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By R Malo, A Yetter

The use of large diameter blastholes for underground mining began approximately twelve years ago and are now routinely employed in a variety of ore types and stope designs. These large boreholes, ranging in size from 4 1/2 inch to 8 inch diameter, were first utilized in the same fashion as in open pit bench drilling. However, a variety of changes quickly followed in order to accommodate the unique conditions encountered while using a blasthole sloping method.

Jan 1, 1984

By David A. Paul

Over the past several years a great deal of information on blasting vibrations and their effects on structures has been generated. Much of this knowledge has been gained through the use of ground vibration measuring equipment. While this type of information is valuable and gives us great insight into damage that can be incurred by structures from this source, very little, if any, information of this quality is available for the vast majority of cases in which an engineer is called upon to investigate alleged damage from ground vibrations. For the investigative engineer, then, the problem becomes one of accumulating whatever data is available and drawing a conclusion as to whether or not the subject structure was in fact damaged by the blasting vibrations. Such an analysis certainly requires a working knowledge of the literature on the subject and as much experience as he can bring to bear. Even thus armed, however, the data is often ambiguous, confusing, and/or contradictory. A practical approach is presented herein to aid the engineering investigator in arriving at the best possible conclusion available with the information at hand.

Jan 1, 1983

By Earl C. Hutchison, Gene Smith

Extensive blasting was required to construct an underground tunnel for a 90 inch sewerage relief line. The tunnel and required excavation extended under an upper middle-class residential area in Atlanta, Georgia for more than a mile and a half and required the use of more than a half million pounds of explosives in the immediate vicinity of houses and residential apartments valued at more than 16 million dollars. Other houses and property valued at more than 80 million dollars were within range to claim blasting damages. An effective blasting damage control program was carried out which limited the number of blasting damage claims to less than 2-1/2% of the total number of potential claims. All but three of the small number of blasting damage claims which were made were effectively denied without any resulting legal actions and less than $3,800 was paid for settlement of the three claims.

Jan 1, 1981

By David Yanez

The hydroelectric project "El Cajón" is currently under construction in the state of Nayarit, on the Santiago River, in western Mexico. This project is comprised of a Concrete Face Rockfill Dam (CFRD) with a rockfill necessity of 10,5 million cubic meters and it reaches a height of 188 m. The generation equipment includes two turbines with a total installed capacity of 750 MW.

Jan 1, 2006

By John C. Didlinger

How do you measure the highwall? Why do you even need to know the highwall measurement? Why is it important? The importance of this measurement is to help keep a level floor and to help control vibration. Nevertheless, since most of us are not mountain climbers, there must be a safe and easy way to make an accurate highwall measurement. So with these factors in mind, how do you make your measurement?

Jan 1, 1997

By Gary L. Self, Ronnie Daniel

With the advent of large scale blasts utilizing overburden casting techniques, it was imperative that an ultra reliable surface delay system be developed. Shock tube and detonating cord surface delay systems have been hampered by the lack of a reliable easy-touse method of incorporating multiple paths of initiation to each hole. Two new redundant nonelectric delay systems have been developed utilizing multiple signal paths to allow a higher degree of safety and reliability. The first system designed uses a combination of detonating cord and nonelectric shock tube delays to allow multiple delay paths to each hole. The second system incorporates a new all shock tube delay system which allows multiple delay paths while minimizing over-pressure by eliminating detonating cord trunk lines. These two redundant systems have been used in over 500 production blasts without any misfires due to surface cut-offs or detonator malfunctions.

Jan 1, 1989

By Paul Worsey, Barbara Robertson

In June 2007, Missouri Science & Technology (formally UMR) successfully held its 5th and 6th Explosives Summer Camps. The camps, which include substantial industry participation, have been an outstanding success with both the students and their parents. They have also spawned a large amount of local, state and national media attention, including NPR and an article in the New York Times on the 3rd of July 2007.

Jan 1, 2008

By John Brennan

The Avalauncher has been an integral tool for avalanche mitigation work for close to 50 years. With their ability to place a kilogram of high explosives up to two thousand meters away, they routinely serve as a short range alternative to military artillery. The Avalauncher’s roots can be traced to a pneumatic baseball pitching machine used by Major League Baseball teams in the United States in the late 1950s. Throughout the decades, many modifications have been made to both the launcher and its projectiles. Current technology has allowed the Avalauncher to attain greater accuracies and operational range. In this paper I plan to cover not only the history of the Avalauncher but also explore its potential future.

Jan 1, 2009

By R Vuolio, B A. Jonsson

In the center of Helsinki - capital of Finland - extensive blasting operations were carried out during the years 1982 - 84. At the corner of the streets Mannerheimintie and Simonkatu - in the Forum block - about 125,000 cu.m. of rock were blasted to give place for a new modern shopping centre (Fig. 1). Added to this amount of rock another 10,000 cu.m. were blasted for a transport tunnel to an adjacent underground bombshelter (Fig.2) which is to be used as a parking place in peace-time. The blasting work was demanding and difficult to carry out due to old buildings surrounding the work-site as well as computers and other sensitive equipment installed in some of them.

Jan 1, 1985

By Thomas E. Ricketts

An important part of underground mine planning and operations involves the reclamation of working areas after blasting before the mining cycle can continue. This is especially true for mining that must use large blasting operations in the vicinity of extensive underground workings. In an effort to develop a rational procedure for estimating mine damage produced by blasting, underground rock fall has been assessed for a large-scale blasting operation in oil shale. The amount of mine damage has been quantified in terms of manshifts of effort required to reclaim underground working areas after blasting. This has been further broken down into the three main phases of reclamation, i.e., scaling and excavation, rockbolting, and miscellaneous repairs on ventilation, utilities, etc. Different types of openings have also been assessed including level tunnels, incline drifts and rooms. The effect of repeated blasting on mine damage has also been documented with initial blasts producing more damage than subsequent blasts.

Jan 1, 1988

By Frank Lucca

This paper includes research and investigation into blast design and blast optimization for vibration control in municipal and tight blasting situations, where specifications were extremely stringent. The paper is written for the field blaster to understand and develop blast plans based on field conditions. The paper includes blast design considerations, utilizing seismograph arrays to check and predict vibration results, and problems encountered in vibration monitoring in extremely tight situations (0-20 feet). Blast vibration frequency, acceleration, peak particle velocities, and relative displacement are discussed with effects in the near and far fields and blast designs utilized to stay under limits. The paper also discusses using the latest in technology for blast design to control vibration. Equipment includes 2D and 3D laser profiling systems, digital video, fragmentation analysis, seismograph arrays, and borehole tracking devices. Other topics are discussed such as public relations, working with regulatory personnel, unions, and other project consultants, and the problems associated with municipal blasting situations, such as, flyrock and proximity of other personnel and equipment on the project.

Jan 1, 2004

By Isaac E. "Chip" Harris

Any contractor who agrees to supply materials or to perform services for a sum, is well aware of the importance of proper pre-bid information. Being able to properly plan costs and methods results in profits that allow the contractor to prosper. The paper discusses procedures used in estimating pre-bid cost; in particular, drilling and blasting cost for highways, dams and general construction projects. It breaks cost down into five categories and relates them to a total estimate used in bidding and budgeting a construction project.

Jan 1, 1975

By T Weaver, R Dick, R Sivakumar, C T. Aimone

A series of small-scale crater tests were performed in concrete and sand in an effort to understand the cratering process in large-scale field blasts. The surface orientation of these tests varied from flat to a 30° slope. In comparison to previous crater experiments in competent oil shale, the crater tests in concrete produced craters similar to those in oil shale after scaling the measurements for differences in the mass of explosives among the experiments. Material strengths and the degree of brittleness had a significant effect on the size and shape of the crater. The small-scale sand tests resulted in some crater features that were similar to large explosive tests in alluvium and soil.

Jan 1, 1986

By John P. Ashby

Production blasting is a process of destruction of rock masses in order that ore may be extracted. Many open pit operations are faced with the apparently conflicting requirements of providing large quantities of fragmented rock for the processing plant and of minimizing the amount of damage inflicted upon the surrounding pit slopes. A reasonable compromise between these two conflicting demands may often be found by means of simple engineering of production blasts.

Jan 1, 1980

By Claude Cunningham

Blasthole pressure is the starting point for many blast design calculations, but the way in which it is usually derived, from measured detonation velocity, indicates that more thought is needed as to its true meaning and implication. The general impression is given that the energy in the hole is defined by VoD, but rarely is this the case. VoD is defined by the energy released in the Detonation Driving Zone between the shock front and the Sonic (or 'CJ') surface, and for commercial explosives it is normal for reaction not to be complete within this zone. Reaction and energy delivery continues behind it, not reflected by VoD. Thus it would be more appropriate to use the theoretical VoD, not the measured VoD, to derive the starting pressure, since this would reflect the energy input of full reaction. In decoupled situations, the derivation of pressure at the blasthole wall using a polynomial decay concept is also of debatable value, and an alternative is offered.

Jan 1, 2006

By Mark S. Stagg, Siskind David E

The mining industry occasionally blasts near pressurized transmission pipelines and has requested guidance on safe vibration levels and setback distances. The Bureau of Mines and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources cooperated with AMAX Coal Company on a study of coal mine overburden blasting. Five buried and pressurized 250-ft pipeline sections were specifically installed on the Minnehaha Mine highwall near Sullivan, IN for testing to failure. Four welded steel pipes ranging from 6- to 20-in diameter and one 8-in PVC water supply pipe were monitored for vibration, strain, and internal pressure for a period of 6 months while production blasting advanced up to the pipeline field. In contrast to previous studies of small-scale blasting representing construction activities, these tests involved overburden blasts of up to 2100 lb per delay in 12-1/4-in diameter holes.

Jan 1, 1993

By W C. Burkle

A rather common observation over the last several decades at least has been that rock or ore properties influence blasting results more than does the explosive type that has been used in the blast. It we accept that premise than it is held here that the material to be blasted should receive even closer attention as to its properties. Several years ago, Dr. Richard Ash published papers that pointed out the rock properties that mostly influence blasting. These principles are given attention in this paper. We have gone somewhat further - or lets say expanded this subject in regard to the role of rock structure in open pit blasting. Though open pit work is given some prominence, we believe that much can be observed and applied to underground mining.

Jan 1, 1979

It has been common practice for many years to predict and control underwater blasting effects on the basis of certain simplified theories related to the pressures generated by underwater detonations. Unfortunately, two of the most commonly applied concepts in many instances do not provide an accurate modeling of typical field conditions nor the potential for damage. One of these concepts is that the damage potential is related directly to the peak pressure generated by an underwater detonation, without regard to the time history of the pressure pulse. This belief has led to the widespread use of air bubble curtains to reduce peak pressures, without considering the effect that air curtains have on the time history of the pressure pulse. At times, this procedure can be unwise. The other concept is based on the premise that pressure pulses in solids (such as rock) will always be transmitted to nearby water bodies in agreement with the theories of the transmission of plane waves across normal (perpendicular) boundaries. In reality, such conditions are quite rare.

Jan 1, 1985

By Claude Cunningham

Late in 1982 a fire began in the shallow, abandoned workings of the Uitkyk Colliery near Witbank, South Africa. Urgent measures had to be taken to quench the fire, before the surface caving it caused could put an important railroad connection out of action. This paper outlines the way in which the job was tackled.

Jan 1, 1984

By Douglas R. Burns

Complying with SARA-Title III and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act as a Non-Manufacturing Facility. As of August 23, 1988 non-manufacturing facilities storing end using chemicals which require MSDS (Materia1 Safety Data Sheets) must fi1e with SERC (State Emergency Response Commission), the LEPC (Loca1 Emergency Planning Commission), and the loca1 Fire Department a list or copies of all MSDS sheets with the Tier I and Tier II forms completed.

Jan 1, 1989