In civil engineering construction, blasting methods are widely used to rapidly remove large volumes of soil and rock. However, vibrations generated during blasting often cause cracks in nearby buildings and structures, leading to significant controver...
In civil engineering construction, blasting methods are widely used to rapidly remove large volumes of soil and rock. However, vibrations generated during blasting often cause cracks in nearby buildings and structures, leading to significant controversy and legal disputes over damage verification and cause identification. Moreover, since 2000, the frequency of earthquakes with magnitudes of 4.0 or greater originating in inland and coastal regions of Korea has increased. Consequently, it has become difficult to clearly distinguish damage caused by blasting-induced vibrations from that caused by seismic vibrations, resulting in legal disputes that significantly affect construction schedules and costs. In this study, as a preliminary research step to analyze damage characteristics of building cracks caused by blasting operations and seismic vibrations, vibration data were collected from automated monitoring systems installed at six blasting construction sites nationwide for construction site management. These blasting-induced vibrations were compared with seismic vibrations generated by a magnitude 4.8 earthquake that occurred on June 12, 2024, in Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do, Korea. The differences between the two types of vibrations were analyzed through a comparative evaluation of physical parameters, including seismic wave velocity, acceleration, frequency, and waveform characteristics. The study results indicate that blasting-induced vibrations exhibit relatively higher frequencies and short-range attenuation characteristics compared to seismic vibrations. Consequently, damage caused by blasting vibrations tends to be concentrated in areas close to the blasting site. In contrast, although the peak ground acceleration of seismic vibrations decreases rapidly at distances greater than 100 km from the epicenter, they exhibit a relatively low-frequency distribution, which is likely to cause structural damage due to resonance effects. In particular, vibrations generated by both earthquakes and blasting were found to produce accelerations amplified relative to ground acceleration in the short-period range, indicating that peak ground acceleration and effective peak acceleration are important indicators for representing vibration intensity. However, blasting-induced vibrations were shown to be more strongly influenced by displacement and frequency than by vibration velocity and acceleration. Therefore, it is suggested that evaluations of blasting vibrations should be accompanied by analyses based on displacement and frequency. Based on the results of this study, a future comparative analysis of actual building crack damage caused by blasting-induced and seismic vibrations is expected to clearly identify the causes of crack damage occurring in the vicinity of blasting construction sites. Consequently, the findings can be effectively utilized for safety management and public complaint mitigation around blasting operation sites.