Blast assessment and optimization for high quarry face-blasting
Where applicable, high production benches can improve efficiency in quarrying. Quality control, geological, cost or other considerations might result in the development of quarry benches higher than 30 m and sometimes up to 60 m. Production blasts on high quarry faces require a confident blast design with respect to safety, cost efficiency and minimized environmental effects. Careful pre-blast assessment of the design parameters, blast monitoring of the product performance and the environmental effects and post-blast assessment of the overall blast performance are essential for the successful implementation of the blast design. The blast geometry for high quarry faces and a blast design that often includes multiple explosive charges in a blasthole, make a reliable assessment of the blast parameters difficult. Assessment techniques, their applications and limitations are described and discussed. This will include such methods as blast surveying using laser profiling and borehole deviation measurements, blast monitoring using continuous velocity of detonation measurement systems, high speed photography and seismographs for blast performance and environmental effects. Observations of low frequency airblast and high standard deviations in ground vibration measurements are described and discussed against a background of timing assessment and frequency spectra analysis. Approaches where an optimized design was implemented based on the blast parameter assessment and modeling are presented. An improvement in blast efficiency lies in the combination of blast assessment and blast modeling, whilst adequate documentation supports the process of designing and implementing successful blasts.
- OSTI ID:
- 398392
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960262--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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