Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Blasting Operations
Blasting Operations
Prepared by
Dr. Ayman El-Midany
gas is released,
temperature of the gas increases,
Sensitiveness
Water resistance
Flammability
Density
Physical characteristics
Storage
Freezing
How to compare explosives
Strength : % of active material
Down-the-hole drills
Rotary drills
Rock Shear strength
Shear
Rock Condition strength,
lb/in2
Sandstone Soft 1500
Medium 3050
Hard gray 4720
Fine-grained brown 3600
Medium-grained friable gray 2840
Rock Shear strength
Shear
Rock Condition strength,
lb/in2
Limestone Hard flossiliferrous 4160
Hard gray 6520
Medium crystalline 7600
Siltstone 3000
Dolomite 12700
quartzite 10600
Drill Selection
Size of project : drill type and size
Hole diameter : drill type and bit size
specialized operator
WEEK TWO
Firing systems
Blasting Cap
Detonating systems
Blasting Caps
Blasting Cap : are small cylindrical tubes that
detonate cap-sensitive explosives. They are
usually made of copper or aluminum and
contains an explosive.
There are three types of blasting caps:
• Common caps
• Millisecond delays (MS delays)
• Standard delays
Common Blasting Caps
Detonated by a fuse
Now they are the least common
Copper or aluminum Cylinder
38 mm long X 6 mm dia, closed at one end.
Contains two types of charges : igniting charge and
the base charge.
A safety fuse is inserted into the open end of the cap
to ensure that the flame reaches the igniting charge
completely. To prevent water and contaminants
from entering the cap and inhibiting detonation.
Common Blasting Caps
When the fuse is ignited, the powder core burns,
acting as a vehicle through which the fire is
transmitted to the igniting charge end of the cap.
The burning fuse spits a flame resembling a jet
flame called as “ignition spit”.
When the flame travels to the cap, it ignites the
ignition charge, which detonates the base charge,
which in turn detonates the explosive charge that is
being primed with the cap.
Common Blasting Caps
Base charge
Fuse Ignition
charge
Electric Blasting Caps
More controllable method
Contains charges like the common cap, but
Free face
Other Blasting Caps
Vented caps : with vents to delay blasting
to reduce the combustion rate in the
blasting cap.
• Straight parallel
• Parallel-series
Blasting Circuits
Problems
Theory of Breakage
Purpose of blasting
• One solid piece smaller pieces (fragmentation)
to be moved or excavated (movement).
• Underground blasting, for example, requires
greater fragmentation than surface blasting
because of the size of the equipment that can be
used and the difficulty of access.
• Get the desired results with a minimum cost
Theory of Breakage
Involves two basic processes:
• Radial cracking
• Flexural rupture
• Rock is stronger in compression than in tension.
Therefore, the easiest way to break rock is to
subject it to a tensile stress greater than its
ultimate strength in tension.
•Rocks are heterogeneous (contain different types
of rocks). They differ in their density.
Theory of Breakage
Free face
Compression
Borehole waves
Radial cracking
Theory of Breakage
• The distance from the borehole to the free
face is the burden.
• The denser the rock the faster the waves
• Proper fragmentation when enough to
travel to the face and back overcoming the
tensile strength of the rock.
• Along the face the outermost edge is
stretched in tension which causes cracks.
Flexural Rupture
• The second process in breaking rock by
bending the rock to the point where the
outside edge, the side in tension, breaks.
• Caused by the rapid expansion of gases in
borehole.
• Analogous to the bending and breaking of a
beam.
• Movement or displacement are required in
addition to cracking.
Flexural Rupture
• After detonation the redial cracks expands
and the gas starts to the movement by
putting a CS against the borehole wall
causing its bending.
• The deeper the hole, the greater the burden
and borehole spacing.
• M = wl2/8 where w is the load (burden), l is
the borehole length.
Stemming
• Is non-explosive material that is placed in the borehole
between the top of the explosive column and the collar of
the hole.
• Sand, drill fines, or gravel
• Confine and delay the escape of expansive gases and
increases the explosive’s efficiency (reduces the explosive
used).
• Reduce the flyrocks, increase ground vibration, and air
blast
• Rifling : in case of impropoer stemming, blowing of the
stemming material.
Angle of Breakage
• Is the measured angle at which a homogeneous material
can be expected to break from the explosive charge to the
free face.
90
WEEK THREE
Blast Design
• Is the safe and economic way to do blasting
Spacing
Burden
Free face
Burden & spacing determination
Andersen Formula B= (dL)0.5
B : burden, ft d : borehole dia, in
L : borehole Length, ft
S= (BL)0.5
B : burden, ft
L : borehole Length, ft
Controlled Blasting
To control overbreak and to aid the stability of the
remaining rock formation.
There are 4 methods
• Line drilling (unloaded), Fig.8-2
• Cushion blasting
• Smooth-wall blasting
• Presplitting
Controlled Blasting – Line drilling
• Provides a plane of weakness to which the rock can break.
• Helps to reflect shock waves,
• Reduces the shattering effect of the rock outside the
perimeter.
• Do not exceed 3 in in dia and are spaced one to four
diameters apart (due to cost).
• Are not loaded
• Requires more drilling more than the other controlled
blasting methods.
• Is not very effective in non-homogeneous formations
Controlled Blasting – Line drilling
Free Unloaded
face line drill
holes
Cushion Blasting
• Requires a single row of holes ( 2 to 3.5 in) in dia.
• Permits a reduction in the No. of holes required by line-drilling
• Unlike line-drilling holes, the cushion holes are loaded with light
charges.
• Holes are fully stemmed between charges, allowing no air gap, and
are fired after the production shot has been excavated.
• The stemming acts as a cushion to protect the finished wall from the
shock waves. The larger the borehole, the greater the cushion.
• Not suitable for underground - tough stemming requirements.
• Drawbacks: (1) requires removal of excavated material before firing
(costly due to production delay – no excavation for entire area at
once). (2) Sometimes the production shot can break back to the
cushion holes, creating redrilling problems and causing loading
changes.
Smooth-wall Blasting
• Similar to cushion blasting
Pre-splitting
• Creates a plane of shear in solid rows along the desired
excavation before the production blast.
• All holes are loaded like cushion blasting
• Reduces overbreak
• Reduces the vibration