.090 9 10-3
alpha
Specific heat 6.540 9 102 (J/kgK) Compressive strain rate exponent 1.250 9 10-2
delta
Thermal conductivity 0.000 (J/mKs) Max. fracture strength ratio 1.000 9 1020

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 459

expansion of the detonation product of chemical explosives, has been widely used in
blasting problems, and can be written as follows:



x R1 V x xe
P¼A 1 exp þB 1 expR2 V þ ð5Þ
R1 V R2 V V
where V is the specific volume, e the specific internal energy, and A, R1, B, R2, and
x are constants determined from the cylindrical expansion test.
The values of these constants have been determined from tests conducted on
many commonly used explosives. It should be noted that the values of these
constants should be considered as a set of interdependent parameters, where one
constant cannot be changed unilaterally without considering the effect of this
change on the other parameters.
The dynamite-type or emulsion-type explosive is well known for their use in
ground excavation. Even though trinitrotoluene (TNT) is different from dynamite, it
was used in the present study considering the similar explosive strengths between
the two. Table 4 shows the values of the JWL parameters for the TNT used in the
present study, with the material data available in the material library of the
AUTODYN program (Lee et al. 1973). Actually, the explosion strength of TNT is
slightly greater than that of dynamite. Therefore, to convert the amount of dynamite
compared to that of TNT used in the ground excavation, the following empirical
equation of the relative weight strength (RWS) of explosive was used (Jimeno et al.
1995):

1=3
qe  VD2
RWS ¼ ð6Þ
qo  VD2o
where qe is the density of the explosive (g/cm3), VD the detonation velocity (m/s),
and qo and VDo refer to the standard explosive.

4 Numerical Analysis of the Screening Effect

4.1 Two-Dimensional Parametric Study Using PFC 2D

To analyze the screening effectiveness of line-drilling, two-dimensional parametric

analyses were performed under various conditions using PFC 2D. The parameters
considered were the spacing, diameter of drill holes, distance between the blasthole
and line-drilling, and the number of rows of drill holes, including their arrangement.
The assessment of the reduction of ground vibration was carried out via a

Table 4 Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) parameters of trinitrotoluene (TNT) used in the present study
A (kPa) B (kPa) R1 R2 x eo (kJ/m3) PCJ (kPa) VOD (m/s) qo (kg/m3)

3.738 9 108 3.747 9 103 4.150 0.900 0.350 6.000 9 106 2.100 9 107 6.930 9 103 1.630 9 103

eo = initial CJ (Chapman-Jouguet) energy; PCJ = CJ pressure; VOD = CJ detonation velocity; qo = density

of the explosive

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comparison of the vibration amplitude between cases both with and without
screening.

4.1.1 Numerical Model Setup

The region of the analysis was rectangular in shape, 7.0 m in length and 5.0 m in
width (L 7.0 m 9 W 5.0 m rectangle), as shown in Fig. 6. The numerical model
had about 53,000 particles possessing some contact points with neighboring
particles, of which the size was 20–30 mm in diameter. Since the PFC 2D has no
infinite boundary condition, the damping boundary conditions were applied at the
edge of the region to prevent boundary effects, such as the reflection of waves. The
layer of the damping boundary had a thickness of about 0.3 m. A, B, C, and D in
Fig. 6 are the variables of distance between the blasthole and line-drilling, spacing
of drill holes, line length of drill holes, and the drill holes diameter, respectively.
The diameter of a blasthole was 45 mm, which is the common drill bit size used in
tunneling. For the case of the numerical model without line-drilling, only the
blasthole was modeled. The total calculation time was 10 ms (0.01 s). To monitor
the vibration during the calculation, a row of gauge points was arranged on the
surface within the numerical model in the direction that the line of drill holes and
the blasthole intersected at right angles. The distance between adjacent gauges was
1.0 m.

4.1.2 Effect of the Spacing of Drill Holes

Initially, the case without line-drilling was analyzed to assess the reduction
effectiveness of line-drilling. Through this analysis, the values of the peak vector
sum (PVS) at the gauge points were recorded, with the results shown in Table 6.
Figure 7 shows the velocity–time histories at the gauge points. To assess the

Fig. 6 Schematic diagram of two-dimensional numerical analyses

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 461

Fig. 7 Velocity–time histories of the case without line-drilling at the gauge points

vibration reduction effect, the following index, which is the ratio of the PVS value
of the cases both with and without line-drilling, was used:
PVSLD
RR ¼ ð7Þ
PVSNO-LD
where RR is the vibration reduction ratio, and PVSLD and PVSNO-LD are the PVS
values of cases with and without line-drilling, respectively.
Also, the vibration reduction effect refers to the value calculated using the
following equation: vibration reduction effect = 1 - vibration reduction ratio.
The spacings of the drill holes applied for analyzing their effect in the reduction
of vibration were 100, 200, 300, and 400 mm, with a 45 mm diameter and drill
holes line length of 2,400 mm. The distance between the blasthole and line-drilling
was varied by 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 mm. A total of 24 cases were
simulated, with the vibration reduction ratios calculated for each case (Table 5).
Figure 8 shows the relationship between the spacing of the drill holes and the
vibration reduction ratio. The vibration reduction ratio for each spacing in Fig. 8
was the average value of the results from six cases with same spacing. From the
figure, the vibration reduction effect was found to increase with decreasing drill hole
spacing. The following equation was analyzed using regression analysis:
RR ¼ 0:1283 ln ðSh Þ þ 0:1771 ð8Þ
where Sh is the drill hole spacing (mm).
From this equation, the vibration reduction effects at spacings of 100, 200, 300,
and 400 mm were found to be 23.2, 14.3, 9.1, and 5.4%, respectively. These results
were compared with those of the three-dimensional analyses described in Sect. 4.2.
From the comparison, both 2- and 3-D analysis provided similar patterns of
vibration reduction.

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462 D. Park et al.

Table 5 Summary of vibration reduction effects of numerical cases

Spacing Distance Gauge 1 Gauge 2 Gauge 3 Average Statistics
(mm) (mm) (m/s) (m/s) (m/s) reduction
ratio

100 100 1.433 0.950 0.628 0.765 Average = 0.742,

200 0.903 0.521 0.343 0.441 SD = 0.163
300 1.462 1.045 0.846 0.877
400 1.293 0.943 0.721 0.771
500 1.286 0.861 0.613 0.707
600 1.515 1.094 0.816 0.889
200 100 1.561 1.216 0.966 0.987 Average = 0.914,
200 1.502 1.093 0.809 0.884 SD = 0.053
300 1.485 1.163 0.900 0.934
400 1.550 1.110 0.782 0.888
500 1.443 1.026 0.772 0.841
600 1.611 1.169 0.875 0.950
300 100 1.362 0.999 0.783 0.822 Average = 0.899,
200 1.652 1.200 0.883 0.969 SD = 0.056
300 1.430 1.107 0.876 0.899
400 1.601 1.108 0.789 0.900
500 1.482 1.040 0.769 0.851
600 1.634 1.175 0.861 0.951
400 100 1.479 1.086 0.820 0.882 Average = 0.926,
200 1.671 1.262 0.947 1.013 SD = 0.067
300 1.611 1.236 0.931 0.989
400 1.541 1.100 0.805 0.890
500 1.486 1.032 0.744 0.840
600 1.612 1.149 0.861 0.939

Distance = distance between the blasthole and line-drilling; Statistics = statistical values of the average
reduction ratio; SD = standard deviation

4.1.3 Effect of the Diameter of Drill Holes

To assess the effect of the diameter of drill holes, the diameter was varied by 45, 75,
and 105 mm. The distance between the blasthole and line-drilling was 200 mm,
with a line length of the drill holes of 2,400 mm. The spacings of drill holes were
varied by 200, 300, and 400 mm. As a result, a total of nine cases were simulated.
Figure 9 shows the relationship between the ratio of spacing to the diameter of
drill holes and the vibration reduction ratio. The following equation was analyzed
using regression analysis:
SD
RR ¼ 1:18616eð1:82136Þ þ 1:00925 ð9Þ
where SD is the ratio of the spacing to the diameter of the drill holes.

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 463

Fig. 8 Relationship between the spacing of drill holes and the vibration reduction ratio

Fig. 9 Relationship between the ratio of the spacing to the diameter of drill holes and the vibration
reduction ratio

The above equation was valid only within the range 2–9 of SD. From this
analysis, the vibration reduction effect was found to increase with increasing drill
holes diameter.

4.1.4 Effect of the Distance Between the Blasthole and Line-Drilling

This analysis was carried out to examine the effect of the distance between the
blasthole and line-drilling on vibration reduction. The distance was varied by 100,
200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 mm. The spacing of drill holes was also varied by 100,

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464 D. Park et al.

Fig. 10 Effect of the distance between the blasthole and line-drilling on the vibration reduction ratio

200, 300, and 400 mm. The length of the line of drill holes was 2,400 mm, with a
diameter of drill holes of 45 mm. A total of 24 cases were analyzed.
The vibration reduction ratio for each distance between the blasthole and line-
drilling is shown in Fig. 10 (spacing of drill holes = 200 mm). From the figure, the
vibration reduction ratio was identified as having no relationship to the distance
between the blasthole and line-drilling. This means that the distance has no
influence on the reduction effect of ground vibration, but was only valid for
distances ranging from 100 to 600 mm. The cases with 100-, 300-, and 400-mm
spacings of drill holes showed similar results.

4.1.5 Effect of a Double Row of Drill Holes and its Arrangement

This analysis focused on examining the effect of the number of rows of drill holes,
including their arrangement. Figure 11 shows a schematic diagram of the numerical
analyses with respect to a double row of drill holes. The two rows were arranged in
a parallel and zig-zag manner. The diameter and spacing of drill holes were 45 and
200 mm, respectively. The distance between the blasthole and line-drilling was
400 mm.
Table 6 shows the vibration reduction effects of both of these cases. The
vibration reduction effects of the cases with a double row of drill holes in a parallel
and zig-zag manner were 15.59 and 19.04%, respectively. From these results, a
double row of drill holes was found to be more effective than a single row, with the
zig-zag arrangement of the two rows being more effective than a parallel
arrangement.
From the previous parametric study of the spacing of drill holes, the vibration
reduction effect was about 20% in the case of a single row of drill holes with a
100-mm spacing. The zig-zag arrangement of two rows with a 200-mm spacing
gives almost the same effectiveness as a single row with a 100-mm spacing.

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 465

Fig. 11 Schematic diagram of numerical analyses with respect to a double row of drill holes

Table 6 Summary of vibration reduction effects of numerical cases

Gauge number Gauge 1 Gauge 2 Gauge 3 Average reduction
effect (%)

LD-NO PVS (m/s) 1.746 1.222 0.901 –

LD-200 mm-S PVS (m/s) 1.550 1.110 0.782 11.20
LD-200 mm-DP PVS (m/s) 1.513 1.025 0.745 15.59
LD-200 mm-DZ PVS (m/s) 1.498 0.992 0.684 19.04

LD-NO = case without line-drilling; LD-200 mm-S = case of a single row of drill holes with a 200-mm
spacing; LD-200 mm-DP and LD-200 mm-DZ = cases of a double row of drill holes with a 200-mm
spacing in a parallel and zig-zag manner, respectively

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466 D. Park et al.

Therefore, when considering the difficulty of drilling work at a 100-mm spacing to

obtain the vibration reduction effect of about 20%, the line-drilling of a zig-zag
arrangement of a double row of drill holes with a 200-mm spacing is believed to be
more suitable than the line-drilling of a single row with a 100-mm spacing.

4.2 Three-Dimensional Analysis Using AUTODYN 3D

The condition of plane strain was assumed in the two-dimensional analyses, which
means that the length of the drill holes was assumed to be infinite. This is not a
practical condition for excavation by blasting, and requires a three-dimensional
analysis similar to the practical condition within the field. Therefore, three-
dimensional analyses, using AUTODYN 3D, were carried out to verify the results of
the two-dimensional analyses.

4.2.1 Numerical Model Setup

The typical size of a drill bit used in tunneling is well known to be 45 mm in

diameter. Since the replacement of a drill bit with a diameter of over 45 mm causes
additional construction time in tunneling, a 45-mm drill bit is considered to be
appropriate for use in the drilling work for line-drilling. Therefore, the diameters of
the blasthole and holes of line-drilling modeled in this analysis were both 45 mm.
Figure 12 shows a schematic diagram of the numerical analysis. The region of
the analysis was rectangular in shape, 8.2 m in length, 3.2 m in width, and 2.0 m in
height (L 8.2 m 9 W 3.2 m 9 H 2.0 m block). As mentioned earlier, the coupling
between SPH and Lagrange FEM was applied in the numerical model. As shown in
Fig. 13a, the ground in the low-deformation regions was modeled using the
common FEM element (Lagrange FEM), with SPH used in the regions, including
explosives and a certain area of surrounding ground for simulating large
deformation.
To prevent boundary effects, such as the reflection of waves at the edge of the
region, the infinite boundary condition was applied at the edge of the region, as
shown in Fig. 12. Also, Fig. 13 shows the configuration of the numerical models,

Fig. 12 Schematic diagram of the three-dimensional numerical analysis

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 467

Fig. 13a–e Configurations of numerical models. Due to the small size of blasthole and drill holes in
diameter, the diameter of the holes displayed in the numerical model is magnified a little for visual
convenience

that is, the cases without line-drilling and with 100-, 200-, 300- and 400-mm
spacings of the drill holes. The lengths of the blasthole and line-drilling holes were
both 1.1 m. TNT was used as the explosion source, and, as stated earlier, the amount
of explosive required was calculated via the empirical equation for the relative
weight strength. The amount of TNT used was 0.3125 kg, with a total calculation
time of 20 ms (0.02 s). To monitor the vibration during the calculation, a row of
gauge points was arranged on the surface in the numerical model, as shown in

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468 D. Park et al.

Fig. 12, in the direction that the line of drill holes and the blasthole intersected at
right angles. The distance between adjacent gauges was 1.0 m.

4.2.2 Assessment of the Reduction Effect of Ground Vibration

The reduction effect of ground vibration due to line-drilling was investigated by

varying the spacing of the drill holes while keeping the numerical conditions,
including the material properties, the EOS, strength model, and boundary
conditions, unchanged. The spacings applied in the analysis were 100, 200, 300,
and 400 mm.
The gauge points were arranged to record the vibration of the ground, as shown
in Fig. 12. The assessment of the vibration reduction effect was carried out by
comparing the values of PVSs between the cases both with and without line-drilling.
As previously mentioned, the vibration reduction ratio is the ratio of the PVS value
of the cases with and without line-drilling at the same gauge point. For each
numerical analysis, the vibration reduction ratio was investigated at each gauge
point. The results were as follows. For the cases with 100-, 200-, 300-, and 400-mm
spacing of the drill holes, the average vibration reduction effects were 33.82, 13.43,
9.95, and 7.51%, respectively. Table 7 shows the summary of the vibration
reduction effects of the numerical cases.
From the analyses, it was found that, as the spacing of the drill holes in line-
drilling became smaller, the vibration reduction ratio tended to decrease, that is, the
vibration reduction effect tended to increase. It was also concluded that, in order to
obtain a vibration reduction effect of over 10% for the blast-induced ground
vibration, the spacing of drill holes should be 100 or 200 mm, that is, below
200 mm. When considering the constructability of drilling work with a drill bit
45 mm in diameter, the minimum spacing of the drill holes required was 100 mm.
In other words, when using a drill bit 45 mm in diameter, the spacing of the drill
holes capable of maximizing the vibration reduction effect was a center-to-center
distance of 100 mm. However, since the drilling work with a 100-mm spacing is
very difficult, an alternative, such as a zig-zag arrangement of a double row of drill
holes with a 200-mm spacing, should probably be implemented in order to reach the
reduction effect similar to a single row of drill holes with a 100-mm spacing.

Table 7 Summary of the vibration reduction effects of the numerical cases

Gauge number Gauge 1 Gauge 2 Gauge 3 Gauge 4 Average reduction
effect (%)

LD-NO PVS (m/s) 1.149 0.667 0.481 0.408 –

LD-100 mm PVS (m/s) 0.660 0.467 0.317 0.291 33.82
LD-200 mm PVS (m/s) 0.938 0.561 0.421 0.379 13.43
LD-300 mm PVS (m/s) 1.000 0.591 0.435 0.384 9.95
LD-400 mm PVS (m/s) 1.102 0.600 0.446 0.391 7.51

LD-NO = case without line-drilling; LD-100 mm, LD-200 mm, LD-300 mm, and LD-400 mm = cases
on line-drilling with 100-, 200-, 300-, and 400-mm spacing, respectively

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 469

4.2.3 Comparison of the Frequency Distribution of Ground Vibration

In this section, an investigation of the differences in the frequency distribution of

ground vibration between cases both with and without line-drilling was carried out.
An explosion generates high-frequency, short-duration, and large-amplitude ground
motions, which may cause damage to nearby structures. As stated in Sect. 2, it has
been well known that, due to a screening method installed in the ground, the
amplitude of ground vibration is reduced, with a reduction in the amplitude of high-
frequency components of hundreds of Hz. FFT was used for the comparison of the
frequency distribution in the frequency domain. The transforms of longitudinal and
vertical components of velocity at gauge 4, as indicated in Fig. 12, were carried out
for three cases, that is, the cases without line-drilling and on line-drilling with 100-
and 400-mm spacings. The rectangular window function was used, with a sampling
interval of 1.6 9 10-5 s.
Figure 14 shows the results of the comparison of the frequency distribution
between the two line-drilling cases with 100- and 400-mm spacings of the drill
holes. As highlighted in Fig. 14, the case of line-drilling with a 100-mm spacing, the
amplitude of high-frequency components of over about 150 Hz were found to be
significantly reduced compared to those without line-drilling, while the case of line-

Fig. 14a–d Comparison of the frequency distribution between cases of line-drilling with 100- and 400-
mm spacing

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470 D. Park et al.

drilling with a 400-mm spacing had almost no amplitude reduction of the high-
frequency components compared to those with a 100-mm spacing. From these
results, it was concluded that the amplitude of high-frequency components of
ground motion was considerably reduced on the application of line-drilling with
very closely spaced drill holes to the ground, with an increase in the amount of
amplitude reduction of the high-frequency components with decreasing spacing of
the drill holes.

5 Conclusions and Discussion

A numerical approach for a quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of line-

drilling in reducing the amplitude of blast-induced waves is presented in this paper.
From our study, it was concluded that line-drilling as a screening method of blast-
induced waves is considerably effective under certain design conditions.
The results from the two-dimensional parametric and three-dimensional analyses
using PFC 2D and AUTODYN 3D, respectively, were as follows:
1. The vibration reduction effect increased with decreasing drill hole spacing and
increasing drill hole diameter. A quantitative assessment for these parameters
was carried out using a regression analysis of the vibration reduction ratio. The
relationships were valid within the following limits: 100 mm B spacing of drill
holes B 400 mm, 2.0 B spacing of drill holes/diameter of drill holes B 9.0.
2. To obtain an effectiveness of over 10% in the reduction of blast-induced
vibration, the spacing of drill holes should be 100 or 200 mm, that is, below
200 mm for a drill bit 45 mm in diameter.
3. The distance between the blasthole and line-drilling had no influence on the
vibration reduction effectiveness of line-drilling. This conclusion was valid
within the following limit: 100 mm B distance between the blasthole and line-
drilling B 600 mm.
4. As expected, a double row of drill holes was more effective than a single row
under the drilling condition of a 200-mm spacing. It was also found that a zig-
zag arrangement of two rows was more effective than a parallel arrangement;
the zig-zag arrangement of a double row of drill holes with a 200-mm spacing
gives almost the same effectiveness in vibration reduction as a single row with a
100-mm spacing. Therefore, when considering the difficulty of drilling work
with a 100-mm spacing, it is recommended that, in order to obtain the same
reduction effectiveness as a single row of drill holes with a 100-mm spacing, a
zig-zag arrangement of a double row with a 200-mm spacing should be used.
5. From the fast Fourier transform (FFT) results, the application of line-drilling to
the ground was found to reduce the amplitude of high-frequency components of
hundreds of Hz in the ground motion, which increased with decreasing drill
holes spacing.
From the above numerical results, the following conclusions were reached. When
considering the constructability and simplicity of drilling work, it is believed that
the desirable spacing and diameter of drill holes for maximizing the vibration

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A Numerical Study on Screening of Blast-Induced Waves 471

reduction effect are 200 and 45 mm, respectively. Also, in cases requiring a double
row of drill holes, a zig-zag arrangement should be applied.
In the present study, the analyses on the assessment of the vibration reduction
effectiveness of line-drilling were only performed numerically. Therefore, in the
future, an experimental study to verify the results of numerical analyses should be
performed, either in the laboratory or out in the field.

Acknowledgments The financial support for this work was provided by GS Engineering &
Construction. The authors would like to thank Dr. S. M. Na and Mr. H. D. Min for the help given
during the preparation of the work.

Appendix: RHT Model Equations

The equation of state (EOS) of the fully compacted material:

q
P ¼ A1 l þ A2 l2 þ A3 l3 þ ðB0 þ B1 lÞq0 e with l ¼  10 ð10Þ
q0
q
P ¼ T1 l þ T2 l2 þ B0 q0 e with l ¼  1\0 ð11Þ
q0
where P is the pressure, A1, A2, A3, B0, B1, T1, and T2 constants, q the density, q0 the
initial density, and e is the specific internal energy.
The EOS of the porous material:
 
Plock  P n
P ¼ f ðqa; eÞ with a ¼ 1 þ ðainit  1Þ ð12Þ
Plock  Pcrush
where a is the porosity, ainit the initial porosity, Plock the initial compaction pressure,
Pcrush the solid compaction pressure, and n is the compaction exponent.
The failure surface:
Yfail ¼ YTXC ðPÞFRate ðe_ ÞR3 ðhÞ ð13Þ
h  iN
YTXC ðPÞ ¼ fc A P  Pspall FRate ð14Þ

a
e_ fc
FRate ð_eÞ ¼ with P [ and
e0 ¼ 30  106 s1 ð15Þ
e_ 0 3

d
e_ fc
FRate ð_eÞ ¼ with P\ and
e0 ¼ 3  106 s1 ð16Þ
e_ 0 3
1=2
2ð1  Q2 Þ cos h þ ð2Q  1Þ½4ð1  Q2 Þ cos2 h þ 5Q2  4Q
R3 ðhÞ ¼ ð17Þ
4ð1  Q2 Þ cos2 h þ ð1  2Q2 Þ2
where Yfail is the failure surface, YTXC(P) the compression meridian, e9 the strain rate,
FRate(e9) the strain rate function, a and d the material constants, R3(h) a function of an
angle rotating around the hydrostatic axis and meridian ratio Q, fc the compressive
strength, A the failure surface constant, N the failure surface exponent, P* the
pressure normalized by fc, and P*spall = P* (ft/fc).

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472 D. Park et al.

The elastic limit surface:

Yelastic ¼ Yfail Felastic FCAP ðPÞ ð18Þ
where Felastic is the ratio of the elastic strength to failure surface strength and
FCAP(P) is a function that limits the elastic deviatoric stresses under hydrostatic
compression.
The residual failure surface:
Yresidual ¼ BðP ÞM ð19Þ
where B is the residual failure surface constant and M is the residual failure surface
exponent.
The damage model:
X Depl
D¼ ð20Þ
efailure
p
 D2
efailure
p ¼ D1 P  Pspall ð21Þ

Gfracture ¼ ð1  DÞGinitial þ DGresidual ð22Þ

where D, D1, and D2 are damage constants, Depl the accumulated plastic strain,
efailure
p the failure strain, and Ginitial, Gresidual, and Gfracture are the shear moduli of the
initial, residual, and post-damage, respectively.

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