Drilling and Blasting for Underground Space

R Pesch1 and A Robertson2

ABSTRACT
Australia has been slow in adopting the use of underground space as a
part of our urban planning process. Australia has one of the highest levels
of tunnel advance per capita per annum in the world, yet the use of
underground space in our cities appears difficult for our planners and
politicians to comprehend, not withstanding the general availability of
good quality rock and contractor expertise in Australia. However, the lack
of space in our urban areas is being highlighted as our major cities
expand outwards and people and businesses gravitate towards city
centres. Typical potential underground space uses include car parking,
self-storage and archiving facilities, water storage, underground
quarrying, small industrial facilities and another layer of traffic (electric
and fuel cell) and services network.
Historically, blasting in high density population areas has resulted in
blast vibrations and blast overpressures exceeding the limits, which in
some case have been set extremely low in terms of peak particle velocity
(PPV). This makes conventional blasting difficult, often requiring low
charge weights per delay and associated small blast sizes and slow
advance rates. However, the introduction of new technologies, such as
computer aided drilling, electronic delays and low-energy explosives has
made this task considerably easier. Although more expensive than
conventional blasting, excavation by blasting using these products and
technologies in relatively good quality ground is believed, in most cases,
to be less than the cost of mechanical excavation.
In this paper, the authors look at innovative trends in underground
quarrying, underground commercial space and tunnelling and put forward
their concept of future excavation demand, future product requirements
and technical specifications to the drill and blast community.

INTRODUCTION
With increasing technical sophistication and demand for
resources, mining activity has had to expand, resulting in larger,
deeper mines with greater densities of blasting in any area. A
relevant simple example would be a normal overburden blast in
the Hunter Valley where hundreds of tonnes of bulk explosives
are blasted in a single pattern in an area that is becoming
increasingly urbanised.
Lack of available surface space has forced town planners to
literally look under the horizon for solutions to solve traffic flow
problems. In Brisbane, a series of tunnelling projects which
commenced in 2006 as part of the TransApex Project, will
continue the use of drill and blast as a secondary means of rock
breakage (to mechanical rock excavation methods), well into the
third decade of this century. Whether it is on the surface or hard
rock underground, drill and blast activities are going to interact
with a sometimes hostile human audience!

BLASTING PARAMETERS
When a certain amount of explosive detonates at a specific depth
below the Earths surface, approximately 20 - 30 per cent of its
energy is utilised in fragmenting the rock or other surrounding
materials. As an explosion is an imperfect use of energy, there is
a loss of energy transmitted through the Earth in the form of
pulsating waves or vibrations. A part of the energy is also
dissipated in the air, which produces noise. Two groups of
1.

Senior Mining Engineer, Coffey Mining Pty Ltd, PO Box 2301,

Newstead Qld 4006. Email: [email protected]

2.

FAusIMM(CP), Principal Mining Engineer, Coffey Mining Pty Ltd,

PO Box 2301, Newstead Qld 4006.
Email: [email protected]

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seismic waves are seen to be generated by detonation of

explosive charges in drill holes, classified as body and surface
waves. Body waves travel within a medium, while surface waves
are restricted to travel along free interfaces, such as the ground
surface. Body waves comprise of two discrete components
compression or P-wave and shear or S-wave. Two types of
surface waves are usually produced from normal mine blasting
Rayleigh (R) and Love (L) waves. Other less perceptible waves
are generated also. These waves and their effects on material
properties have been widely discussed in papers from explosives
suppliers and academics. Generally, a blast initially generates
high frequencies which decay into lower frequencies over
distance and the resultant amplitude is greatly affected by ground
conditions and the interaction of the various waveforms.
Wave propagation phenomena were first investigated by
Morris (1950) and his principles have been refined ever since to
attempt to determine peak particle velocity (PPV). PPV is the
unit of measure used for determining the ground vibration effect
of blasting and its formula can be employed to predict vibration
levels using empirical constants and determining the maximum
permissible charge weight per delay. Modern scientific blast
monitoring equipment can measure the actual versus predicted
vibration levels.

COMMUNITY PERCEPTION OF BLASTING

One of the more perceptible side effects of rock blasting is
ground vibration, which can cause human annoyance and
structural damage, although damage only occurs at levels many
times higher than those that cause annoyance.
Table 1 shows the typical vibration levels generated by normal
day-to-day human activity, measured adjacent to the source of
vibration.
TABLE 1
Vibration levels for different human activities (source: RTL web site).
Household activity
Jumping

Vibration level (mm/s peak

particle velocity)
Up to 250

Heel drop

Up to 150

Nail hammering

Up to 100

Walking

Up to 40

Shutting door

Up to 30

Sliding door

Up to 10

Allowable PPV limits within a frequency range stipulated by

regulatory bodies vary considerably worldwide. For example, in
Japan the permitted vibration amplitude has to be between
0.5 and 1.0 mm/s in residential areas, whereas in New Zealand
anything below 5 mm/s is acceptable (Table 2). Generally, higher
frequencies generated from blasting have a smaller effect on
buildings and people than low frequencies such as those created
by earthquakes.
There has been a trend for regulatory authorities, especially
those concerned with the environment, to impose low limits on
blast vibration levels in response to community pressure, based
on human perception and response to vibration. Despite technical
advances in blasting which, when used as designed, have

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R PESCH and A ROBERTSON

TABLE 2
Typical blasting limits by country (source: Piyush Pal Roy, 2005).
Measure
Human perception
Visible damage
British Standard BS 64722.1992

Units

Comments

0.15 - 1.5 mm/s

50 mm/s

Values in excess cause appreciable structural damage

8.5 - 12.7 mm/s

90 per cent confidence limit permissible impulsive vibration at residential property

Leicestershire County Council (UK)

6 mm/s

95 per cent confidence level part of conditions covering blasting within modern planning
permissions

Australian Standard Explosives Code

AS2187-1993

5 mm/s

Common environmental limit (EPA) depends on administering authority

(AS2187.2-2006)

0.2 mm/s

Historical buildings and monuments displacement for frequencies less than 15 Hz

19 mm/s

Houses and low rise residential buildings resultant PPV for frequencies greater than 15 Hz

25 mm/s

Commercial limit AS 2187.3

India

5 mm/s

Domestic houses/structures frequencies less than 8 Hz

German Standard DIN 4150 (GIS,

1986)

5 mm/s

Domestic houses/structures frequencies less than 10 Hz

Hungarian Standard
Swiss Standard
Swedish Standard National Museums

5 - 15 mm/s

Domestic houses/structures frequencies 20 to 40 Hz

15 - 20 mm/s

Domestic houses/structures frequencies 50 to 100 Hz

5 mm/s
8 - 12 mm/s

Panel houses
Objects of historic interest or other sensitive structure frequency bandwidth: 60 - 90 Hz

25 mm/s

Building structure

5 mm/s

Sensitive exhibits

considerably lowered the environmental and human impact,

some local authorities have traditionally excluded blasting or
provided ridiculously low vibration or air blast limits in
excavation contracts in highly urbanised areas.

Conventional and high technology blasting

Reinforcement of waveforms from blastholes detonating at
different times (thereby increasing the amplitude) can occur and
can be potentially more annoying. The choice of initiation timing
and quality of the detonator element will greatly determine the
vibration level. The advent of electronic detonators has greatly
enhanced the choice of sequence timing available for blasting
using high energy explosives as they can be programmed to the
millisecond. Unfortunately, whilst the demand for this type
of delay is likely to increase as environmental management of
blasting becomes increasingly important with the sprawl of
urbanisation, the high cost remains a major issue for contractors.
Electronic detonator prices can attract hefty marketing
department add-ons as well as expensive training in their use.
The time may well have arrived for manufacturers to sacrifice
some profit margin per unit in order to raise the image of blasting
in the urban environment.
In addition to using electronic detonators in tunnelling to reduce
environmental impact there is also a demand for good quality
explosives that can be used in peripheral holes to reduce overbreak
and preconditioning. When deciding to choose between using a
roadheader or conventional drill and blast, one of the selection
criteria is the ability to control the profile of the heading. In highly
jointed rock there is the danger of gases produced by detonation to
open up joint systems by gas jacking. The resultant instability of
the tunnel arch accompanied by overbreak, increases use of rock
bolting and shotcrete in the primary support phase, thus driving up
the overall excavation cost.

Blasting using low energy explosives or

non-explosives
In Australia, low energy explosives that have been used
successfully include:

Nonex contains 100 per cent propellants,

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penetrating cone fracture (PCF) contains ammonium

nitrate (AN), and

Cardox rapidly released gas under pressure.

These low energy explosives have an advantage over high
energy explosives in terms of their requirements for storage and
handling under the relevant State Explosives Acts. In some cases
these products can result in significantly lower vibration levels
and air blast levels than high energy explosives and associated
detonation systems. Lees (2001) describes the successful
implementation of PCF in Hong Kong and compares the use of
PCF with conventional explosives in the urban environment,
particularly in regard to materials handling, safety, vibration and
gas emissions.
Sometimes in urban construction and tunnelling, the optimum
solution to obtain minimum environmental impact may involve a
combination of both low energy explosives and high technology
blasting techniques using high energy explosives.

RECENT PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

North-South Bypass Tunnel
Electronic detonators with an accuracy of 1 ms were used by
AVKO Mining for the Brisbane North-South Bypass Tunnel
(NSBT) portal works near Shaftston Avenue, Kangaroo Point.
Actual works consisted of the access shaft and stub tunnel.
Blasting and initiation products consisted of a combination of
ammonium nitrate-fuel oil (ANFO), Powergel, Profiler,
electronic detonators and Devil Dets. The electronic delays
provided the following benefits:

Accuracy they ensured single hole per delay, which

allowed tighter time windows than the traditional 8 ms rule
(eg with non-electric detonators), thereby allowing a
broader possible range of blast geometries.

Accuracy also allowed high frequencies to be driven which

in turn allowed higher PPVs under the new frequency
based PPV limits in the new Australian Standard (criteria as
used by other countries for several years already).

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Flexibility electronics allowed usage of a wedge cut to

create relief using relatively long delays between holes, then

using shorter delays for the bulk of the blast firing into the
wedge. With pyrotechnic methods, this type of timing is
almost impossible, or at least extremely difficult.

Security for sleeping shots overnight in the inner city,

electronics are integral to reducing the risk of inadvertent
initiation or malicious action. No explosives are left on the
surface.

Two-way communications when burying shots under false

with multiple deck blasting of benches varying from 6 - 13 m

high. Flyrock control methods involved the use of blast mats,
importing false burden or drilling through rippable material left
in situ. The innovative excavation method involved loading
blastholes with up to five individual explosive decks (between
0.75 kg and 4 kg) with each charge firing individually to
effectively control vibration levels. Electronic detonators
increased the safety of sleeping blasts, allowing large blasts to be
loaded over three to four days, with approximately one blast per
week. The excavation is shown in Figures 3 and 4.

burden and mats, electronics communicate back allowing the

shotfirer to confirm the circuit is still intact thus reducing the
chance of a misfire.

Figures 1 and 2 show photographs of the area where blasting

was carried out.

FIG 3 - Southport site showing proximity to residences (photo

supplied by Orica Mining Services).

FIG 1 - Shaft site where blasting was carried out (photo supplied
by AVKO Mining).

FIG 4 - Southport site showing proximity to library (photo supplied

by Orica Mining Services).
FIG 2 - Development of the stub tunnel (photo supplied by AVKO
Mining).

Southport Central car park

This excavation involved the removal of 50 000 bcm of rock in
two car parks, one five levels deep and the other seven levels
deep, within the Gold Coast central business district (CBD). The
nearest neighbours were:

an office tower and caf precinct (12 m distant),

a Red Cross building and church office (25 m distant),
a public library (25 m distant), and
residential dwellings (40 m distant).

The blasts used packaged emulsion with electronic initiation.

A total of 30 blasts were required, averaging 1600 bcm per blast

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Blasting The Summit, Coffs Harbour

This project involves the removal of part of The Summit,
adjacent to Coffs Harbour township, for a housing development
involving the establishment of foundations for multi-level
buildings. The rock varies from a highly fractured, weathered
metamorphosed siltstone to very hard, fresh siliceous siltstone
with a compressive strength in the order of 240 Mpa. PCF
RocKracker is used as the primary means of rock breakage for
a blast of around 250 t in size, providing a product suitable for
free digging with a 25 t excavator which fed the material to a
crusher to produce a quarry product for road base and gabion
material. The blasting, carried out by Alterrain Civil and Geotech
Mining Contractors (2007), is less than 200 m from the nearest
house, located on an adjacent hill. The PCF charges are decked
in the holes, the number of PCF cartridges depending on the

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depth of the hole and the rock quality. The holes are drilled on a
staggered pattern, resulting in an average powder factor of
0.12 kg/bcm. To date, very low heave, flyrock and vibration
levels have been experienced, supporting the use of the PCF
explosives. Blast sizes could be increased with an initiation
system that allows surface or in the hole delays.

UNDERGROUND SPACE UNTAPPED

APPLICATIONS
The authors believe that underground space in Australia is a
major untapped market for the tunnelling and construction
industry and the associated suppliers of technology, design,
equipment, consumables and human resources. Applications
include:

underground quarrying underground extraction of rock

material for use as extractive industry material,

underground tunnelling, and

underground space.
Underground space can be developed using two major
methodologies:

by conventional tunnelling from a portal or from an existing

underground excavation, and

by excavating and open cut void and covering the

excavation using cut and cover methods.

UNDERGROUND SPACE IN SOUTH-EAST

QUEENSLAND
At Queenslands Third Underground Space Workshop, held in
Brisbane in November 2006, a number of important conclusions
were made in regard to the future potential for underground
space in Brisbane.
Some potential underground commercial and industrial sites
for Brisbane include:

Mt Coot-tha Quarry (water storage, industrial);

Roma Street Parklands and Albert Street (self storage,

Vehicle access for removal type vehicles (up to 4 m high) to

the main loading/unloading level.

A dry cool environment that can not be flooded.

Multi-levels with lift and small forklift access.
A means of egress and appropriate fire fighting, security and
ventilation facilities.

Self draining facility.

Water storage
The drought which has plagued the east coast of Australia for
more than a decade has highlighted the need for underground
water storage in the CBDs of the major cities. The Mt Coot-tha
Quarry, 5 km from Brisbanes CBD, has been identified as a
potential long-term water storage and/or water treatment facility
for the City of Brisbane. The current quarry will cease extraction
due to urban boundary constraints in approximately 20 years. It
is believed that there is still over 200 Mt of rock in the
underground resource which, after excavation, could be used for
water storage, subject to geotechnical suitability of the rock mass
for underground excavation.
Ellefmo (2006) describes the successful 400 000 tpa
underground quarry at Bergen in Norway where they produce
quality aggregates from the competent gabbro rock mass.
Crushers and storage silos are located in caverns underground
and stope voids are 250 m long, 50 m high and 25 m wide. When
the stopes are emptied the voids are used for dry landfill
material. Advantages of this co-use include:

a low production cost for aggregates of around A$12/t, which

is only slightly higher than the conventional quarrying costs
for a similar sized quarry in Australia;

often the same equipment that is used to haul aggregates out

of the mine hauls waste back into the mine; and

fewer complaints compared to a surface landfill in regard to

dust, noise, odour and air and water emissions.
Marshal, Ohsberg and Robertson (2000) described the massive
potential for underground quarrying adjacent to urban areas.

archiving;

Park Road Milton (self storage, shopping, parking);

Hale Street Bridge cut and cover past the State High
School (shopping, commercial);

quarry housing developments the Gap;

Paddington, Red Hill;
Bowen Bridge to Kedron (Airport Link); and
University of Queensland, St Lucia (archives, office,
shopping).

Underground self storage and archiving

The authors have been advised that inner city residents are
prepared to pay up to $3000 annually (based on 20 m2 of storage)
for each dwelling for self-storage facilities because:

storage is required for furniture and other items (particularly

heirlooms, recreational gear) that do not fit in to the new
residence; and

savings in yard maintenance, water usage, rates and other

costs associated with inner city living can be allocated
towards self-storage.
The requirements for a self storage facility include:

Good ground conditions allowing adequate free spans and

minimum ground reinforcement costs. Shotcrete is an
acceptable final finish.

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Car parking
While the authors do not promote car parking in the city, there is
a major shortage in Brisbane according to the Courier Mail
(2006). This can cause a disincentive for people to use cars to
commute to the city but it does cause problems for those who
might genuinely need to use motor vehicles. The authors believe
that there is a need to provide more parking for commuters who
need to use a combination of private and public transport.
Underground parking stations offer a number of advantages
because:

they can be located under existing facilities, eg suburban

railway stations;

they offer security and protection of vehicles from the

weather; and

the parking facility can include shopping facilities and

commercial uses.

Tunnel spoil a source of extractive industry

material
Planned tunnel projects for Brisbane under TransApex will
create approximately 20 km of tunnels over the next decade in
the Brisbane area. The amount of material created is of the order
of 10 Mt and this will vary from poor quality shales to quality
aggregates and potentially dimension stone. A by-product of
underground space in areas of good rock quality is good quality

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DRILLING AND BLASTING FOR UNDERGROUND SPACE

extractive material. If the material is blasted, it is of considerably

more value than material produced by a roadheader or tunnel
boring machine (TBM). The authors suggest that the concept of
Key Resource Areas used in Queensland, as applied under the
State Planning Policy for Extractive Industry, should equally
apply to areas suitable for underground space.

The future of underground space in Brisbane

Underground Space development, in parallel with infrastructure
development, is a vital part of the combination to ensure that
Brisbane is well planned for the future. It is important that
Brisbane planners take the following action with regard to
Brisbanes future:

identify areas where underground space could be developed,

identify the market needs for underground space projects and

the commercial aspects of underground space projects

including the full cost of construction and operation,

identify areas that can be excavated by drill and blast

methods, and

incorporate underground space projects with the current

TransApex Tunnel system.

CONCLUSIONS
The marketing of advances in open cut and underground blasting
in the urban environment has not matched the technical
improvements in recent years, mainly due to historical
perceptions as to the effect of blasting in urban areas. The
mindset, held by the public and authorities has meant that drill
and blast is often not considered for underground tunnelling and
underground space projects. This can affect the project price as
generally drill and blast excavation is cheaper than mechanical
excavation. Technical advances in blasting design and products,
combined with a professional attitude by contractors will see a
reintroduction of blasting in the urban environment, particularly
in the development of underground space projects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Angelo Labriola and Marty
Adam of Orica Mining Services Australia and Paul Hurley and
Steve Durkin of AVKO Mining for their assistance in providing
technical data and case studies for the preparation of this paper.
Orica Mining Services, AVKO Mining and Coffey Mining have a
shared passion for underground space and the potential
opportunities in Australia.

Brisbanes first underground space commercial

project
Over the past two decades, Alan Robertson has been enthusiastic
to commission an underground space commercial project for
Brisbane. He believes that the initial project should be kept simple
and should be a test case in terms of the relatively new concept
of underground space which poses the following challenges:

obtaining planning approval from the Brisbane City Council;

drainage is a major issue a self draining site is preferred;
application of the Queensland Volumetric Titling Act, 1994,
in regard to below ground strata in title; and

ensuring excavation ground support, fitting out and fire and

life safety installations are competitive with above ground

construction in terms of risk management and cost.

REFERENCES
Alterrain Civil Geotech and Mining Contractors, 2007. File note to Rob
Pesch, dated 12 July 2007.
Ellefmo, S L, 2006. Underground quarrying in Bergen, Norway: An
alternative method of mining rock, presented to Queenslands Third
Underground Space Workshop, Brisbane, 2 November.
Lees, D, 2001. Engineering geology of Sydney and its application to rock
fracturing using PCF technology, paper prepared for RockTek, May.
Marshall, T, Ohsberg, M and Robertson, A, 2000. Underground quarrying
The aggregate source of the future, presented to Hong Kong Quarry
Conference, 17 - 18 November.
Piyush Pal Roy, 2005. Rock Blasting, Effects and Operations (Taylor and
Francis).

Discussions are in progress with AVKO Mining and owners of

potential sites in order to determine the best option for an initial
construction project which may include a mix of commercial and
office use in the CBD area.

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