Numerical modeling of ground vibration caused by underground tremors in the LGOM mining area

The paper presents estimation of ground vibration by means of full wave field modeling. A geological model from the Rudna copper mine was employed, and an inhomogeneous subsurface layer was added to it. A staggered-grid finite-difference method was applied to numerical solution of the wave equation. As compared to the traditional finite-difference approach, this method ensures better stability of solutions for high wave frequencies at a given spatial sampling step. Because of a significant amount of modeling and very large size of the model and small sampling step both in time and space, a lot of time-consuming numerical calculations were carried out. The so complicated computational problem exacted that the calculations were made in parallel on an effective computer cluster. At the initial stage, modeling was performed with the use of a source mechanism in the form of double couple force consistent with the local orientation of tectonic stress. The local orientation was determined based on analysis of archive strong tremors recorded over the study area. At the next stages of the modeling, the orientation of nodal planes was changed all about that direction. As a result, effects of orientation of source forces on the magnitude of recorded ground vibrations could be studied. It was assumed that seismic sources were located at different depths in a dolomite layer. The ground vibration modeling was also carried out for variable depth of seismic wave source for two regions with different tectonic structure. Furthermore, the inhomogeneity degree of the subsurface layer was also changed in the modeling. The proposed method allows maximum vibration velocities to be estimated at each site at the surface of the study area; furthermore it enables the estimation of ground vibration at sites where seismic sensors were not installed. The method can be useful for precise evaluation of effects of mining-induced seismic tremors.