(a) In all blasting operations, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the maximum ground vibration at a dwelling, public building, school, church, or commercial or institutional building normally occupied adjacent to the blasting site must not exceed the limitations specified in the following graph shown in Figure A to limit peak particle velocity based upon the frequency of the blast vibration:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 68-105-104

  • Airblast: means the airborne shock wave generated by a blast and traveling through the atmosphere. See Tennessee Code 68-105-102
  • Blast: means the act of detonating explosive materials joined by a shared initiation system and a single firing device. See Tennessee Code 68-105-102
  • Blaster: means a person qualified by reason of training, knowledge, experience and registration to fire or detonate explosives in blasting operations. See Tennessee Code 68-105-102
  • Blasting operation: means the use of explosives in the blasting of stone, rock, ore or any other natural formation, or in any construction or demolition work. See Tennessee Code 68-105-102
  • Delay: means a period of time until detonation after application of energy to the ignition system. See Tennessee Code 68-105-102
  • Distance: means the actual distance in feet along ground contour to the nearest dwelling house, public building, school, church, commercial or institutional building normally occupied. See Tennessee Code 68-105-102
  • Explosives: means any chemical compound or other substance or mechanical system intended for the purpose of producing an explosion, or that contains oxidizing and combustible units or other ingredients in such proportion or quantities that ignition by detonation may produce an explosion, capable of causing injury to persons or damage to property. See Tennessee Code 68-105-102
  • Person: means an individual, public or private corporation, political subdivision, government agency, municipality, industry, copartnership, association, firm, trust, estate or other entity whatsoever. See Tennessee Code 68-105-102
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Scaled distance: means the actual distance in feet divided by the square root of the maximum charge weight per delay period, in pounds. See Tennessee Code 68-105-102
  • Weight: means the maximum weight of explosive, in pounds. See Tennessee Code 68-105-102
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) Unless a blaster uses a seismograph to monitor a blast to ensure compliance with Figure A, the operation shall comply with the scaled distance equations shown in the following Table 1.

TABLE 1

SCALED DISTANCE EQUATIONS

Distance from Blasting Site

Scaled Distance Equation

0 to 300 ft (91.4 m)

Standard Table of Distance

301 to 5000 ft (92 m to 1524 m)

W (lbs)= (d (ft)/55)2 or W (kg)= (d (m)/24.9)2

5001 ft (1524 m) and beyond

W (lbs)= (d (ft)/65)2 or W (kg)= (d (m)/29.4)2

Key:

W = The maximum weight of explosives in pounds (or kilograms) that can be detonated per delay interval of 8 milliseconds or greater.

d = The distance in feet (or meters) from the blast site to the nearest dwelling, public building, school, church, commercial, or institutional building normally occupied not owned, leased, or contracted by the blasting operation, or on property where the owner has not given a written waiver to the blasting operation.

Note: To convert English Units of scaled distances (ft/lb1/2) to metric units (m/kg1/2) divide by a factor of 2.21.

Table 2: STANDARD TABLE OF DISTANCE (0 to 300 feet (91.4 m))

Distance in Feet

Weight in Pounds

0-10

1/8

11-15

1/4

16-20

1/2

21-25

3/4

26-30

1.00

40

2.25

50

3.50

60

4.75

70

6.00

80

7.25

90

8.50

100

9.75

110

11.00

130

13.50

150

16.00

170

18.50

190

21.00

210

23.50

230

26.00

250

28.50

270

31.00

290

33.50

300

34.75
(c) Airblast resulting from blasting activities must not exceed one hundred forty decibels (140 dB) at the location of a dwelling, public building, school, church, or commercial or institutional building that is not owned or leased by the person engaged in the blasting operation, or on property for which the owner has not provided a written waiver to the person engaged in the blasting operation.
(d) In estimating the peak particle velocity at a particular position, the following equation must be used:

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In the equation, V0 is the maximum ground particle velocity at the seismograph, D0 is the distance of the seismograph from the blasting, and D is the distance from the blast to the position in question and in the same general direction. The distance D0 may not be greater than D, and D cannot be more than five (5) times D0.

(e) Blasting operations at permanent sites are considered as being within the limits set forth in this section if at specified locations, on at least five (5) blasts, instrumentation has shown the peak particle velocity and frequency to be within the limits of Figure A. Periodic seismic monitoring must be employed to ensure compliance with applicable law.
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