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Investigating the effect of explosive type on ground vibration in Sarcheshmeh

copper mine

Conference Paper · September 2011

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Aref Alipour Sajjad Chehreghani

Urmia University of Technology Urmia University
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Investigating the effect of explosive type on ground vibration in Sarcheshmeh
copper mine

Alipour1, S. Chehreghani2, H. Hosseinzadeh3, M. Eskandarzadeh4

1- Mining Engineering Department, Urmia University of Technology, aref.alipour@gmail.com, Tel: 04413554180,
Fax:04413554182
2- Mining Engineering Department, Urmia University.
3 - Mining Engineering Department, Hacettepe University.
4-Mechanical Engineering Department, Urmia University of Technology

Abstract:

By new advances in construction and mining the need for drilling and blasting has been increased.
Considering the ascending approach in application of mining process and the need for using of blasting in
near occupied region, the safe blasting plays an important role in these areas. Blasting is one important part
of mining cycle in Sarcheshmeh Mine. At Sarcheshmeh mine, blast- induced ground vibration data analysis
is employing in order to reduce the vibration level due to blasting as well as prediction of ground vibration
level to find the safe distance. In this mine the ANFO for blasting of dry hole and Emolan for blasting of wet
hole are used as a main charge. By increscent in depth of pit and then facing with groundwater in blast
holes, the need for using of water resists explosives like Emulite has increased. In this work, the attenuation
equation of blast wave has been investigated for peak particle velocity using the total data of ANFO, Emolan
and separated analysis. The results show that changing of material type cause to different level of vibration
when considering their ANFO equivalent. In other words the vibration level of holes including ANFO is
relatively different from Emolan and for a given scaled distance the ground vibration level of Emolan is
greater than ANFO.
Key words: Ground vibration, ANFO, Emolan, blasting and Sarcheshmeh.

geometrical and timing aspects of the blasting

1. Introduction
pattern should be considered when designing a
Ground vibrations consume explosive energy that blasting pattern (Olofsson, 1988).
could be applied for rock fracturing. High ground Till now there is not enough research has been
vibrations not only create problems for nearby done on the relevancy of the geomechanic
population, but also adversely affect the integrity of parameters of ground vibration. Complexity of the
the structures in the mine area. Blast-induced problem do not let to model ground vibration of the
ground vibration has a detrimental effect on blasting under geomechanical parameters.
structures, such as buildings, dams, roads, Generally empirical equations are used to estimate
railroads, natural slopes, and etc (Jimeno, 1995). ground vibration in term of peak particle velocity.
In order to prevent vibration problems, various The empirical equations are based on two essential
parameters such as physico-mechanical properties parameters including the maximum charge per
of rock mass, explosives specifications and delay and distance from the location of blasting. The
513
geomechanical parameter and blasting specification
are assumed to be less important and considered in
next priorities. The effects of geomechanical and
blasting parameters which appear in the empirical
equation constants are constant and are
investigated according to the condition of the place
(Hossaini.and Sen, 2004).
By processing the individual blasting data related to
ANFO and slurry Hosseini and Sen (2004) showed
that the type of the explosive has effects on ground
vibration. Also based on their study, correlation
between scaled distance and peak particle velocity
for the data of the ANFO are considerable.
Because the type of ground was assumed to be
uniform in Sarcheshmeh blasting, it is reasonable to
expect that any alteration in the ground vibration
would be as a result of changing in explosive types
as the only variable in this study.
In this paper we considered the ground-induced
vibration using two types of explosive named
Emolan and ANFO in Sarcheshmeh mine.
2. Site description
The Sarcheshmeh copper mine is situated in
55°52′13″ longitude and 29°57′0″ latitude. The area
belongs to central part of an elongated NW–SE
mountain belt, which is principally composed of
folded volcano-sedimentary rocks. Mineralization in
this deposit is associated with a Late Tertiary. The
main minerals of the deposit are Chalcocite,
Chalcopyrite, Pyrite, Covellite, Bornite and
Molybdenite. The height and slope of working
benches are 14 m and 62.5°, respectively. The
angle of overall slope ranges from 32° to 34°. The
distance of crusher to mine is 3 km. The annual
capacity of the mill plant is 51,000 tons
concentrated with an average grade of 30% and a
recovery of 65%.
3. Explosive Type
A primary explosive is an explosive that is extremely
sensitive to conditions such as impact, heat and etc.
A relatively small amount of energy is required for
initiation. A secondary explosive is less sensitive
than a primary explosive and requires substantially
more energy to be initiated. Secondary explosives
are used in larger quantities in an explosive train
and are usually initiated by a smaller quantity of a
primary explosive.
Ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO) is a widely used
as secondary explosive mixture. Its sensitivity is
relatively low; it generally requires a booster. The
basic chemistry of ANFO detonation is the reaction
of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) with a long chain
hydrocarbon (CnH2n+2) to form nitrogen, carbon
dioxide and water. In an ideal stoichiometrically
balanced reaction, ANFO is composed of
approximately 94.3% AN and 5.7% FO by weight.
The introduction of water into an explosive is highly
undesirable since it reduces the sensitivity, strength,
and velocity of detonation of the explosive.
Explosives considerably differ as they exposed with
water. Explosives based on ammonium nitrate have
little or no water resistance. Because of low
resistance of ANFO against water and low
sensitivity of ANFO, Emulsion based explosive such
as Emulite has been used for this application.
Emulite, is sensitive explosive that has plastic
consistency and is very suitable for achieving high
loading density. It can be used as bottom charge for
any kind of blasting. Due to its consistency and high
water resistance, it can be confidently employed for
deep under water blasting (Bhandari, 1997).
Emolan is made by adding ANFO to Emulite that
has explosion velocity up to 4000 - 5000 m/s.
According to usage amount of explosive material in
Sarcheshmeh mine in 1995 a factory for producing
ANFO, Emulite and Emolan was established by
cooperation of Nitro-Nobel company.
514
 4. Blast operations in Sarcheshmeh blasting operations. According to the critical
condition of the east wall of the mine and existing of
In blasting operations of Sarcheshmeh site more
structures, adjusts of blasting location, stability of
than 100,000 tones of crushed rock is produced
heap leaching dump, controlling of the explosions is
every day. Each blast hole produces 2400 tones of
of important. Results of an investigation into blast-
rock in average. In an other word every day 40 hole
induced ground vibrations that was carried out in
by average diameter 229 mm were blasted by using
Sarcheshmeh have been analyzed.
15 to 25 tones explosive. Drilling cuttings are used
The monitoring document contains the blast and
as stemming material. The range of the other
vibration data of 14 blasting that occur in various
blasting design parameters is listed in Table 1.
space of the mine and saved by using the ground
ANFO and Emolan are used as explosives for dry
vibration monitoring equipment named PDAS100. In
and wet blast holes respectively, gelatin dynamite
each vibration up to 8 instruments that are in the
(priming), and Emolan Cartridge (booster). Initiation
various locations monitor the ground vibration. At
system is detonating cord and delay usage between
last 55 data is saved from these 14 vibrations.
rows are 13ms, 20ms, 50ms and combination of
Ground vibration data in term of peak particle
these. By increscent in depth of pit and then facing
velocity is measured for analyzsing. The monitored
with groundwater, the need for use of water resist
data were used to achieve the empirical attenuation
explosives such as Emulite is increased.
equation of the Sarchehsmeh coper mine (Hosseini

Table 1: Blasting design parameters of Sarcheshmeh

et al. 2002).

mine. Empirical equations are versions of the following

Parameter Range Unit general form that typically are used by investigators
Burden 2–7.5 M (Duvall and Fogleson, 1962; Attewell, 1964;
Spacing 2.5–11 M Hossaini and Sen, 2004).
Delay between rows 15–70 Ms
PPV  K . R a .Q b (1)
Powder factor 0.1–0.24 kg/m3
Number of rows in each blast 2–7 – Where,
Distance of monitoring point from 133.02– M PPV =V= Peak Particles Velocity (mm/s),
blasting face 2845.02 Q = Maximum charge per delay (kg),
Maximum hole per delay 6–32 – R = Distance of the measuring transducer from the
Charge per delay 1332–10985 Kg blasting face (m),
Point load index 6.51–8.9 MPa
K, a and b are site- constant, which can be
Peak particle velocity 0.49–77.3 mm/s
determined by multiple regression analysis.
In this study scaled distance equation originally
5. PPV modeling by empirical equations in proposed by the US Bureau of Mines [6, 7] and was
Sarcheshmeh mine
used for the prediction of peak particle velocity:
In Sarcheshmeh which is one of the biggest surface B
 R 
coper mine of the world, drilling and blasting are PPV  K  
 2 Q 
used for producing ore. There are sensitive areas in
Also, a series of monitored experimental data were
regard with potential damage from ground
analyzed. The best fitting equation for vibration
vibrations. Severe restrictions were imposed on the
515
prediction was established for each explosive type,
through which the maximum charge per delay can
be calculated with very high levels of confidence. A
comparison of the performance of these two types
of explosives from the vibration point of view was
also conducted.
When Emolan, Dynamit and Pentolit were used, the
explosive weight was converted into its ANFO
equivalent by ratio of 1.2, 2.4 and 1.7.
Two important equations have evolved from the
data when two types of explosives were used.
achieved. Figure 1 shows the relation between the
scaled distance and PPV for different blasting data
of mine.
In figure 2, relation between scaled distance and
PPV for blasting data of Sarcheshmeh for individual
ANFO and Emolan data is shown. Apparently the
vibration of Emolan for each scaled distance is
greater than ANFO. Also the data scatter of Emolan
is apparent according to the figure.
Table 2: Constant values of empirical attenuation

According to data, the attenuation equation of equation according to USBM for Sarcheshmeh blasting

vibration for peak particle velocity vector for Discription B K R

combination of ANFO and Emolan is maintained. In ANFO 0.95 84 0.83
table 1 the constants of empirical equation for data Emolan 0.82 88 0.75
of ANFO and Emolan and their combination is ANFO&Emolan 1.026 136 0.8

Fig 1: Variation of PPV with scaled distance for Sarcheshmehh blasting data

Fig 2: Variation of PPV with scaled distance for ANFO and Emolan blasting.

516

According to established attenuation equation for
each explosion data and considering the maximum
delay cost for 2 and 4 tones in each delay, in figure
3 the chart of PPV- distance is shown for different
distances. For example by maximum delay cost of
2000 kg the value of vibration in distance of 1500 m
from the location of vibration is estimated to be
3mm/s and the value of Emolan vibration is
estimated to be 5mm/s.
In a research done by Gilsal et. al (2006), It is
shown that by changes in water table of
groundwater in dry months the vibration get low. In
fixed vibration module and geomechanical
parameters, increasing of water table causes the
increscent of ground vibration. So it seems that in
Sarcheshmeh in the existing of groundwater at
working bench holes that are used Emolan,
considering the specific properties of Emolan, the
high level of vibration is observed in holes
containing Emolan.
Fig 3: Variation of PPV with distance based on 2000 and
4000 kg maximum charge per delay by using the
achieved equation for ANFO and Emolan
6. Conclusion
 In blasting of Sarcheshmeh, changes in
explosive type by using ANFO equivalent
conversion, it is shown that there is a
significant difference in ground vibration
produced by ANFO and Emolan and for a
given scaled distance, ground vibration is
greater for Emolan.
 In addition to difference of Emolan and ANFO
explosion the role of groundwater is
important on ground vibration. Then studying
variation of water table in various seasons
on ground vibration is suggested for further
researches.
 Separating the role of water and explosive
type in wet holes can be studied by doing
blasting on dry holes. So we suggest
comprising of the results of vibration by
ANFO and Emolan explosions.
References
Attewell, P.B. 1964. " Recording and Interpretation of
shock effects in rock." Min. Miner. Eng. pp 21-28.
Bhandari, S., (1997), "Engineering Rock Blasting
Operations", A.A Balkema.
Cilsal, M. et al., (2006)."The effect of geotechnical
factors on blasting induced ground vibration particle
velocity", Tunneling and Underground Space
Technology pp. 235.
Duvall, W.I. and Fogleson, D.E., (1962), review of
Criteria for Estimating Damage to Residences from
Blasting Vibration" USBM –I, 5968.
Hossaini,S. M. F.& Sen, G. C., (2004), "Effect of
explosive Type on particle velocity criteria in ground
vibration." The Journal of Explosive Engineering,
21(4), pp. 34-39.
Hosseini M.F., Javaherian A., Pourghasemi Sagand
M. (2002), , A mathematical model For estimating the
vibration due to blasting in Sarcheshmeh copper
mine, Journal of Faculty of Engineering of Tehran
University, Iran, Septemberr 2002; 36(2 (76)):277-
288.
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Blasting of Rocks." A, A, Balkama, Roterdam.
Olofsson,S., (1988), "Applied explosives technology
for construction and mining", Applex publisher.

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