Blast Vibration Analysis

An aid to those who make and interpret blast vibra­tion measurements, this book serves as an especially useful and timely introduction

Wave phenomena are a familiar part of everyone’s experi­ence. Water waves are perhaps the most graphic, but the existence of sound waves, light waves, and electromagnetic radio and television waves is also well known. The destruc­tive effect of earthquake waves receives widespread publicity. It is thus obvious that gases, liquids, and solids will support wave motion. For the understanding and analysis of blast vibrations, scientists and engineers require a sophisticated understanding of wave phenomena. G. A. Bollinger in Blast Vibration Analysis makes an important contribution to this study focusing on the origin, transmission, and types of elastic wave in solid media. The physical laws involved in waves analysis as well as the mathematical tools needed to specify and analyze the variety of wave phenomena en­countered in nature are also provided.

Mr. Bollinger synthesizes the theory and literature from the seismological, geophysical, and engineering disciplines pertinent to the subject area of blast vibrations induced by quarrying, mining, and engineering operations. While the theory and analytical techniques presented do apply to vibra­tions from earthquakes and nuclear explosions, the author avoids developing a specific consideration of those latter phenomena. However, he applies the analytical tools that have been so highly refined in earthquake engineering, earthquake seismology, and seismic exploration for petro­leum, i.e., digital and spectral analyses, to the blast vibration problem.

Dividing his book into five textual chapters, Mr. Bollinger devotes the first two to a detailed consideration of seismic waves, both from a general physical viewpoint as well as from the effects of blasting. The third chapter covers the mathematical theory of the seismograph along with examples of instruments currently used by professionals. A very specific discussion of the analysis of blast vibrations, including steady-state, suddenly-beginning, digital, and trace-match­ing analyses is presented in the fourth chapter. The con­cluding chapter considers damage criteria, both American and European, along with the structural and physiological effects of blast vibrations. Mr. Bollinger’s skillful exposition of each of these topics starts at an elementary level—assum­ing some college engineering or scientific background—proceeds to an intermediate stage, and then suggests direc­tions for more advanced study. While the theoretical presen­tation is kept general, specific examples and certain relevant points are made with reference to Sprengnether seismic instruments.

Each chapter is followed by a list of references, and a bibliography of the field of engineering seismology as a whole appears at the back of the book. Numerous informative tables, figures, graphs, charts, mathematical examples, and photographs of instruments are included in the body of the text.

Scientific students and professionals will find Mr. Bol­linger’s book stimulating and suggestive of further ranges of study and practice.

G. A. Bollinger is Associate Professor of Geophysics at The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He received his Ph.D. degree in geophysics from St. Louis University in 1967. Author of The Earthquake History of Virginia and of a number of articles which have appeared in such scientific journals as the Bulletin of The Seismological Society of America and the Journal of Geophysical Research, Mr. Bollinger is presently doing research in central Appa­lachian seismicity and in earthquake focal mechanisms.