Rock Blasting - Basic

Basic mechanisms in rock
blasting
Agne Rustan
Lule University of Technology
SIPERVOR 10, 3-5 DEC 2009
Lima, PERU
Goal of my presentations
Goal of my presentations in Lima, Peru
1) Bring entusiasm to the auditorium and help them in their
career
2) Encourage the listener to publish in Fragblast Symposia and
Journal. This is possible if you work in a systematic and
logic manner and follows the rules for scientific writing
3) Let the listener understand that they all can make a big
contribution to the science of blasting. Curiosity important.
4) By showing examples from research, how much knowledge
is still hidden for us and must be revealed.
5) By some examples, also show how much costs that can be
reduced in the mining industry and today is wasted in
increasing the green house effect.
A definition of science
The action that systematically and with
accepted methods tries to gain knowledge to
describe, understand, explain and predict
phenomena and events.
Basic mechanisms in rock blasting
The energy produced by an explosive is divided into 3
main groups
Energy for the disintegration of the rock mass
Energy for throw, also called heave energy
Energy wasted in vibration, venting of gases etc
The larger the burden is, the less energy is used

for throw and captured by the rock mass. The
percentage of throw energy is therefore dependent on
burden.
P- wave interaction with radial
cracks
n Legendhellping them to reach
the+ Compression part of
free surface
P-wave
n - Tensile part of P-wave
n | S-wave
Damage zones around a confined
blasthole
Crushing zone
Macro crack zone
Micro crack zone
Heave zone
Seismic zone
Damage zones around a blasthole
ZONE 1. Plastic zone, crushing zone, hydro
dynamic zone?
ZONE 2. Plastic and elastic zone or radial
crack zone
ZONE 3. Heave zone, dilation of the rock
volume behind the blasthole
ZONE 4. Micro crack zone
ZONE 5. Seismic zone starts where the micro
crack zone ceases
Breakage mechanisms in bench
blasting
Scematic view of bending cracks
Estimated energy contributing to fragmentation (%)
Body waves 10?
Surface waves 5?
Gas penetration into radial cracks and weaknees
planes. Stands for the heave energy. 35?
Quasistatic pressure in the blasthole 50?
100%
Breakage mechanisms in bench
blasting
Compressive and tensile cracks in the crushing zone. Dynamic
compressive and tensile strength.
Bending cracks, vertical radial cracks starting at the front and moving
backwards towards the blasthole. Verified in model and full scale single
hole blasting tests. From high speed photgraphing also horisontal bending
cracks can be seen at the front. Dynamic bending strength. NEW!
Radial cracks emanating from the blasthole and moving towards the bench
fench. Dynamic tensile strength.
Shear cracks at the bottom of the bench. Dynamic shear strength. NEW!
The most common used strength criteria used in manual blast

calculations so far has been the static tensile strength. Is this OK?
Body and surface waves Energy Rel. Ampl Velocity
- P-wave (body wave) ? 0,5 cP~2cS
- S-wave (body wave) ? 0,5 cS> cL
- Love-wave (surface wave) ? ? cL>cR
- Rayleigh wave (surface wave) 80% 1,0 cR
The relation of energy and amplitude for the different

waves will depend on the distance from the blast. High
frequencies have a higher damping factor than low
frequencies.
Classical theory versus Rustans
hypothesis
At what time after detonation does the blasthole feel
its confinement? Classical theory says first when the
P-wave, the fastest wave have been reflected and
returned to the blasthole.
According to my hypothesis the confinement is
already known when the blasthole wall start to
expand. If the burden is small it will immediately be a
breakage. The larger the burden is, the larger the
resistance from rock to start to move also due to
inertia.
Classical theory versus Rustans
hypothesis
The blasthole is therefore immediately
informed about the confinement when the
blasthole wall starts to expand.
Breakage mechanisms in the
crushing zone
Tensile stresses (Hoop stresses) will cause
radial cracking.
The high stress level close to the blasthole wall
causes a myriad of micro cracks that will
coalence and cause macro cracks in the
crushing zone.
The lower the strength of rock, the larger is the
crushing zone.
Crushing zone
The nearest area to the blasthole wall will be crushed
if the blasthole pressure is large enough. Some
authors talks about a hydrodynamic zone. Hydro
means that the rock would behave like a liquid.
If this is true it should be possible to find some
change in the chrystal structure of the grains. No such
observations are known to me!
In underground nuclear tests, melten rock was found
close to the charge.
Crushing zone
My own believe is that the time is quite short
for the high loads on the blasthole wall so the
time is not long enough to turn the rock into a
liquid.
We also know that at high strain rates the rock
strength will increase about 15 times. This will
also be an explanation while the rock does not
turn into a liquid.
Crushing zone studies
The strength properties change with time in
the crushing zone is important for the
computer modelling of rock blasting. Still no
research is done in this important field. The
developed HSBM (High Stress Blasting
Model) computer model needs that kind of
data to get more accurate in predicting
detonation velocity.
Crushing zone radius?
At sublevel caving blasting at LKAB in Malmberget
the crushing zone radius rcr in magnetite was
measured to rcr= 2r where r is the blasthole radius.
Esen 2003 developed a linear relation between
crushing zone radius and blasthole diameter. See Int.
J. of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sci. 2003.
More data about crushing zone radius should be

gathered for different blasthole diameters, decoupling
ratios and rock types and at small, medium and large
blasthole diameters .
Radial crack length (Macro crack
length)
Macro crack length rmac = (18 to 20)r for
granite, USBM 1974
The blasted spacing should therefore be less
than 2rmac if the radial cracks should meet
each other between the holes.
Conclusions
More knowledge is needed about
How does the material properties change with time in
the crushing zone and under high stress?

Is the acoustic impedance theory valid for rock under
very high stress and changing pressure?

More quantification of the crushing zone radius in
different rock types, and with different explosives is

needed.
The answers may be found in military sources.

Rock Blasting - Basic

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rock Blasting - Basic

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rock Blasting - Basic

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Basic mechanisms in rock

Energy for throw, also called heave energy

Energy wasted in vibration, venting of gases etc

The larger the burden is, the less energy is used

The most common used strength criteria used in manual blast

The relation of energy and amplitude for the different

More data about crushing zone radius should be

the crushing zone and under high stress?

very high stress and changing pressure?

different rock types, and with different explosives is

You might also like