Simulation of ground motion in a polish coal mine using spectral-element method

Abstract

Mining seismic events have been associated with the mining of hard coal in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin in Poland for many years. These seismic events pose a threat to people working underground and cause damage to construction facilities on the surface. It is possible to predict seismic vibrations from mining seismic events using numerical calculations. One such method is the spectral element method (SEM). In this method, synthetic seismograms that enable the imaging of the full waveform are calculated. A complex mechanism of the source is assumed by applying the seismic moment tensor, which best reflects the balance of forces in the source. This paper presents the results of SEM modeling of ground motions of a seismic event which occurred on November 8, 2018, in the Budryk mine with a magnitude of 3.8 on the Richter scale. The modeling results show that even if the calculated synthetic seismograms do not fully correlate with real vibration registrations, it is possible to determine the peak values of seismic vibrations at any point in the model. This method can be a good complement to the analytical methods used to assess seismic hazard caused by mining seismic events.