COMPUTERS AND BLASTING

Early computerized blast-monitoring equipment consisted simply of a di gital version of the existing analogue machine with, perhaps, a few en hancements. Many additional facilities have since been developed to en able the efficient collection of high-quality data. These developments are examined with reference to digital sampling, triggering systems, the storage of complete recordings and signal processing. Recent advan ces have been made in the use of blast-monitoring systems that compris e multiple blast-monitoring locations with centralized control and dat a collection. With the increase in the amount of data that is acquired software has been developed to help record blast parameters and asses s environmental effects. Computer databases offer many advantages over their paper counterparts-in particular, the ease with which data can be retrieved and processed to obtain the required information. The sca led distances that are used in the prediction and control of peak part icle velocities (PPV) can be calculated rapidly when the appropriate d ata are obtained directly from a database. Now that the whole vibratio n signal can be recorded signal processing can be used to provide such information as signal length, dominant frequency and response spectra .