Rock dynamics and geophysical exploration. Introduction to stress waves in rocks / Динамика горных пород и геофизические исследования. Введение в волны напряжений в горных породах

For centuries mountains and rock sites were seen merely as almost insurmountable obstacles to development. Even though mines have been known for centuries, it is only a rather recent development to consider rock sites as being something more than a mere inconvenience, and to use them for practical purposes such as underground storage rooms, built-in hydro-power plants, etc. Our ability to use rock sites for practical purposes is due to an ever-increasing technological advance in excavation techniques. With this trend, which it may be assumed will continue to develop in the future, civil engineers and geologists will have an increasing need for a theory which enables them to make predictions in the same way as they are able to do in other fields o f engineering activities.

Our present excavation techniques include blasting, which in its turn sets off stress waves which are transmitted through the rock site, and which may strike neighboring installations with destructive force. The study of stress waves in rocks therefore becomes increasingly important, as more and more installations may be found in the neighborhood of the location where blasting occurs. A good knowledge of the way in which such stress waves are transmitted is therefore indispensible for the engineer and the geologist collaborating in such operations. <...>