Prediction of peak particle velocity using hybrid random forest approach

Blasting excavation is widely used in mining, tunneling and construction industries, but it leads to produce ground vibration which can seriously damage the urban communities. The peak particle velocity (PPV) is one of main indicators for determining the extent of ground vibration. Owing to the complexity of blasting process, there is controversy over which parameters will be considered as the inputs for empirical equations and machine learning (ML) algorithms. According to current researches, the burden has controversial impact on the blast-induced ground vibration. To judge whether the burden affects blast-induced ground vibration, the data of ground vibration considering burden have been recorded at the Wujiata coal mine. Correlation coefficient is used to analyze the relationship between variables, the correlation between the distance from blasting center to monitored point (R) and peak particle velocity (PPV) is greatest and the value of correlation coefficient is - 0.67. This study firstly summarizes the most common empirical equations, and a new empirical equation is established by dimension analysis. The new equation shows better performance of predicting PPV than most other empirical equations by regression analysis. Secondly, the machine learning is confirmed the applicability of predicting PPV. Based on the performance assessments, regression error characteristic curve and Uncertainty analysis in the first round of predicting PPV, the random forest (RF) and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) show better performance than other four machine learning algorithms. Then, in the second round, based on the artithmetic optimization algorithm (AOA), the optimized random forest (AOA-RF) model as the most accurate model compared with the optimized K-Nearest Neighbors (AOA-KNN) presented in the literature. Finally, the points of predicted PPV which have been informed of danger are marked based on Chinese safety regulations for blasting.