International Journal of Coal Science & Technology (2023) 10:15

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40789-023-00571-y

RESEARCH

Theoretical and numerical simulation investigation of deep hole

dispersed charge cut blasting
Chengxiao Li1 · Renshu Yang1,2 · Yanbing Wang1 · Yiqiang Kang1 · Yuantong Zhang1 · Pin Xie3

Received: 14 June 2022 / Revised: 10 November 2022 / Accepted: 16 January 2023

© The Author(s) 2023

Abstract
Drilling and blasting methods have been used as a common driving technique for shallow-hole driving and blasting in rock
roadways. With the advent of digital electronic detonators and the need for increased production efficiency, the traditional
blasting design is no longer suitable for deep hole blasting. In this paper, a disperse charge cut blasting method was proposed
to address the issues of low excavation depth and high block rate in deep hole undercut blasting. First, a blasting model
was used to illustrate the mechanism of the deep hole dispersive charge cut blasting process. Then, continuous charge and
dispersed charge blasting models were developed using the smooth particle hydrodynamics-finite element method (SPH-
FEM). The cutting parameters were determined theoretically, and the cutting efficiency was introduced to evaluate the
cutting effect. The blasting effects of the two charging models were analyzed utilizing the evolution law of rock damage,
the number of rock particles thrown, and the cutting efficiency. The results show that using a dispersed charge improves the
cutting efficiency by about 20% and the rock breakage for the deep hole cut blasting compared to the traditional continuous
charge. In addition, important parameters such as cutting hole spacing, cutting hole depth and upper charge proportion also
have a significant impact on the cutting effect. Finally, the deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting technology is combined
with the digital electronic detonator through the field engineering practice. It provides a reference for the subsequent deep
hole cutting blasting and the use of electronic detonators in rock roadways.

Keywords Deep hole blasting · Cut blasting · Dispersed charge · SPH-FEM · Digital electronic detonator

1 Introduction to instrumental and technical reasons. With the continued

improvement of safety and efficiency requirements in mining
Drilling and blasting methods are essential for rock exca- production, reducing the number of operations and improv-
vation and have been extensively used in tunnels, shafts, ing the efficiency of single excavation will become the main
roadways and open-pit mining (Xie et al. 2016a, b; Liu et al. goals of rock excavation in the future. Therefore, studying
2018; Li et al. 2021, 2022). As the initial step of blasting the application of cut blasting in deep holes is significant.
excavation in the process of roadway blasting and excava- The current cutting methods are primarily divided into
tion, cut blasting impacts the excavation efficiency. The cur- oblique holes and parallel cutting (Amiri and Murthy 2019;
rent application of cut blasting in shallow holes has achieved Adhikari et al. 1999; Xie et al. 2016a, b; Zuo et al. 2018;
good results, but it is still not widely used in deep holes due Liu et al. 2019; Tang et al. 2022). The advantage of oblique
hole cutting is that the cavity formed after blasting is large,
while the disadvantage is that the drilling accuracy is high,
* Chengxiao Li
[email protected] and the section size limits the hole spacing as the hole depth
increases. Consequently, oblique hole undercut is mainly
1
School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China implemented in shallow hole undercut (Yang et al. 2020).
University of Mining and Technology-Beijing, The advantage of parallel hole cutting is that the drilling is
Beijing 100083, China
simple and the hole depth can be increased arbitrarily. The
2
School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University disadvantage is that the size of the cavity created by a single
of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
hole does not increase unlimitedly with the charge’s length
3
Gubei Coal Mine of Huaizhe Coal and Electricity Co., Ltd, and the resistance line also rises (Henrych 1979; Li et al.
Huainan 232150, China

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 15 Page 2 of 21 C. Li et al.

2020). This reduces the effectiveness of the cut blasting, so cavity generated by the explosion was the largest. Qiu et al.
multi-stage cut blasting is employed to enhance the blasting analyzed the impact of time-delayed blasting on the blasting
effect in shaft cut blasting. However, according to China’s effect in the case of a single free surface. They discovered
safety blasting regulations, the blasting interval in mine that the rock-breaking effect of the interaction between the
roadways cannot exceed 130 ms, and the commonly used stress wave and the blasting gas caused by the delayed blast-
detonators have only 5 intervals. Hence, it is impossible to ing is superior to the superposition effect of the stress wave
implement multi-level parallel hole cutting blasting on road- caused by the simultaneous blasting (Qiu et al. 2018). The
ways at this time. It is necessary to propose a cut blasting superposition of stress waves does not promote the forma-
technology suitable for deep hole excavation in the roadway tion of a blasting cater. Gong et al. examined the influence of
to improve the cutting efficiency, given the problems associ- the presence or absence of cut holes on the effect of undercut
ated with using cutting technology in roadway excavation. blasting (Gong et al. 2015). The results of field practice and
Many scholars have examined the relationship between numerical simulation showed that blasting at the center hole
cutting form and cutting efficiency. Shapiro compared paral- increases the stress peak in the undercut area and rises the
lel and large-diameter hole cutting, and established a new section’s fractured area. Liu determined the delay time of
evaluation index to quantify the difference in effect caused electronic detonator in tunnel blasting and the amount of
by various cutting forms (Shapiro 1989). Soroush et al. charge in the cutting hole by analyzing the vibration curve,
established a blasting design software for tunnel cutting, and studied the conditions of different free surfaces (Liu
and utilized it to compare the impact of parallel and oblique et al. 2021).
hole cutting (Soroush et al. 2015). Cheng et al. simulated For the coal mine drift blasting, although the previous
the blasting effect of parallel hole cutting with the charge research has made a lot of adjustments to the cutting form
at the bottom of the hole (Cheng et al. 2021). The research and parameters, the final effect is still in the shallow hole
revealed that the new cutting method increases the average blasting. The cutting blasting efficiency in coal mine drifts
excavation depth and reduces the unit consumption com- has not made major breakthroughs in the past decades. The
pared to the form without charge at the bottom of the hole. rise of digital electronic detonators has made it possible
Zhang et al. investigated the influence of large-diameter to make a breakthrough in the cut blasting technology of
holes on the blasting effect of parallel hole cutting, and ana- coal mine drift. Therefore, this paper proposes a deep hole
lyzed the effect of blast stress waves and blasting gas (Zhang dispersed charge blasting technology for underground mine
et al. 2020). They also obtained blasting parameters such as roadway blasting, which addresses the issue of low deep
cutting hole spacing and diameter through theoretical calcu- hole blasting efficiency and difficult rock throwing. Firstly,
lations and applied the results to engineering practice. Yue a parallel hole undercut blasting model is established, and
et al. examined the impact of voids on blast stress waves the blasting mechanism of the deep hole segmented charge
(Yue et al. 2009). The test indicated that voids significantly is analyzed theoretically. Then, the blasting process of the
influence the transmission of stress waves. Near the voids, modern and the traditional blasting technology is simulated,
the stress wave generates the largest principal stress differ- and the influence of different cutting parameters is analyzed.
ence, and the maximum tensile stress is perpendicular to the Finally, the deep hole segmented charge blasting technology
direction of the stress wave. The direction of the connection was successfully implemented in the roadway excavation
line of the blasthole has changed considerably. Zhang et al. and blasting project of the Huainan Gubei Mine with the
applied SPH-FEM to analyze the effect of charge at the bot- aid of an electronic detonator. It provides a reference for
tom of the hole on the blasting effect of undercut and various the combination of deep hole cutting blasting and electronic
cutting parameters on the blasting effect through the rock detonator in the roadway in the future.
throwing process and cutting efficiency (Zhang et al. 2022).
In addition to the cutting form, other cutting parameters
also have an important impact on the blasting effect. Himan- 2 Deep hole dispersed cut blasting model
shu et al. analyzed the quantitative relationship between and its mechanism analysis
holes and blastholes (Himanshu et al. 2021). The study
showed that the ratio of the number of holes to blastholes 2.1 Deep hole dispersed cut blasting technology
has a greater impact on the deformation mode of the rock
mass than the number of holes themselves. The number of As mentioned previously, this paper proposes a deep hole
gun holes can be reduced by optimizing the relationship dispersed charge cut blasting technology to improve the
between the two types of holes. Ding et al. investigated the excavation efficiency of deep hole cut blasting. This tech-
influence of charge proportion on vertical shaft blasting nology’s core is represented by changing the traditional
effect (Ding et al. 2021). The findings showed that when continuous charge to the dispersed charge. Figure 1 shows
the upper charge ratio was 0.42, the fractal dimension of the the layout of the cutting holes. It can be seen that parallel

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Theoretical and numerical simulation investigation of deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting Page 3 of 21 15

(a) Layout of triangular parallel cut holes (b) Layout of double triangular parallel cut
holes

Fig. 1  Layout of cut holes. a Layout of triangular parallel cut holes b Layout of double triangular parallel cut holes

holes are more suitable for deep hole cutting blasting than second order cut hole. The hole is detonated after the first
inclined holes. Indeed, the triangular arrangement drilling order cut hole. The first blasting hole is the hardest to break
method has the advantages of fewer holes and higher cutting through since. It only has a single free surface, and is the
efficiency (Dai and Yang 2000). Therefore, this technique is strongest clamped by the rock. It also creates a compensation
adopted in this paper. In Fig. 1a, an empty hole is arranged space for subsequent blasting. Therefore, this study focuses
at the center of the three cut holes to provide compensation on blasting the first-order cut hole, and conducting relevant
space and a guiding effect, so that the rock in the cut area can simulation research.
be broken more evenly after blasting. With the increase of As mentioned above, the importance of blasting the first-
cross-sectional area or rock hardness, using three cut holes order cut blasting, the dispersed charging technology is
only cannot meet the purpose and effect of cut blasting. As a adopted for the charge of the first-order cut blasting. Figure 2
result, adding a circle of cut holes is necessary based on the shows two forms of charging. The dispersive charge uses
actual situation, as shown in Fig. 1b. The three cutting holes the mud to change the explosive from the original adjacent
closest to the central hole are named the first order cut hole, placement into several parts. For the 2.5–3.0 m cut hole, it is
detonated first, and the three outermost holes are named the more appropriate to divide the explosive into two sections.

(a) Continuous charge (b) Distributed Charge

Fig. 2  Charge structure comparison. a Continuous charge b Distributed charge

13
 15 Page 4 of 21 C. Li et al.

In the blasting and excavation of the rock roadway of the It can be seen that when the upper charge is detonated,
coal mine in the past, due to the limitation of the delay time due to the small minimum resistance line, the rock can be
of the detonator allowed in the coal mine (there are only five quickly broken and thrown to the free surface and form a
delay times) and the limitation of the length of the drill pipe, cavity, which creates a new free surface for the lower rock
the blasthole depth is usually about 2.0 m. The delay time mass that has not been detonated (Fig. 3b). The lower rock
is typically set between the blastholes, whereas there is no mass reduces its minimum resistance line in the presence
extra delay time used in the blasthole. Thus, there is no pos- of the new free surface, which means that the lower rock
sibility of dispersive charge blasting. With the rise of elec- mass can be thrown out of the cavity smoothly. Figure 3c
tronic detonators, the blasting of rock tunnels in coal mines shows the cavity formed after the first-order undercut hole
can achieve dispersed charge blasting. For the two charg- is completely blasted. Since the first-order undercuts use
ing methods in Fig. 2, their blocking lengths are the same dispersive charge, the effect of forming a cavity within the
( ls = ls1 + ls2 ) and their explosives have the same length first-order undercuts is good, and the compensation space
(le = le1 + le2 ). It can be seen from the figure that the mini- provided is sufficient for the detonation of the second-order
mum resistance line ­W1 of the continuous charge is much undercuts and other blasting holes.
larger than that of the dispersed charge. When the drilling In order to better understand the blasting process of
depth increases, the size of the resistance line will seriously dispersed charge, the following assumptions are made to
affect the formation and blasting effect of the blasting fun- simplify the blasting process:
nel (Wang et al. 2013; Saadatmand and Katsabanis 2020).
In the dispersed charge structure, the charge near the free (1) The clay is compressed into a very small segment at
surface l1 is called the upper charge, and that near the bottom the moment of explosion, and the gas–solid mixture
of the drilled hole l2 is called the lower charge. The lengths formed by the crushed stone and the explosive gas
of l1 and l2 are sensitive parameters that affect the cutting formed during the cutting blasting process are consid-
effect. The ratio of the upper charge bag to the drilling depth ered to be fluid.
is called the upper charge ratio (η), that is, 𝜂 = l1 ∕(l1 + l2 ). (2) Since the drilling hole through the rock roadway exca-
vation blasting is horizontal, gravity will not affect
2.2 Process and mechanism analysis of dispersed the horizontally thrown gravel in the cavity. Thus, it
charge cut blasting is considered that the only resistance of gravel in the
throwing process is the friction with the cavity wall.
The rock-breaking process of the columnar charge can be (3) The gas–solid mixture moves in one dimension along
simplified into two stages. The first stage is the blast stress the horizontal direction.
wave’s direct damage to the rock. In this stage, the rock mass
close to the free surface forms a cavity under the action of
the blast stress wave and reflected tensile wave, and the 2.3 Blasting parameter calculation
remaining rock mass is pushed to the free surface under
the action of the blast gas (Lin and Chen 2005; Zhang et al. 2.3.1 Calculation of cutting hole spacing
2000; Li et al. 2019). Figure 3 shows the blasting process
of deep hole dispersive charge cutting, and Fig. 3a shows The choice of the spacing between the cutting holes
the state when the rock mass has not yet been detonated. directly affects the cutting efficiency. When the spacing

(a) Initial stage of rock mass (b) Upper stage charge (c) Lower stage charge
explosion explosion

Fig. 3  Dispersed charge blasting process. a Initial stage of rock mass b Upper stage charge explosion c Lower stage charge explosion

13
Theoretical and numerical simulation investigation of deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting Page 5 of 21 15

is too large, it is easy to obtain large pieces of gravel, and 2.3.2 Delay time interval
when the spacing is too small, the explosive’s energy is
wasted. Therefore, the spacing of the cutting holes should The main advantage of the deep hole dispersive charge cut
be determined according to the rock and the explosive blasting technology is that the upper charge is firstly deto-
properties. The blasting gas produced by the explosion nated, and the lower charge is detonated after a delay. The
of the explosive quickly fills the blasthole, and the initial upper detonation provides a free surface for the lower rock to
pressure acting on the blasthole wall is defined as follows be thrown. Therefore, a reasonable delay determines whether
(Henrych 1979): the upper charge can form a sufficient cavity. The excavation
and blasting construction of the coal mine rock roadway is
1
P0 = 𝜌 D2 (1) limited by the total delay time of 130 ms. This means that
2(𝛾 + 1) 0 0
the time interval between the upper and lower charges is
where ρ0 is explosive density, D0 is explosive detonation limited. Thus, the delay time should at least satisfy the time
speed, γ is the adiabatic entropy exponent of the explosion required for the explosive to complete the detonation transfer
process, usually taken as 3. in the blasthole and the formation of the fracture zone. The
The explosive gas that expands is considered to be an time taken by the explosive to detonate is:
ideal gas, its expansion process is assumed to be isentropic le1
adiabatic, and its expression is (Zong 1997): t1 = (10)
D0
P0 V0𝛾 = Const (2)
The formation time of the fissure area caused by the
where V0 is the inverse of the density of the explosive. explosion is (Lu et al. 2012):
√
P0 V0𝛾 = Px Vx𝛾 (3) 2
1∕4L2 + ls1
t2 = (11)
( )𝛾 Cf
V0
Px = P0 (4) where Cf is the average velocity of rock crack propagation,
Vx
usually taken as 0.2–0.3 of the Cp, and Cp is the rock longi-
tudinal wave velocity.
1 V� The interval between the detonation of the upper charge
V0 = = 0 (5)
𝜌0 m0 and the lower charge is defined as follows:

where V0′ is the initial volume of the explosive gas. t ≥ t1 + t2 (12)

V0� = 𝜋rb2 le (6)

2.3.3 Calculation of cutting efficiency

Vx� = (𝜋rb2 + nrc a)le + 𝜋rb2 x (7) Coal mine drift excavation has the characteristics of a sin-
gle free face, which makes the crushed stone thrown in the
where rb is the radius of the blast hole, rc is the crack width,
direction of the free face. The cutting area accounts for a
n is the number of cracks in a single blast hole, usually taken
as 8, and x is the displacement of the compressed clay.
For a rock to crack, the pressure must be greater than the
tensile strength. This phenomenon is represented mathemati-
cally as follows:
Px ≥ 𝜎td (8)
Combining Eqs. (4), (7) and (8) to get the following
equation:
{ [( ) 1 ] }
1 P0 𝛾 𝜋r2 x
2
(9)
b
a≤ πrb −1 −
4na 𝜎td le

where, the value of a determines the cut hole spacing L.

Fig. 4  Schematic diagram of cut blasting in coal mine roadway

13
 15 Page 6 of 21 C. Li et al.

�√ �
small section area, so the free surface has a greater con- 3
1 𝜇
straint on cutting blasting. This causes the crushed stone in 𝜐0 = P L2 T − 3P1 L(h − hd ) fT (18)
M 4 1 1−𝜇
the cutting area to move almost along the direction of the
free surface. As the first blasting hole, the direction of the
where M is the mass of the gas–solid mixture.
minimum resistance line of the cutting hole is unique (as
The gas–solid mixture moves to the free surface under
shown in Fig. 4).
the action of overcoming the friction force. When it moves
Based on the assumptions proposed in Sect. 2.2, it is
to the x position, the resultant force on the gas–solid mix-
assumed that the movement of the gravel and the explo-
ture is as follows:
sive gas in the cavity conforms to the one-dimensional
unsteady fluid law (Lin and Chen 1997; Zhang et al. 2021), h − hd
and the basic equation is: Fx = Fg − Ff (h − hd − x) (19)
h − hd + x

⎧ 𝜕𝜌� 𝜕 The equations of motion can be obtained from Newton’s

⎪ + (𝜌𝜐) = 0
laws:
⎪ 𝜕t 𝜕t
⎪ 𝜕𝜐 + 𝜐 𝜕𝜐 − 1 𝜕P� = 0
⎨ 𝜕t (13) d 2 x Fx
⎪ �
𝜕x 𝜌 𝜕x a= = (20)
� �� dt2 M
⎪ 𝜕 P �
𝜕 P�
⎪ 𝜕t 𝜌�𝛾 + 𝜐 =0
⎩ 𝜕x 𝜌�𝛾 further there are:
� √ �
where ρ′ and P′ refer to the density and pressure of the d2 x P 1 h − hd 4 3𝜂 f
= � − (21)
gas–solid mixture, respectively, and υ is the expansion rate dt2 𝜌 (h − hd + x)(h − hd − x) 1−𝜂 L
of the mixture.
The initial conditions of the equation are: By applying the boundary conditions (x = 0, 𝜐x = 𝜐0 ) to
the above formula, the following equation can be derived:
⎧𝜐 = 0 � √ �
⎪ P1 1 (h − hd + x) 4 3𝜂 f
⎨ 3rb2 (14) ln − x + 𝜐20 = 0 (22)
⎪ P1 = 2 P0 𝜌� 2 (h − hd − x) 1−𝜂 L
⎩ r0 + 3rb2
The depth of the blasting funnel produced by the explo-
where r0 is the hole radius.
sion is based on (Zhang et al. 2000):
Assuming that the explosive gas provides the power of
the crushed stone in the cavity, and the resistance comes � �
√ D
from the frictional force with the cavity wall, the following hd = 1 + 0.36 𝛾 0 ls (23)
Cp
expressions can be defined:
√ According to Eq. (22), the moving distance x𝜐=0 of the
3 gas–solid mixture can be obtained when the moving speed
Fg = P L2 (15)
4 1 is 0, and then the cutting efficiency can be defined as:

𝜇 hd + x𝜐=0
If = 3P1 L(h − hd ) fT (16) Ec = (24)
1−𝜇 h

where T is the action time of the explosive gas, which The upper charge is detonated first to form a cavity for the
depends on the expansion time of the explosive gas and can dispersed charge structure. Although some gravel may still
be expressed as T = h
1 , C0 is the sound velocity of the be left in the cavity, the lower charge can push the remain-
C0 (8 𝛾 −1) ing partial gravel out of the free surface. It can be consid-
mixture product, and μ is the poisson’s ratio of the mixture, ered that when the proportion of the upper charge is at an
which is taken as 0.6. appropriate value, the rock in the upper charge range can be
Based on the impulse theorem, combined with Eqs. (15) completely thrown out of the free surface, and the cutting
and (16), the initial velocity of the gas–solid mixture can efficiency at this time is defined as follows:
be obtained as follows:
l1 + h�d + xx=0
�
Ig − If = M𝜐0 (17) En = (25)
h

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Theoretical and numerical simulation investigation of deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting Page 7 of 21 15

( )
KSg2 m
𝜔 = max 𝜂1 , 𝜂2 n2 (26)
V Δt

3.2 Verification of the SPH‑FEM approach

Fig. 5  SPH particles coupled with FEM elements
Before using SPH-FEM method to simulate the rock blast-
ing process, rigorous prove is required, and the verification
focuses on the following parts:
Among them, h′d and xx=0
�
are the depth of the blasting
funnel formed after the lower charge is detonated and the
(1) Conduct convergence analysis to verify particle size.
moving distance of the gas–solid mixture, respectively.
(2) Verify whether the explosion stress wave can be contin-
uously transmitted from the SPH particles to the FEM
mesh.
3 Smoothed particle hydrodynamics‑finite (3) Verify the ability to simulate rock blasting.
element method (SPH‑FEM) for the cut
blasting To complete the above verification process, a plane blast-
ing model is established, as shown in Fig. 6. The outermost
3.1 Simulation method selection and principle layer of the model is composed of 5 m × 5 m FEM grid, and
the middle region is composed of 3 m × 3 m SPH particles.
The existing simulation methods include finite element,
A blast hole with a radius of 5 cm is set in the center of
discrete element, continuous and discontinuous method,
the model, and the explosive is fully coupled with the blast
etc. They have their own emphasis on different research
hole. The SPH particles are converted from the FEM mesh,
contents. In the process of undercut blasting, severe defor-
and the particle size is 5 cm × 5 cm. In addition, a model
mation and rock fragmentation occur near the blasthole. At
with particle size of 3 cm × 3 cm is also established. The
the same time, the rock mass cannot be set to a large size
contact of CONTACT_TIED_ NODES_ TO_SURFACE is
due to the calculation time, so it is necessary to consider a
set between FEM and SPH. Two measuring points Ga and
stable solution when the rock mass boundary is stressed.
Gb are respectively set at the contact surface, where Ga is
Since the smooth particle hydrodynamics has no mesh,
used to detect the pressure change at the SPH particle and
its self-adaptability can handle the large deformation and
Gb is used to detect the pressure change at the FEM unit.
large displacement of the material well in the calculation.
However, the SPH method is computationally inefficient
and unsuitable for boundary processing (Jayasinghe et al.
2019). Therefore, the idea of combining SPH and FEM
methods is to use SPH to deal with the rocks near the blast
hole, and utilize FEM to deal with the force of the far
boundary rocks.
Indeed, an appropriate definition of how the SPH con-
tacts the FEM is key to the simulation process. To prevent
the calculation instability due to grid distortion caused by
abnormal SPH particles passing through the FEM grid, a
penalty contact is added between the grid and the particles
(as shown in Fig. 5). It can be used to determine whether
particles will pass through the mesh. When particles have
the potential to pass through the mesh, a spring-like contact
force is applied between the two. The magnitude of this force
is related to the depth of the particles entering the mesh,
and this contact force is used to prevent damage to the mesh
caused by abnormal particles. The contact force (ω) can be
expressed as: Fig. 6  Plane model for SPH-FEM approach

13
 15 Page 8 of 21 C. Li et al.

(a) Meshing 3 cm × 3 cm (b) Meshing 5 cm × 5 cm

Fig. 7  Particle motion with different mesh size. a Meshing 3 cm × 3 cm b Meshing 5 cm × 5 cm

The selection of rock and explosive materials is described

0.08
0.066
in Sect. 3.3.2.
Ga 0.87 There is no grid connection between SPH particles,
0.07 0.065

Gb and particles can move freely. Therefore, the movement

0.06
0.064
trend and trajectory of particles have an important impact
0.063 on the simulation results. Figure 7 shows the movement
0.05
0.062 trend of SPH particles after explosion under two sizes.
Pressure(GPa)

0.04
460 480 500 520 540
Because the model is large, some areas near the blast
hole are selected for magnification. Through visual com-
0.03 parison, it can be found that the movement trend of par-
ticles under the two sizes is basically the same, both of
0.02
which are uniformly diffused from the blast hole to the
0.01 surrounding. The particle distribution is divided into four
quadrants based on the center of the blast hole. According
0.00 to statistics, the number of particles in the four quadrants
0 200 400 600 800 1000
in Fig. 7a is the same, and the number of particles in the
t (µs)
four quadrants in Fig. 7b is also the same. This shows
that the particle size change will not significantly change
Fig. 8  Pressure change of measuring point at interface

(a) Full model (b) Section based on plane ZX

Fig. 9  Deep hole cutting and blasting model. a Full model b Section based on plane ZX

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Theoretical and numerical simulation investigation of deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting Page 9 of 21 15

the direction of motion of the particle, but will increase Table 1  Parameters values for HJC
the number of particles in the unit area. Therefore, the Density Com- Normal- Shear Damage Damage
particle size with a side length of 5 cm is reasonable. (kg/m3) pressive ized modulus constant constant
Figure 8 shows the pressure change of two measuring strength cohesive (GPa) D1 D2
points on the contact surface. It shows that the pressure (MPa) strength
peak value of measuring point G a is higher than that of 2700 119 0.866 24.17 0.04 1
measuring point Gb. The pressure peaks of the two meas-
uring points are almost the same, which proves that the
stress can be transferred smoothly from the particle area Table 2  Parameters values for explosive
to the grid area. The above simulation results have been
successfully verified. A (GPa) B (GPa) ω R1 R2 E (GPa)

420 0.45 0.36 3.55 0.16 3.15

3.3 Models and materials

3.3.1 Model parameters deformations, high strain rates and high temperatures and
pressures (Johnson and Holmquist 2011). The constitutive
Figure 9 shows the SPH-FEM coupling technology’s deep model mainly consist of a state equation, a strength equation
hole cutting blasting model. In order to ensure the stabil- and a damage model. The damage consists of plastic strain
ity of the calculation, a full model is established (Fig. 9a), and plastic volume strain, which can be expressed as:
and the outer layer of the model is wrapped by the FEM
mesh. A cube with dimensions of 4.5 m × 4.5 m × 4.5 m, ∑ d𝜀p + d𝜇p
with non-reflective boundaries imposed on the four D= (27)
D1 (P∗ + T ∗ )D2
sides and bottom of the FEM region. The middle is
composed of SPH particles, and the size is a cuboid of where εp and μp are the equivalent plastic strain and plastic
2.5 m × 2.5 m × 3.5 m. The grid size is 5 cm, and the part volume strain, respectively, P* is the normalized hydrostatic
of the blast hole is locally refined. The number of FEM pressure, T* is the normalized tensile hydrostatic pressure,
elements is 554,000 and the number of SPH particles is and D1 and D2 are damage constants.
223,550. The cross-sectional view of Fig. 9b is obtained In this paper, the basic parameters of rock are measured
by taking a cut along the plane ZX where the line connect- by Li (2016), and the parameters required by HJC are cal-
ing one of the cut holes and the empty holes is located. culated by Wang et al. (2021). The main parameters of the
It can be seen that the charge in the cut hole adopts a rocks are given in Table 1.
dispersed charge, and the empty hole is filled with air. The explosive uses the JWL state equation (Alia and
The selection of various cutting parameters in the model Souli 2006):
comes from previous field practice cases. The holes’ depth ( ) ( )
and diameter are 2.5 m and 42 mm respectively. The total 𝜔 𝜔 𝜔E
P=A 1− e−R1 V + B 1 − e−R2 V + (28)
explosive length of the cut hole is 1.75 m, and the stem- R1 V R2 V V
ming length is 0.75 m. The proportion of charge in the To make the work ability of the explosive in the simula-
upper section is η = 0.5. Hence, ls1 = ls2 = 0.375 m and tion approximate to the field practice, the explosives selected
le1 = le2 = 0.875 m. Based on Eq. (9), a is calculated as in simulation are the three-level water gel explosives. The
458 mm, and the spacing L of the cutting holes in the simu- density of the explosive is 1150 kg/m3, the detonation veloc-
lation is 450 mm. The interval between the detonation of ity of the explosive is 3200 m/s, and the relevant parameters
the upper explosive and the lower explosive is 10 ms, which of the state equation are given in Table 2 (Wang et al. 2017).
is greater than the delay time calculated by Eq. (12). Thus, The stemming material is soil, which is similar to the tap
the detonation of the upper explosive is sufficient to create mud used in field practice, and its parameters are given in
a new free surface. the reference (Zhang et al. 2022). Besides, the air is consid-
ered to conform to the ideal gas law, and the parameters are
given in the reference (Esmaeili and Tavakoli 2019).
3.3.2 Material
3.4 Simulation results
Since the simulation is the process of rock cutting and blast-
ing, the selected rock material is required to reflect the dam- Figure 10 shows the damage evolution process of deep hole
age evolution. The Holmquist-Johnson–Cook (HJC) consti- dispersed charge cut blasting. Section ABCD is taken at a
tutive model is widely used to simulate the rock under large

13
 15 Page 10 of 21 C. Li et al.

(a) 0.39 ms (b) 9.60 ms

(c) 15.80 ms (d) 20.00 ms

Fig. 10  Deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting process. a 0.39 ms; b 9.60 ms; c 15.80 ms; d 20.00 ms

13
Theoretical and numerical simulation investigation of deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting Page 11 of 21 15

(a) Surface diagram of the cavity (b) Damage evolution of surfaces

formed by the upper charge

Fig. 11  Cavity surface map of deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting at 8.39 ms. a Surface diagram of the cavity formed by the upper charge; b
Damage evolution of surfaces

distance of 0.5 m from the free surface, and the upper right charge cut blasting, which is consistent with the deep hole
corner of each picture is the damage evolution near the blast- dispersion cut blasting process shown in Fig. 3.
hole of this section. When t was 9.60 ms, the rock near the Figure 12 shows the continuous charge cut blasting pro-
upper charge was thrown out of the free surface, and with cess. All the explosives in Fig. 12a are detonated at one
the detonation of the lower charge, the rock in the range time due to the continuous charge used in the cut. Since the
of the cut hole was further thrown out of the free surface. explosives are concentrated at the bottom of the blasthole,
Figure 11 shows the surface graph of the cavity formed by it is difficult for the rock to be thrown out of the free face
cut blasting at t = 8.39 ms. At this time, the lower part of the quickly. Figure 12b shows that some rocks are thrown out
charge has not yet detonated, and the upper part of the charge of the free surface, but the uppermost part of the rock is in
has formed a larger cavity after detonation. This provides a state of undamaged and slightly damaged. Compared with
compensation space and a new free surface for the lower the scattered cut blasting process in Fig. 12, the continuous

(a) 0.39 ms (b) 11.80 ms

Fig. 12  Continuous charge cut blasting process. a 0.39 ms; b 11.80 ms

13
 15 Page 12 of 21 C. Li et al.

charge cut blasting caused a larger damage range to the only the upper charge of the dispersive charge is detonated,
blasthole’s bottom area, and the rock displacement thrown while all the explosives of the continuous charge are deto-
out of the free surface was smaller. This is mainly attributed nated. However, the displacement of the rock thrown out
to the fact that the minimum resistance line of deep hole of the free surface by the dispersed charge is significantly
continuous charge is much higher than that of shallow hole larger than that of the continuous charge. The damage of
blasting, which makes it difficult for the rock to be thrown the free surface’s outermost rock thrown in the scattered
out of the free surface. The explosive’s energy is more dis- charge mode is between 0.4 and 0.6, while the damage of
tributed along the radial direction, and the upper rock mass the outermost rock of the continuous charge is between 0
is squeezed out of the free surface, rather than thrown out by and 0.2. When t is equal to 20.00 ms (Fig. 13b), the particle
the explosion. This results in less damage to the uppermost displacement of the dispersive charge blasting and throw-
rock mass and a more concentrated distribution of rock par- ing further increases, and the particle distribution is more
ticles thrown out of the free surface. dispersed. Moreover, the particle displacement increased by
Figure 13 shows a comparison of the dispersive charge the continuous charge throwing is small, and the particle
and dispersive charge cut blasting processes. In Fig. 13a, distribution is concentrated.

(a) 9.60 ms

(b) 20.00 ms

Fig. 13  Comparison of cut blasting process of two charging modes. a 9.60 ms; b 20.00 ms

13
Theoretical and numerical simulation investigation of deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting Page 13 of 21 15

The number of rock particles thrown above the free the final cutting efficiency is 64.21%, and the increasing
surface is counted (within the black virtual frame). It was speed of the continuous charge’s cutting efficiency decreases
noticed that when t = 9.6 ms, the number of rock parti- significantly in the later stage of blasting. The simulation
cles thrown from the free surface by dispersed charge value of the cutting efficiency of dispersed charge is 83.86%,
cut blasting is N = 6293, and the number of rock parti- which is slightly higher than the theoretical value. The cut-
cles thrown by continuous charge blasting is N = 6681. ting efficiency of dispersed charge is about 20% higher than
When t = 20 ms, the number of particles thrown by the that of continuous charge. The figure also shows a group of
dispersed charge and the continuous charge is 13,378 and deep hole parallel hole cut blasting efficiency obtained from
10,243, respectively. The number of particles produced the model test conducted by Zuo et al. and the traditional
by the continuous charge in the blasting’s early stage is deep hole cut blasting efficiency obtained from the simula-
greater than that of the dispersed charge, but the damage tion conducted by Zhang et al. (Zuo et al. 2018; Zhang et al.
degree of the thrown particles and the displacement of the 2021). The two cases of cut blasting and the arrangement
particles are smaller than those of the dispersed charge. As of blast holes for this cut blasting are shown in Fig. 15. The
the blasting progresses, the number of particles thrown by three blasting cases have the same: deep hole, parallel cut
the continuous charge is smaller than that of the dispersed holes, center hole, and continuous charge. The difference
charge, the displacement of the particles thrown by the is the arrangement and number of cut holes. It can be seen
continuous charge does not increase significantly, and the that the three cases have high similarities, but the cutting
damage state of the particles in the uppermost layer does efficiency is about 60%. It is proven that for deep hole cut
not change. By analyzing the number of rock particles
thrown out of the free surface and the degree of damage,
it can be observed that the dispersed charge is more con- 100
ducive to the throwing and crushing of rock in deep-hole Distributed charge cut
83.86
cutting blasting. Continuous charge cut
To more intuitively compare the difference in cutting
80 Theoretical value
Zhang et al. (2021) 80.24
effect under different cutting modes, the cutting efficiency 64.21
Cutting efficiency/ Ec

Ec is introduced based on the above particle count statistics. Zuo et al. (2018)
60
Its meaning is the ratio of the number of rock particles on 59.40
the free surface to the total number of rock particles within 56.40
40
the cutting hole, which is expressed as:
N
Ec =
Sc h∕Vp (29) 20

where Sc is the area of the cut hole area, and Vp is the size of
0
a single SPH particle. 0 5 10 15 20
Figure 14 shows the time-varying curve of cut blasting t (ms)
efficiency for continuous charge and dispersed charge. The
cut blasting efficiency of continuous charge is only higher Fig. 14  Comparison of cut blasting efficiency under two charging
than that of dispersed charge over a short period of time, modes

(a) Zhang et al. 2021 (b) Zuo et al. 2018 (c) Triangular parallel cut

Fig. 15  Several different deep hole cut blasting schemes. a Zhang et al. 2021; b Zuo et al. 2018; c Triangular parallel cut

13
 15 Page 14 of 21 C. Li et al.

blasting, the cutting efficiency of continuous charge is low, distances, the particles thrown out of the free surface are
and changing the arrangement of cutting holes cannot effec- relatively dispersed after using the dispersed charge. When
tively increase the cutting efficiency. However, after using L = 350 mm, the damage degree of the thrown particles is
dispersed charge in this paper, the cutting efficiency has been the highest, and as the hole distance increases, the num-
greatly improved, which shows that for deep hole cut blast- ber of the outermost particles with a low degree of damage
ing, the charge structure has a greater impact on the cutting increases. When L = 550 mm, the damage degree caused by
efficiency. particles thrown from a free surface is greater than that of
continuous charge. The displacements of the thrown parti-
cles under the three L are similar, and as the hole distance
4 Influence of cutting parameters rises, the number of particles thrown out from the free sur-
on blasting effect face increases. It shows that an appropriate extension in the
hole spacing based on theoretical calculations can increase
In light of the preceding analysis, it can be seen that the the cutting range and the amount of rock thrown. Although
use of dispersed charge can improve the cutting efficiency, too small cutting hole spacing can produce a good cutting
however, in engineering practice, the parameters affecting effect, it wastes explosive energy and causes excessive rock
the cutting effect are many and complex. Hence, it is neces- fragmentation.
sary to study the influence of various cutting parameters on
the cutting efficiency in the case of dispersed charging. This 4.2 Cut hole depth
section focuses on the distance between the cutting holes
(L), the depth of the cutting holes (h), and the proportion of The model shown in Fig. 17 changed the depth of the cut
charge subsections (η) in order to establish the correspond- hole, while maintaining all other parameters. In engineering
ing research model. practice, the drilling depth impacts the cutting efficiency,
and the depth of cutting holes in rock roadway construction
4.1 Cut hole spacing is generally about 2.0 m. Deeper drilling results in more
pronounced rock entrapment at the bottom of the hole,
Based on the simulated 450 mm spacing of the cut holes which decreases the cutting efficiency. Therefore, explor-
in Sect. 3, models with 350 mm and 550 mm distances are ing whether the dispersed charge can solve the low cutting
created. Figure 16 shows the cut blasting results for three efficiency caused by the increase in hole depth is necessary.
different cut hole spacings. The three models continue to use The simulation results showed that when the depth of the cut
the dispersed charge, and all other parameters are the same hole is increased by 0.3 m (Fig. 17b) and 0.6 m (Fig. 17c),
as in Sect. 3 except for the change in the spacing of the cut- the rock can be ejected from the cavity’s free surface. The
ting holes. Comparing the blasting results to different hole degree of damage to rock particles above the free surface

(a) L=350 mm (b) L=450 mm (c) L=550 mm

Fig. 16  Different cutting hole spacing. a L = 350 mm; b L = 450 mm; c L = 550 mm

13
Theoretical and numerical simulation investigation of deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting Page 15 of 21 15

(a) h=2.5 m (b) h=2.8 m (c) h=3.1 m

Fig. 17  Different cut hole depths. a h = 2.5 m; b h = 2.8 m; c h = 3.1 m

is comparable across all three model groups, and there is cases where the upper charge proportions are 0.3, 0.5, and
no situation that the outermost rock is not damaged during 0.7, respectively. When η = 0.3 (Fig. 18a), the charge in the
continuous charging. However, as the hole depth increases, upper section is low, and the corresponding blocking length
the stratification of rocks with different damage degrees and resistance line are smaller. Therefore, the rock can be
becomes more apparent. It is proved that the dispersed easily thrown out of the free surface, and the displacement
charge can be applied to the cut hole depth in the simulation of the rock thrown out of the free surface is the largest. How-
and can effectively break and throw the rock. The specific ever, due to the excessive charge in the lower section, more
effect of hole depth variation on cutting efficiency is further explosives are concentrated in the lower part, so that the
described in Sect. 4.4. number of particles finally thrown out of the free surface is
the least. When η = 0.5 (Fig. 18b), the particle displacement
4.3 The proportion of charge in the upper stage is in a medium state, and the number of particles thrown out
of the free surface is the largest. When η = 0.7 (Fig. 18c), the
Figure 18 shows the effect of changes in the proportion of upper part of the charge has more charges, and the resistance
upper charge on the cut effect. This section simulates three line of the upper rock is also the highest among the three

(a) η = 0.3 (b) η = 0.5 (c) η = 0.7

Fig. 18  The proportion of different upper stage charges. a η = 0.3; b η = 0.5; c η = 0.7

13
 15 Page 16 of 21 C. Li et al.

models, which makes it difficult to throw the rock corre- parameters. Figure 19a reveals that the cutting efficiency
sponding to the upper part of the charge out of the free sur- decreases as the cutting hole spacing increases. In practical
face. Although the number of free-surface particles thrown engineering applications, the cutting hole spacing must be
at η = 0.7 is more than that of η = 0.3, many particles above adjusted based on the rock fragmentation degree and the
the free-surface are not damaged, which is similar to the consumption of explosives. Figure 19b shows that the cut-
damage result caused by continuous charging. ting efficiency decreases as the cut hole depth increases.
Through the analysis, it can be found that the propor- The clamping effect at the bottom of the blast hole becomes
tion of charge in the upper section obviously influences rock more evident with the increase of hole depth, making it more
breaking and throwing. However, the number of particles difficult to throw the rock mass at the lower part. It is worth
thrown out of the three cut types after using the dispersed noting that although increasing the depth of the hole reduces
charge is more than that of the continuous charge, which the cutting efficiency, the blasting cutting efficiency of the
proves that the dispersed charge has a promoting effect on deepest cutting hole (h = 3.1 m) with dispersed charge is still
the blasting efficiency of deep-hole undercutting. significantly higher than that of continuous charge. There-
fore, cutting efficiency can be improved during construction
4.4 Comparison of cutting efficiency by raising the unit consumption of explosives in the lower
section. Figure 19c shows that the upper section’s charge
Since the change of the cut hole’s depth and distance affect ratio also impacts the cutting efficiency. The cutting effect
the quantity of rock in the cut area, the factors affect the will be poor when the value is large or small. Under the
number of particles thrown out from the free surface. There- simulation conditions described in this paper, the cutting
fore, it is necessary to use the cutting efficiency as an evalu- efficiency of η = 0.5 is the highest, and the cutting efficiency
ation index to eliminate the variation in the number of par- corresponding to three different η values is higher than that
ticles caused by the parameters. Figure 19 shows the cutting of continuous charging.
efficiency of the models corresponding to different cutting

100 100
85.30 83.86 83.86
78.52 81.17
80 80 77.63
Cutting efficiency/ Ec

Cutting efficiency/ Ec

60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0
350 450 550 2.5 2.8 3.1
Cut hole spacing (mm)
Cut hole depth (m)

(a) Cut hole spacing (b) Cut hole depth

100
83.86
80 78.12
73.63
Cutting efficiency/ Ec

60

40

20

0
0.3 0.5 0.7
Proportion of upper charge

(c) Proportion of upper charge

Fig. 19  Cutting efficiency corresponding to different cutting parameters. a Cut hole spacing; b Cut hole depth; c Proportion of upper charge

13
Theoretical and numerical simulation investigation of deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting Page 17 of 21 15

5 Engineering practice shallow hole excavation and blasting obsolete. In light of

the preceding context, the experimental roadway conducted
5.1 Engineering overview deep hole cutting blasting to increase the single excava-
tion depth. However, the traditional continuous charge is
Gubei Coal Mine is located in Fengtai County, Huainan unsuitable for deep hole cut blasting. In conjunction with the
City, Anhui Province, China. The test roadway is the belt research results of numerical simulation, it has been decided
conveyor crosscut of the north-1 coal panel. The working to use the combination of dispersed charge and digital elec-
section is a 4.4 m × 5.6 m semi-circular arch with a straight tronic detonator for the deep hole cut blasting.
wall, and the tunnelling method is drilling and blasting. The Figure 20 shows the blasting diagram of on-site blast-
roadway’s lithology consists primarily of grey sandstone. ing practice. The double triangle method is applied to
arrange the cut holes in the construction due to the large
5.2 Engineering case cross-sectional area (Fig. 20a). The distance between
each hole is 650 mm. The depth of all cutting holes is
In the previous construction design for the above-mentioned 2.8 m, and the cutting blasting is carried out using the
experimental tunnel, continuous charging was adopted, the dispersed charge technology. Other holes have a depth of
depth of the cut hole was between 1.8 m and 2.0 m, and 2.4 m. Figure 20b shows the charge structure and detona-
the blasthole utilization rate was 70% to 85%. The borehole tion sequence of the cut hole. When loading explosives,
diameter was 42 mm. The explosives are three-level water the upper charge ratio is controlled to be 0.5. Two digital
gel explosives. When the borehole is shallow, the above electronic detonators are placed in each cutting hole, and
blasting design can achieve a good effect and meet pro- the detonation sequence is as follows: The upper section
duction requirements. However, the increasing demand for of the first-stage undercut is detonated, the lower section
coal and the need to reduce the number of operations make of the first-stage undercut is detonated, the upper section

(a) Hole layout of the blasting workface

(b) Charge structure of cut hole

Fig. 20  Blasting design drawing. a Hole layout of the blasting workface; b Charge structure of cut hole

13
 15 Page 18 of 21 C. Li et al.

of the second-stage undercut is detonated, and the lower to the blasting design. After employing the digital elec-
section of the second-stage undercut is detonated. The tronic detonator, the connection time is greatly decreased,
blasting sequence of other blasting holes is the same as and the inspection efficiency of the detonation network
that of traditional blasting. is improved. Figure 22b represents the photo of roadway
According to the specific conditions of the above engi- roof after blasting. The half hole marks are clearly visible
neering cases, we established a double-triangular undercut in the image, proving that the cutting effect is satisfac-
blasting model. The size of the model is 4 m × 6 m × 4.8 m, tory, and the subsequent peripheral holes also achieve a
the cutting hole parameters are the same as in Fig. 20, and good blasting effect. Figure 22c depicts a front view of the
the material parameters are the same as those in Sect. 3.3.2. cross-section, which is smooth to reduce the subsequent
Considering that the long delay time will affect the calcu- cleaning of suspended gravel and support time. After the
lation time and difficulty, the inter-well delay and the intra- explosion, gravel distribution was reasonable, and no large
well delay in the simulation are both 10 ms. Figure 21 shows pieces stood out. After many tests, the single excavation
the double triangular cut blasting process. Figure 21a shows depth of the blasting section of the roadway is 2.2–2.3 m,
the rock throwing results when the first-order undercuts are and the depth of the cutting area is 2.6–2.8 m. The average
blasted, and Fig. 21b shows the rock throwing effects when blasthole utilization rate is above 90%, the section excava-
the second-order undercuts are blasted. The simulation results tion depth is increased from 70 to 100 m every month, and
show that adding a circle of undercut holes to the model in the roadway excavation speed is increased by 40%. The
Sect. 3.3 can increase the area of the undercut area, thereby field test results show that the use of dispersive charge
increasing the volume of the cavity created by the undercut and digital electronic detonator delay initiation can greatly
holes. The detonation of the first-order undercuts provides improve the cutting efficiency and driving efficiency.
more free surfaces for the detonation of the second-order
undercuts, which makes the detonation of the second-order
undercuts easier. However, due to the increased hole spacing, 6 Conclusions
the number of rock particles with less damage increased.
Figure 22 shows the use of the electronic detonator and This paper introduces a dispersed charge cut blasting
the blasting result. In Fig. 22a, the using and connection method suitable for the deep hole cut blasting. The cut
of the digital electronic detonator is performed according blasting mechanism of dispersed charge is introduced

(a) First order cut hole blasting (b) Second order cut hole blasting

Fig. 21  Double triangle cut blasting. a First order cut hole blasting; b Second order cut hole blasting

13
Theoretical and numerical simulation investigation of deep hole dispersed charge cut blasting Page 19 of 21 15

(a) The use of electronic detonators

(b) Half hole mark of section profile (c) Section after blasting

Fig. 22  Drilling and blasting process of on-site working face. a Setting time of digital electronic detonator; b Half hole mark of section profile; c
Section after blasting

through the theoretical model, the cutting parameters detonators and successfully implemented in engineering
are theoretically determined, and the cutting efficiency practice. The following findings are:
is defined. A deep-hole cut blasting model of dispersed
charge and the continuous charge is built using the SPH- (1) During the early stage of deep hole cut blasting, the
FEM method, and the cut blasting process and the change continuous charge throws more rock particles, but
of cutting efficiency under the two charge modes are com- the number of particles thrown out at the end is much
pared. The influence of several critical cutting parameters smaller than that of the dispersed charge. The continu-
is investigated based on determining that the dispersed ous charge causes the explosive to have more effect on
charge is beneficial for improving of cutting efficiency. the rock mass at the bottom of the blasthole, and less
The research results are integrated with digital electronic on the thrown particles. The use of continuous charge

13
 15 Page 20 of 21 C. Li et al.

in deep holes cannot significantly increase the cutting Cheng B, Wang HB, Zong Q, Xu Y, Wang MX, Zhu NN (2021) Study
efficiency by adjusting the hole arrangement. on the novel technique of straight hole cutting blasting with a bot-
tom charged central hole exploded supplementally. Arab J Geosci
(2) The dispersed charge hurls the upper rock mass by 14:2867–2878
reducing the resistance line and creating a new free Dai J, Yang YQ (2000) Researches on blasting parameters of triangle
surface for the lower rock mass blasting. The cutting burn cut. Explos Shock Waves 20(4):364–368
efficiency of dispersed charge is higher than that of Ding CX, Yang RS, Zheng CD, Yang LY, He SL, Feng C (2021)
Numerical analysis of deep hole multi-stage cut blasting of verti-
continuous charge, and its maximum cutting efficiency cal shaft using a continuum-based discrete element method. Arab
is about 20% greater than that of continuous charge, J Geosci 14:1086–1096
and the particle damage and displacement are also Esmaeili M, Tavakoli B (2019) Finite element method simulation of
larger than those of continuous charge. explosive compaction in saturated loose sandy soils. Soil Dyn
Earthq Eng 116:446–459
(3) Increasing the spacing and depth of the cut holes Gong M, Wang CH, Liang LX, Wang H, Wen B, Wu HJ (2015) Func-
decreases the cutting efficiency. The charge proportion tion analysis and confirming method of key blasting parameters
in the upper section significantly impacts the cutting for excavating in hard rock. J China Coal Soc 40(7):1526–1533
efficiency and the change of rock damage. When the Henrych J (1979) The dynamics of explosion and its use. Elsevier,
Amsterdam, pp 358–372, 412–457
charge proportion in the upper section is 0.5, the cut- Himanshu VK, Mishra AK, Roy MP, Vishwakarma AK, Singh PK
ting efficiency reaches its highest, consistent with the (2021) Numerical simulation based approach for assessment of
calculated theoretical value. blast induced deformation pattern in slot raise excavation. Int J
(4) The field engineering application results showed that Rock Mech Min Sci 144:104816
Jayasinghe LB, Shang JL, Zhao ZY, Goh ATC (2019) Numerical inves-
the dispersive charge integrated with the digital elec- tigation into the blasting-induced damage characteristics of rocks
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Acknowledgements This work is financed by the State Key Develop- the values of main parameters. China University of Mining and
ment Program for Basic Research of China (2016YFC0600903) and the Technology
National Natural Science Foundation of China (51934001). Li Q, Zhang SX, Wang MH, Guo Y, Xu WL, Feng DD (2019) Study on
the influence of length-diameter ratio on the mechanical charac-
Declarations teristics of cracks at the end of linear charges. J Min Sci Technol
4(2):112–119
Competing interests The authors declare that they have no conflicts Li MZ, Ma ZM, Xue DL, Yuan YH (2020) Research of cumulative
of interest to this work. energy blasting technology with deep and shallow hole combined
in hard roof. J Min Sci Technol 5(6):616–623
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri- Li SL, Liang SF, Li C, Liu DS (2021) Current status and development
bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adapta- trend of deep hole bench blasting technology in open-pit mines. J
tion, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long Min Sci Technol 6(5):598–605
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, Li YL, Yang RS, Fang SZ, Lin H, Lu SJ, Zhu Y, Wang MS (2022) Fail-
provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes ure analysis and control measures of deep roadway with composite
were made. The images or other third party material in this article are roof: a case study. Int J Coal Sci Technol 9(1):2. https://​doi.​org/​
included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated 10.​1007/​s40789-​022-​00469-1
otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in Lin CM, Chen SH (1997) Study on the fragment discharge process in
the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not deep hole parallel-cut blasting. Explos Shock Waves 17(1):69–70
permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will Lin DN, Chen SR (2005) Theoretical and testing study on factors
need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a affecting parallel hole cut blasting. J China Coal Soc 30(1):40–43
copy of this licence, visit http://​creat​iveco​mmons.​org/​licen​ses/​by/4.​0/. Liu K, Li QY, Wu CQ, Li XB, Li J (2018) A study of cut blasting for
one-step raise excavation based on numerical simulation and field
blast tests. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 109:91–104
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of boreholes arrangement and delay time on coal crushing effects.
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