A nonlinear model to estimate vibration frequencies in surface mines

Twenty measured blast data from the Golegohar iron mine (southern Iran) were used to generalize nonlinear models for the estimation of dominant frequencies of blast waves using rock mass, explosive characteristics, and blast design. The imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) was used to determine the nonlinear regression model coefficients. Possessing a good correlation coefficient, the proposed model can be directly used for predicting blast-induced dominant frequencies of waves. The determination coefficient (R2</sup>) found by the ACI-based nonlinear model was 0.98 for frequency, while that of the traditional Multivariate Linear Regression Model (MVLRM) was 0.89. Also, according to the calculation of other well-known statistical errors between the estimated and real measured values of frequency, ICA-based models have higher Variance Account for (VAF) value, as well as lower values of Route Mean Square Error (RMSE), Variance Absolute Relative Error (VARE), Median Absolute Error (MEDAE), and Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE)compared to the linear model. It was found that the proposed nonlinear model is more accurate and capable of estimating the values of the dominant frequency of blast waves.