Prediction methods and safety control criteria of blasting vibration to prevent damage to adjacent caverns: a review

Widely used for resource mining, tunnel constructing and other rock cavern engineering, the drilling-and-blasting method generates vibrations that may threaten the stability of both surface buildings and underground openings. Despite the prevailing view that underground caverns possess superior seismic resilience, the expansion of subsurface engineering has been accompanied by a rising frequency of blast-induced vibration incidents. To mitigate blast-induced vibration hazards in caverns, it is essential to characterize the attenuation behavior of vibrations in the rock mass and to establish safety criteria for adjacent caverns. This review first surveys methods for predicting the attenuation of blast-induced peak particle velocity (PPV), including empirical relations, multi liner/non-linear regression, soft-computing models, and numerical simulation, and compares their respective strengths, limitations, and predictive accuracy. Subsequently, safety criteria for blast-induced vibrations in underground caverns were synthesized, drawing on regulatory codes and the scholarly literature. A preliminary safety criteria grounded in geological quantification is also introduced. Finally, the limitations of current methods for predicting blast-induced vibration attenuation and of existing safety control criteria are summarized, and directions for future research are proposed.