A computer program WAVE has been developed in CSIR-MiningTek as part of its elastodynamic research in the Rock Mass Behaviour project. It allows efficient elastodynamic modelling of twoand threedimensional orthogonal geometries on a personal computer. Today, models with over a million zones can be solved within acceptable run-times. This paper introduces the program WAVE, its features and the scope of problems it can examine. Some validation tests are described and example applications of the program are given.
An area of research at CSIR-Miningtek is to study the elastodynamic behaviour of the rock mass (Sicbrits et al 1994). Areas under investigation include: representation of dynamic fault slip and rockburst mechanisms; interaction of seismic waves with tabular stopes and geological structures such as dykes, and determining geometric factors which influence the magnitude of motions in stopes; influence of local and regional support (such as backfill) on dynamic motions; representation of dynamic behaviour and wave propagation in the stope fracture zone. Both boundary element and finite difference techniques have been pursued for the numerical investigations, and WAVE represents the finite difference side of this research.
