BY ANGESOM.

G
Chapter seven

Rock breaking
mechanism and
Blasting application

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 Introduction
 High explosive go through 4 states or phases during a chemical
reaction.
1. the first state is the unreacted explosive under normal atmospheric T and P.
2. Detonation state in which high shock wave pressure moving a head of reaction
zone causes ionization of the explosive ingredients.
3. Explosion state is where the explosive ingredients decompose and change to
gases. The resulting high pressure gases occupy the original volume of the
explosive material.
4. Expansion state in this state the high pressure gases occupy the original
volume of the explosive material begin to expand, exerting forces against the
rock which causes breakage to occur.
 Two useful energy are generated by the explosive reaction.
1. Shock energy
2. Gas energy by Angesom.g 2
 Shock energy produce high pressure than gas energy but it lasts for short
time(15% work in breakage).
 Low explosive produces gas pressure but high explosive produces both gas
and shock pressure.

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 Rock breaking mechanism
 many theory has been proposed as to why and how rock breaks as
a result of explosion.
The explosive first induces the stress wave which is a compression
wave in to the rock surrounding the charge. This stress wave moves
through the material at near the speed of sound or compressional
wave velocity in the rock. After the wave pass through the rock, the
gas pressure in the blast hole again stress the rock.
konya’s breakage theory
 when charges are detonated under field conditions in blasthole the
following stages of breakage result on.
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 Konya’s breakage theory stages
1, after detonation, the stress wave conditions the rock by causing micro fractures to
result at the boreholes and other discontinuity. The stress produces insufficient of
magnitude to cause spalling. 15% breakage is formed by shock wave and stress wave.
2, after the stress wave has passed, the expanding gasses causes pressurization of the
blast hole which produces radial cracks on the bore hole.

breakage process stage 1 breakage process stage 2

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 Cont..
3, after the radial cracks form, the high pressure gas penetrate the radial crack
network. The radial cracks are pressurized approximately 60% of their length from
the hole to the face before any face movement occurs.
4, face movement begins and flexural failure occurs as a result of the bending of the
rock mass in to planes. Both are in the plane of the charge diameter and in the
plane of the charge length.

stage 3 stage 4
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 Unconfined charges
Q, How rock breaks in a field applications in both unconfined and confined
charges?
 Unconfined charges such as those placed on boulders and subsequently
detonated produces shock energy which is transmitted in to the boulder only at
the point of the contact between the boulder and the charges.
 since most of the charge is not in contact with the boulder, the majority of the
useful explosive energy travels radially outward in to space and wasted.
 this wasted energy manifests in excessive airblast.
 gas pressure can never build since the charge is totally unconfined, therefore
gas energy does work little.
 compare the two methods of boulder blasting.
 One is the explosive charge is placed in drilled hole, and confined with clay to
the hole collar.
 The second is a charge placed unconfined at the top of the boulder.
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 Confined charge blast hole
 Three basic mechanisms contribute to rock pressure with charges
confined blast hole.
 generating of shock wave(compression wave)
 expansion gas pressure to form cracks and penetrating of pressure
gasses in the rock face along the cracks
 bending of the rock to spalling
 direction and extent of the radial crack system can be controlled by
the selection of a proper burden, the distance from the bore hole to
the face.
 the larger the burden on bore hole, the more resistance to motion
therefore the radial crack extends to a greater distance behind the
bore hole.

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 Wave Types
 Rather than being the simple wave type in the pond illustration, the
ground vibrations are complicated seismic events consisting of three different
kinds of waves, namely:
 Compressional (or P) waves.
 Shear (or S or secondary) waves.
 Rayleigh (or R) waves.
P wave
 The Compressional or P wave is the fastest travelling wave through the
ground. The particles in the wave move in the same direction as the
propagation of the wave.
 The simplest illustration of the motion of the particles within the P wave is to
consider a long steel rod struck on the end.
 The P wave moves radially from the blasthole in all directions at velocities
characteristic of the material being travelled through.
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 Cont…
t

Fig a. Compression (P) wave

particle motion

Fig b. Particle motion associated with the different wave types

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 The Shear or S wave travels at approximately 50-60% of the velocity
of the P wave. The motion of the particles within the wave can be
illustrated by shaking a rope at one end. The wave travels along the
rope, but the particles within the wave move at right angles to the
direction of motion of the wave. The P and S waves are sometimes
referred to as body waves because they travel through the body of
the rock in three dimensions.
 The Rayleigh or R wave is a surface wave, which fades rapidly with
depth and propagates more slowly than the other two waves. The
particles within the wave move elliptically in a vertical plane in the
same direction as the direction of propagation. At the surface
the motion is retrograde to the movement of the wave.

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 Cont…

Fig. Shear (S) wave particle motion

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 Concept of Blast:
What is blasting?
 Blasting is the process of breaking of bulk rock masses into loose forms, using
explosive compounds.
 The following are the important points to be kept in mind:
 When an explosive charge is detonated, chemical reaction is activated.
 This chemical reaction will very rapidly change the explosive mass into a hot gas
which generate shockwaves. These are compressive waves, which also expand on all
sides.
 They act on the borehole wall and propagate through the explosive column.
 If a series of holes are detonated simultaneously, the entire line of masses will be
fragmented.
 Due to this effect, blasting is always carried out in an array of interlinked blastholes.
 Waves generate cracks and make the entire process very effective.

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 Cont…
• Steps involved in blasting:
The process of blasting includes the following stages:
1. Creation of blast holes and cleaning by using suitable tools.
2. The charge of explosives and place them at the breaking ends.
3. Filling of the remaining portion with clay and tamping.
4. Insertion of Fuse and keep it projecting 15-20 cm above the
rock surface.
5. Firing from the free end of fuse by using a suitable detonator

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 Factors of Blast design:
 The procedures developed for a blast are aimed at the desired fragmentation
and area of coverage.
 Any kind of specific thermodynamic break should take into account of the
following aspects:
1. Explosive and energy factors
2. Type and Quantity of explosives used
3. Diameter of blast hole
4. Orientation of the ore body
5. Dynamic rock/ore properties
 there are two major factors affecting blast design
 controllable factors
 uncontrollable factors
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 Methods of Blasting
 There are two methods of blasting
 controlled blasting
 production blasting

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 Controlled blasting
 controlled blasting methods are used to control
 Reduce over break
 Reduced ground vibration
 reduced fracture with in the remaining rock walls
 reduce noise
 reduce dilution/waste of ore
 types of controlled blasting
 line drilling
 trim or cushion blasting
 smooth /contour/perimeter blasting
 pre splitting blasting
 muffle blasting at critical and congested area.
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 Line drilling
 Mostly surface excavation.
 Line drilling, as the name implies, involves the drilling of closely spaced holes along
the limit of the excavation to create an artificial plane of weakness which serves to
limit the extent of the fracture and influence zones from both the production holes
and any buffer (helper) holes placed between the final production row and the
perimeter.
 These line-drilled holes are not charged with explosive.
 For line drilling to be most effective:
 It must be used in conjunction with a buffer row
 The main excavation charges should be 1 to 3 rows from the pit limit
 Because of its high drilling cost, the method has not been commonly used in open pit
work.
 The best result are obtained in homogeneous rock formation with a minimum joints.
In fractur rock formation, smooth blasting and prespliting blasting is effective.
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 Cont..
 Line drill holes are usually not over 75mm(3”) diameter of holes and spacing is 2 to 4 times
of the diameter of holes.
 Advantages of line drilling;
 Applicable even light charges may cause
damage beyond thethe excavation line.
 disadvantage ;
 Unpredictable result except in very
homogeneous rock.
 high drilling cost due to close spacing.
 time consuming due to the extensive dril

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(trim)

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 trim or cushion
 To determine the spacing for a trim blast we have to use this equation; Sp=16Dh where
Dh is diameter of holes.
 B= 1.3S
 explosive load per foot(Dec) is given by
 Bottom load = 3* Dec
E.g a contractor will use 2.75in blasthole diameter for a trim blast. Determine the blasting
plan? determine the powder ?
 trim blasting with detonating cord;

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 Cont..
 It is important that the charges be less than half the blasthole diameter and they should
not touch the walls of the holes
 The appropriate load of explosive per foot of presplit blasthole
is given by where; dec = explosive load, lb per ft , Dh= diameter of blasthole,

 the spacing Between blastholes can be determined by the following equation:

Sp = 10Dh
Where; Sp= presplit blasthole spacing, in
 Presplit blastholes are not extended below grade. In the bottom of the hole a
concentrated charge of 2 to 3 times dec should be placed instead of subdrilling.
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Thank you

End of 7
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