Environmental impact of rock excavation in urban areas: comparison between blasting and hydraulic breaker hammer

This paper compares the two most used rock excavation techniques in urban areas: blasting with explosives and using breaker hammers. From the follow-up of several works, data has been obtained that allow us to compare both techniques and their effects over the surrounding environment, mainly the noise production and ground vibrations. Results show that although the use of explosives is not popular due to security reasons, it allows faster excavations, is safer for the surrounding structures and has less environmental impact than the breaker hammers. However, we will also show a particular case where the complementary use of both techniques is successful.