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By Robert F. Flagg

This paper reviews the state of the art of precision explosive demolition particularly as it pertains to steel bridges. The two key factors affecting the acceptance of this type of demolition/are discussed as well as the physics and performance of the key explosive tool, the linear shaped charge. Methods of planning and executing typical bridge demolitions are discussed and examples of noteworthy engineering tasks given.

Jan 1, 1976

By Zong-Xian Zhang

In sublevel caving mines, serious eyebrow break usually gives rise to lower ore recovery, higher dilution, and worse safety for the people working in the field. For example, chargers must go near the caving region and stand under the damaged eyebrow where a hanging stone may suddenly fall down or rock fragments may quickly roll down.

Jan 1, 2011

By Omer Yilmaz Erkoc, Gulsec Uyar Aldas

Blasting techniques, which have been used for a long time in Turkey, are powerful and economical tool in producing raw material in mining, quarrying, construction .etc. industries. The development of the society within the world has resulted in a substantial increase in the scale of such industrial projects. However, the expansion of such activity has been matched by an increased public awareness of environmental issues, particularly when it occurs in relatively close proximity to residential areas. One of the most troublesome issues facing the mining, quarrying and construction industries when carrying out their blasting activities is that of ground vibration. Because, blasting induced ground vibration can reach to very far distances from the source and has the potential for damage to concern to the inhabitants of property.

Jan 1, 2002

By S. Huang, K. Xia

The down-stream size reduction processes such as crushing, grinding and milling, represent major expenditure of energy. The present study is aimed at linking the fragmentation characteristics of the rock feed in a crusher with the physical and mechanical properties of the rock and the energy expended in the process. This is done through a modified Hopkinson Pressure bar apparatus, where both the impact velocity and energy input can be carefully controlled. A single layer of rock particles of very narrow feed size range (9 mm - 12 mm) and occupying a fixed volume in a chamber is impacted by means of a striker. The resulting fragment size distribution is determined for two different rock types (e.g. a granite and a limestone), involving single and multiple impacts, with all other experimental parameters remaining constant. The progressive reduction in overall product size and detailed fragment size distribution curves are obtained through sieve analysis, for specified number of impacts. The resulting fragment size distribution is analyzed in the light two distribution functions, Rosin-Rammler and Swebrec.

Jan 1, 2015

By James Keenan

Mesabi Range blasting has evolved in over a century of mining. The obstacles including: hard and heavily jointed rock, bitter winters and frequent wet holes; combine to create a unique challenge for blasters. This paper documents current pattern designs, powder selection and loading practices for these seven mines that consumes as much as 130 million lbs of explosives each year. Blasting is characterized by wide burdens and spacings, large diameter holes (up to 16-inch) and bulk loading of augered and pumped emulsion/prill products.

Jan 1, 1996

In this work, is being described the developing of the study for the demolition by controlled blasting project of a building of reinforced concrete, in the center of a spanish city. Synthetically, it is being analyzed the timing of the fall of the parts of the structure. This documentation is completed with a group of four photographs of the falling sequence and a film about several demolitions and the particular one described in this paper.

Jan 1, 1977

By Sharkey Bowers

This study was undertaken in order to determine a conservative estimate of the attenuation rate of vibrations through the shallow limestone in South Florida due quarry blasting. The natural limestone bedrock in occurs at or near the surface in southeastern peninsular Florida. While the shallow overburden soils is advantageous for mining purposes, vibrations from blasting has been a contentious issue in South Florida due to the proximity of the mines to several residential communities. White Rock Quarries and Krome Quarries are two active mining facilities in South Florida which generate numerous complaints, insurance claims, and lawsuits from residents in nearby communities who claim that the vibrations cause damage to their houses. Both quarries are located on the eastern edge of the Everglades, with thousands of nearby residences at the western edge of development in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. Data obtained from over 400 publicly available blast monitoring and associated seismograph reports from White Rock Quarries were reviewed and compiled. The data was used to emperically develop a conservative estimate of the ground attenuation rate based on the scaled distance from the blast origin, which can be compared to Figure B-1 from USBM RI 8507 to determine whether it is feasible if damage could have occurred at a given property.

By J J. Mullay, G W. Anderson, C J. McFinley, J F. VanNorman, C J. Kefer

Previous work has shown that testing of precompression effects conducted on a small scale under simulated field conditions in actual rock provides a reasonable model for the evaluation of explosives and initiators under the adverse conditions encountered in production blasting. Using this methodology can result in greater understanding of the phenomena as well as the ability to predict performance. This effort has been extended to evaluate various parameters not previously studied in a controlled fashion. The present paper describes the use of this technique to study the effects of delay timing on precompression effects. Intervals from 25 to 150 milliseconds are included in the study. Both VOD measurements and damage estimates are utilized in the evaluation. The results demonstrate that timing delay between holes is quite important in determining the overall effectiveness of a blasting program.

Jan 1, 1994

By Andre Pinsonnault, Francois Lefebvre, Yves Newman

In 1989, Les Entreprises Kiewit Ltee signed a C$32 million contract with the Societe d'energie de la Baie James, on behalf of HydroQuebec, to excavate the intake and tailrace channels for a second powerhouse at the LO-2A James Bay hydroelectric project. The multistage contract included removing three marine rock plugs. The first plug was blasted in April 1990. It was a 43 yards wide, triangular shaped wedge that projected into 18 yards of water. Located at the mouth of the intake channel, it contained over 72,000 yd3 of rock, more than twice the 30,000 yd3 found in most rock plugs.

Jan 1, 1991

By Zahra Hosseini, S. Hassan Khoshroo, Mohsen Amirrahmat

The Sarcheshmeh Copper mine will be developing its open-pit in order to reach to the remaining ore in the deposit. One of the problems regarding the development plan is the ore handling system from the pit. After its development, the pit depth and its daily production will be increased. Therefore, the present transportation system (shovel and trucks) can no longer be used efficiently. It is necessary to use a new system that can reduce transportation costs and handle the new amount of blasted material at the same time. Studies show that an in-pit crusher and conveyor belt is the most suitable system that could be used in this situation. One of disadvantages of the conveyor belt, however, is its limitation in the particle sizes that it could carry. Consequently, size distribution resulting from the fragmentation process is an important parameter in choosing an efficient conveyor belt system. The size distribution of the fragmentation process also affects the operations following blasting. The determination of this parameter allows the optimization of blast design and explosives. Hence, during this project, the size distribution of blast fragmentation in the different types of ore at the Sarcheshmeh mine was determined by the image analysis technique. Numerous digital pictures were captured of the different blasted faces to prepare a representative sample of each kind of rock. They were then analyzed using the GoldSize image analysis software. Results show that fragmentation in the blasted rock is relatively high. It is therefore expected that an appropriate conveyor belt could be selected for further developing the open-pit mine at Sarcheshmeh.

Jan 1, 2004

By Dae-Woo Kang, Sang-Wook Kim, Shin Lee

The Air-tubes blasting method is provided in which a series of aligned boreholes are charged with explosive s and air tubes in a predetermined blasting pattern. The air tube is composed of cylindrical flexible tubes which have a predetermined width and length to be fit with the site boreholes. Within a preferred formation, each borehole is charged with the explo sives and detonators with an air tube installed just above the explosives. Stemming materials are filled above the air tubes. At the limestone mine of Sung-Shin Cement Co., in South Korea, these blasting tests were performed by a diameter 102 millimeter and 15 m long boreholes with the charging length of explosives was 8m to 10 m by the total weight of explosive 40 to 50 kg with 3m to 6m air tube which has a 76 mm diameter, and 1m to 3m stemming cover. Blasting results showed the about 10% to 30% explosives savings available and especially, the about 20% to 50% reduction of ground vibration with the low noise measures around 2dB to 5dB by this new blasting method which was compared with the conventional blasting methods. The explosives and air tubes may be alternately charged along the boreholes. The use of air tubes which were charged above an explosive layer allow to form the quantitative air decking in every blast hole. Therefore, the Air-deck effect can be easily obtained through this blasting method, and also easy to increase the fragmentation rate resulting in the more suitable mucking procedures at the working site with the minimum usages of explosives for the better economic operations in mine quarries.

Jan 1, 2005

By L. O. Souza, J. F. Gewher, M. P. Scussiatto, C. S. Mendonca, R. A. McClure, B. T. Kuckartz, J. Kloeckner

Blasting is the most effective and economical tool available to fragment and move rock for most applications. If properly executed, it can improve down-stream operations such as loading, hauling and crushing. It is not possible, however, to have full control over the energy released by the explosives when a poorly designed blast pattern is used. A poorly designed blast can produce serious damage to equipment and create a potentially hazardous condition to people. Advanced mining technology has been developed to address these potential hazards and optimize the blast pattern. This profiling technology can assist with blast planning and provide quick, precise data about the condition of the rock structure to be blasted. The 3G BlastMetrix system presented here uses three-dimensional (3D) stereo photogrammetry to model the rock mass in a fast, practical and safe manner. Through the image overlapping method, a 3D model is created with thousands of points that provide a significant amount of data regarding geology, geometry and topography conditions. The blasting plan can then be made in a way to optimize the rock fragmentation and avoid areas that could create flyrock. This paper is a case study concerning usage of stereo photogrammic surveying and borehole survey systems in a blasting operation at the Brazilian Quarry, Incopel. One 3D image of a drilled bench was generated using photogrammetry survey technology and the borehole survey data collected using the rodded Boretrak borehole survey system. Utilizing the minimum burden profile reports, explosive loading could be done accurately, resulting in an optimized blast with good heave and fragmentation as well as increased safety.

Jan 1, 2013

By Eduardo Gonzalez Fernandez, Jaime Rios Vazquez

This report substantiates the connection that always exists between explosives and vibrations and draws attention to low frequency vibrations, which are the moat dangerous for the structures affected.

Jan 1, 1986

By Martin Reed, John Wright

Blasters with the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) have developed techniques for opening access holes in floating sea-ice where the use of conventional drilling equipment is impractical. The blasting techniques have proven successful in sea-ice ranging from 8 to 15 feet thick. Previous published work has treated in detail blasting holes in floating ice from 2 to 6 feet thick.

Jan 1, 2001

By Michael S. Wieland

Toxic fume concentrations from industrial mining explosives depend somewhat upon the type of rock (or other strata) confinement. Though traditional detonation theory disregards this influence, the work principal from thermodynamics reveals it, when the violent interactions that transpire within the rock blast are taken into proper account. Resolution of the work principle technique requires total thermodynamic equilibrium under constraint, so the nonequilibrium dynamics is rendered in that way, using an old trick from theoretical mechanics that revises the representation of forces. The rock pressure reduces to a four-component sum: the rock compressive strength and natural atmospheric pressure, as reckoned quasi-statically, and the gravitational influence and reversed inertial resistance, as reckoned dynamically. Tabulated specie concentrations and graphical trends reveal the dependency upon rock pressure, rock temperature and the fuel-oil percentage in ammonium nitrate mixtures (ANFO), used to illustrate the model. Rigid-wall test chambers have notable ullage (residual space), where rapid expansion influences the reaction quenching, yielding a fume spectrum unlike that for rock confinement; reported rock tests are therefore used for comparisons. For the thermodynamic regime where quenching occurs, seven concentrations are resolved, including carbon monoxide (CO) and total nitrogen oxides (NOX). Their trends yield inferences regarding the way unwanted charge desensitization from transitory hole-to-hole wave impact in conjunction with reduced rock pressure can yield nasty toxic fumes, the dark rusty cloud phenomenon!

Jan 1, 2005

By John Montgomery

This paper discusses the major changes to the Commissioners Rules and Regulations, Chapter 120-3-10 “Rules and Regulations for Explosives and Blasting Agents”; how the changes came about, and a summary of the status of the blasting industry in Georgia.

Jan 1, 2003

By Winfried Rosenstock

Following successful trials at Chuquicamata / Chile from February to May 2000 and from February 2001 onwards at Burton Coal Mine, RAG International/Thiess Pty Ltd., Queensland / Australia a significant advancement in blasting technology was achieved using electronic detonators. The mine now uses electronic intiation for the majority of overburden blasting.

Jan 1, 2002

By John T. Aler

The U.S. Bureau of Mines has been studying the problem of why explosives detonate weakly or misfire during blasting in underground coal mines. Cross-borehole shock wave interaction has been identified as a predominant mechanism causing explosives to function improperly (1)(Underline numbers in parenthesis refer to items in the list of references at the end of this report.). Cross-borehole shock wave interaction can be simulated in a laboratory setting, making possible the replication of tests in sufficient numbers to understand and quantify some of its effects on permissible explosives (2). The work presented here investigates the capacity of explosives to partially recover from the desensitizing influence of the shock wave. The recovery trend of different explosives can indicate optimum blasting patterns useful for minimizing borehole charge malfunctions.

Jan 1, 1991

By M. L. Mendes, J. Q. Nojiri, S. C. Botelho, A. P. Campanha

In February 28, 2001 JOULE coordinated the first tests with an electronic detonator in South America at an iron ore operation - ITABIRA MINES from the Brazilian COMPANHIA VALE DO RIO DOCE (CVRD) - the largest producer and exporter of iron ore in the world. ITABIRA MINES (CAU and CONCEI O) belong to one of the complexes, called the Southern System, producing 56 million tons of ROM as well as concentrated products and pellets. This paper is going to describe the tests at ITABIRA MINES with results indicating the improvement in the excavator productivity and reduction of the mining global costs (due to the better performance of the equipment and potential reduction of the maintenance cost).

Jan 1, 2002

By Donald Jonson

Stockholm’s Northern Link, currently Europe’s largest urban road tunnel project, will be about 5 km long from west to east. Running through two separate, mostly parallel tunnels, each with 2-4 lanes, the complex will include numerous entries and exits, as well as a major branch to the north. The total length of tunnel will be 11 km, of which 9 km will be in rock. Over million m3 of rock will be blasted. The Northern Link will open to traffic in 2015. After a 10-year stop to deal with environmental questions regarding Ekoparken, Stockholm’s unique “national city park”, the Northern Link project in the Swedish capital was restarted in the autumn of 2006, with the construction of five works-access tunnels.

Jan 1, 2009