Survey on the influencing factors of human comfort in a long-period frequent blast vibration environment

Abstract

Blasting operation exerts adverse effects on the vibration comfort of nearby buildings and structures, and causes a number of civil complaints, discomfort and even lawsuits. Blasting vibration comfort is related not only to the vibration characteristics of blasting and buildings, but also to the non-blasting factors such as, (i) the gender, age, income, psychology, and educational background of the subjects, (ii) the environment they are in, and (iii) the activities in which they are engaged. Based on typical multi-year frequent blasting work cases, three groups of people are selected, and Likert scale method is used to design a detailed comfort survey plan. After tracking, monitoring and surveying over several years, 168 groups of survey data are obtained. The survey results show that, there is a nonlinear relationship between human comfort and blasting vibration amplitude. Moreover, compared with the peak particle vibration velocity (PPV), the absorbed blasting vibration energy (ABVE) index can better reflect the influence of blasting vibration factors. Difference in human comfort between different groups of people and its causes are analyzed. The correlation analysis results show that the correlation coefficients between vibration comfort and four factors (blasting noise, environmental noise, environmental vibration and ongoing activities) range from 0.28 to 0.34. Finally, combining the statistical analysis results, six factors exerting a relatively significant influence on comfort are determined. The outcomes are expected to provide a basis for eventually establishing a multi-level and multi-factor quantitative evaluation model for blasting vibration comfort.