Guided wave formation in coal mines and associated effects to buildings

The common prospect in diminishing mine-blast vibration is decreasing vibration with increasing distance. This paper indicates that, contrary to the general expectancy, vibration waves change their forms when they are travelling through the low velocity layer like coal and so-called guided waves moving the vibration waves to longer distances without decreasing their amplitudes. The reason for this unexpected vibration increase is the formation of guided waves in the coal bed which has low density and low seismic velocity with respect to the neighboring layers. The amplitudes of these guided waves, that are capable of traveling long distances depending on the seam thickness, are several times higher than that of the usual vibration waves. This phenomenon can many complaints from the residential areas very far away from the blasting sites. Thus, this unexpected behavior of the coal beds in the surface coal mines should also be considered in vibration minimization studies. This study developed a model to predict the effects of guided waves on the propagation ways of blast-induced vibrations. Therefore, vibration mitigation studies considering the nearby buildings can be focused on these target places.