BLASTING

FOR
REDUCED ROCK DAMAGE
AND
CONTROLLING STABILITY
 DAMAGE TO
REMAINING ROCK
Damage Resulting From
Conventional Blasting
 Overbreak at
SIDES BACK BREAK UNDER BREAK &
BACK SHATTER
BLAST DAMAGES
The blast damage refer to any
deterioration of the strength of
the remaining rock/block due
to the presence of blast
induced cracks and extension
of pre-existing or newly
generated fractures.

MECHANISM OF BLAST DAMAGE

 Crushing Around Borehole
 Radial Fracturing
 Gas Pressure
 Internal Spalling
 Induced Strain
 Release of Load Fracturing
DAMAGE FORMS
 Separation due to
breakage
 Increased fracture
frequency
 Degradation in
discontinuity surfaces
 Changes in the
aperture of
discontinuity
 Development of new
cracks and their
bifurcation
 DAMAGE
RESULTING
FROM
VIBRATION
VIBRATION LEVELS
FOR ROCK DAMAGE

• Blast measurements
adjacent to explosive charge
are important.

• Semi-empirical methods of
field measurements of peak
particle velocity and rock
parameters correlation.
 FRAGMENTATION
• Ease of excavation
• Transport of muck
• Requirement of
customer

With use of appropriate

techniques
Use of fragmentation
Conventional Blasting
appropriate can be improved
technique
FACTORS AFFECTING
BLAST DAMAGES
 ROCK PROPERTIES CHARGE PROPERTIES
 Dynamic breaking Type of explosive, Charge
strength: increase in configuration
DBS reduce over Strength of explosive as well
break as concentration & distribution
 Structural of explosive within hole
properties: joint HOLE SHAPE
orientation, joint Conventional hole
spacing Notching of blast hole
 Rock Mass Rating PROTECTIVE DEVICES
(RMR) higher RMR Damages can be reduced by
are less prone to use of liner
rock damage DECOUPLING OF CHARGE
To diminish excessive peak
pressure
 BLASTING TECHNIQUES FOR
DAMAGE REDUCTION

Ensuring Adequate
Burden Relief


Reducing Explosives
Energy Concentration


Controlled Blasting
Techniques
 PARAMETERS IN
CONTROLLED BLASTING

 Precision In
Drilling
 Explosives
 Interval Timing
 Rock
Characteristics
 PRECISION IN DRILLING

 Hole deviation and

collaring error
 Spacing, burden
and their ratio
 Shape of opening
 Actual blast
geometry may
differ from design
 EXPLOSIVES
ANFO, Slurry / Emulsion, Special
Products for Controlling Damage.
Velocity of detonation
Decoupling ratio
Density of explosive
Charge concentration
per metre
Length of borehole
Shape of the charge
 INTERVAL TIMING
 Overbreak is reduced
if the burden is easily
 Number
Number of of
pushed forward
delays in
delays in
perimeter
perimeter  Gas confinement for
holes
holes less time
 Delay
Delay
scattering in
scattering in  Each charge should
detonators
detonators have progressive
relief of burden
 Misfired
Misfired holes
holes during the blast
INITIATING DEVICES
 ROCK CHARACTERISTICS
Rock properties, structure and
groundwater normally dominant in wall
stability are not controllable.

• ROCK STRESS
• ROCK STRENGTH
• ROCK STRUCTURE
REDUCING ENERGY
CONCENTRATION

 InitiationSequence
 Charge Distribution
 Hole Diameter
 Effective Sub Drilling
CHARGE DISTRIBUTION
CHARGE DISTRIBUTION
 STEMMING

With 115 to 152 mm holes,

2.5 to 4.5 m stemming columns employed
With 76 to 102 mm stemming
Stemming can be reduced to 1.5 m-2.5 m
CONTROLLED BLASTING
TECHNIQUES
 Line Drilling
 Presplitting
 Smooth Blasting
 Cushion Blasting
 Air Decking
 Controlled Fracture Growth
Line drilling holes along the final excavation
BLAST HOLE LOADING SYSTEM FOR
PRESPLITTING

Example of presplitting with and without presplitting

Presplitting in a blast
Preslitting 1
presplitting2
CUSHION BLASTING
 Closely spaced
lightly loaded holes
at the perimeter.
 CONTROLLED
FRACTURE GROWTH
 Drill Hole Liners
 Metal Tube
 Plastic Pipe
 Card Board Tube

NOTCHED HOLES
 BLASTHOLE LINERS

GI PIPE LINE PVC PIPE LINER

PLASTIC LINER

CARDBOARD LINER
CARDBOARD LINER
PAPER TUBE LINER
AIR DECKING
Longer stemming in front and at the back
 BLAST DESIGN
AND IMPLEMENTATION

 Fragmentation Process
 Rock Characteristics
 Explosives
 Initiation
 Measurements Before Blasting And Design
Implementation
 Computer Aided Blast Design
 MEASUREMENTS
BEFORE BLASTING

 Actual Blast Geometry May

Differ From Design
 Boretrak Blasthole Logger
 Laser Profiler
 ROCKFACE LASER
PROFILER

• Laser ‘scans’ are made

• Operator points the laser at the face and
measure: distance, horizontal and vertical
angles
• Optimise design and drilling positions
• Process the data on site
 MEASUREMENTS
DURING BLASTING
Observation of the initiation sequence
Potential misfired blast holes
Effectiveness of stemming material and length
Face movement – degree and location
Sources of fly rock, air blast
Origin of oversize rock blocks
Explosion gas products (fume), Indicating poor
explosives performance-water contamination,
etc.
 MEASUREMENTS
AFTER BLASTING
 FRAGMENTATION
Size Distribution, Photographic Techniques, Wipfrag
 MUCK PILE DISPLACEMENT
Maximum Throw, Overall Displacement, Muck Pile Swell
 BLAST DAMAGE BEYOND THE BLAST LIMITS
Cautious Blasting
 DIGGING PRODUCTIVITY
Bucket Fill Factor, Overall Productivity, Time Lost In Handling
Oversize, Downtime For Cleanup
 BLASTING FOR
WALL STABILITY
i. Any reduction in explosive consumption will
lead to a reduction in damage to the rock.
ii. Semi-rigid explosives cartridges should be used
as decoupled charge. For example 55 mm
diameter cartridges in 89 mm blast holes would
be a suitably decoupled charge.
iii. Effective burden on perimeter holes should not
be greater than about 25 times the blast hole
diameter, preferably about 20 times.
iv. Limit the width of the blasts to no more than 1.5
times the bench height
v. The best spacing between back-row blast holes lie
between 25 and 40 times the blast hole diameter. In
multi-row shots, blast holes should be staggered.
vi. Drill angled rather than vertical blast holes at least
for the last 3 to 4 rows in front of the final wall.
Angled blast holes tend to cause less damage to
the crest behind the back row. Angle of 20-30 to
the vertical is recommended.
vii. For all blast holes except those in the back row,
the length of the stemming column is commonly
about 25 hole diameters. Because of the need to
prevent surface over break, it is necessary to
increase the stemming length in he back row.
viii. Subdrilling into the final crest or berm should be
minimized because cracks generated by explosion
gases will allow water into the berm, therefore
increasing the rate of breakdown due to weathering.
ix. The initiation sequence should be selected so that
there are minimum numbers of blast holes firing on
the same delay, and preferably hole by hole.
x. Adequate delay should be used to ensure good
movement towards free faces and the creation of
new free faces for following rows. Utilize long delay
intervals between rows of blastholes (around
20ms/m).
xi. Delays be used to control the maximum
instantaneous charge to ensure that rock breakage
does not occur in the rock mass, which is supposed
to remain intact.
xii. Choke blasting into excessive burden or broken
muck piles should be avoided.
xiii. The front row charge should be adequately
designed to move the front row burden.
xiv. The main charge and blast hole patterns should be
optimized to give the best possible fragmentation
and digging conditions for the minimum powder
factor.
xv. Back row holes should be drilled at an optimum
distance from the final digline to permit free digging
and yet minimize damage to the wall. Experience
can be used to adjust the back row positions and
charges to achieve this result
BLAST DESIGN case study

DRILLING THE PRE SPLIT LINE -

Blasthole Diameter: 165mm, 15–25o to the vertical
Effective Burden: 3.0 m
Spacing: 4.0 m
Pattern: Staggered

LOADING THE SPLIT LINE -

ANFO/ Polystyrene blends with low pour
densities of 0.4 – 0.53 gm/cc
Stemming Length: 2.4 Subgrade: 0.6m
Delay pattern is hooked up for shooting in the
direction of the dip
 BLAST DESIGN
DRILLING THE BUFFER LINE -
Blasthole diameter: 165mm
Effective Burden: 3.5m
Spacing: 4.5m Holes are drilled vertical

LOADING THE BUFFER LINE -

Hole toe is loaded with 12% Aluminized ANFO.
Stemming Length: 2.2m Subgrade: 0.6m

BLASTING THE SHEAR LINE -

Split line blasted 50 ms ahead of the buffer line
with the production blast.