Propagation characteristics of vibration waves induced in surrounding rock by tunneling blasting

The effect of blasting vibration waves on surrounding rock and supporting structures is an important field in underground engineering. In this paper, the separation variable method is used to solve the displacement potential function for the propagation of the blasting vibration waves. In the axis coordinate system, the particle motion and stress change with axial distance, radial distance and time is obtained in surrounding rock. The peak particle velocity law in surrounding rock under different blast loads and surrounding rock parameters is discussed. In addition, the particle vibration characteristics in the surrounding rock are studied using numerical simulations method. The results shows that the peak particle velocity in surrounding rock appears negative exponent attenuation with the increase of axial distance, but it appears positive and negative fluctuations in radial direction. This phenomenon is a new discovery and it has been rarely investigated before. Moreover, the peak particle velocity attenuates more quickly and intensely in the near blasting field, which means that the supporting structure in a shorter distance away from the heading face is vulnerable to the impact of blasting vibration. The attenuation of blasting vibration velocity is closely related to charge length, blasting load amplitude, attenuation index and rock elastic modulus. The numerical simulation accomplishes the same results and then demonstrates the validity of theoretical results.