INVESTIGATION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF GROUND VIBRATION INDUCED BY BLASTING IN VARIOUS QUARRIES LOCATED AT NORTHERN CYPRUS

5th International Scientific Conference - SGEM2005, www.sgem.org, SGEM2005 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN: 954-918181-2, June 13-17, 2005, 257- 273pp

ABSTRACT

This paper presents investigation of the environmental effects of ground vibration and
air blast induced by blasting in various quarries located at Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus. Within the scope of this study, scaled distance components have been recorded for
two shots at the Beşparmak Company, two shots at the Gürdağ Company, one shot at the
Levent Mosaic Company and one shot at the Arpalıklı Company, totally 6 shots at different
times. And also, ground vibrations and air blasts produced by these shots have been recorded
by means of three different White Mini-Seis Model ground vibration monitors. Afterwards,
the results of these measurements at the limited quantity (total 18 events) have been
interpreted by transferring these data to the computer aided data evaluation unit. The records
taken by vibration monitors have been evaluated in terms of damage norms according to international standards due to the lack of a national standards and criteria related with this
subject. However, enough data for each quarry could not be obtained but these quarries are
located in the same region, and also excavation works in these quarries have been generally
performed in the same rock unit (limestone). For these reasons, the measurement results
recorded in these four different quarries have been evaluated together. As a result of this
evaluation, a meaningful empirical relationship that can be used to predict the vibration
velocity for the preliminary evaluation of the excavation works with blasting at the quarries’
region has been obtained and proposed.