CHAPTER 4 Preliminary guidelines for blast layout 4.1 INTRODUCTION In this chapter guidelines which can be used for preliminary blast design will be provided. ‘Asa result of feedback from the field, the pattems can be then adjusted/optimized for the actual characteristics of the rock mass ~ explosive — geometry combination. The blasthole terminology which will be used is shown in Figure 4.1. In bench blasting there is nor- mally a long dimension of the bench and a short dimension. It will be assumed that the rows of blast holes are alined parallel to the long dimension. The drilled burden (B) is then defined as the distance between the individual rows of holes. It is also used to describe the distance from the front row of holes to the free face. When the bench face is not vertical the burden on this front row of holes varies from crest to toe. The spacing (S) is the distance between holes in any given row. Generally the holes are drilled below the desired final grade. This distance is referred to as the subgrade drill- ing or simply the sub-drill (J), A certain length of hole near the collar is left uncharged. This will be referred to as the stemming length (7) whether or not it is left unfilled or filled with drill cuttings/crushed rock. The drilled length (L) is equal to the bench height (H) plus the sub-drill (J). The overall length of the explosive column (L,) is equal to the hole length (L) minus the stemming (7). This column may be divided into sections (decks) containing explosives of various strengths separated by lengths of stemming materials. Sometimes the explosive strength is varied along the hole, i.e. a higher strength bottom charge with a lower strength column charge. As will be seen in the next section, the dif- ferent dimensions involved in a blast design are not arbitrary but closely related to one another. The selection of one, for example the hole diameter, fixes within rather strict limits, many of the others 4.2 BLAST DESIGN RATIONALE This section presents a rationale for the type of geometrical design used in most open pit mines today. Five different design relationships will be introduced. Consider first the plan view (Fig. 4.2) of a bench in which the hole spacing (S) and burden (B) are as shown. In viewing the figure it can be seen that the hole spacing can be expressed as a constant (Ks) times the burden 7374 Blasting principles for open pit mining: General design concepts H.= Bench Height, B= Burden S= Spacing y b= Hole Length JSub-drill T= Stemming D = Hole Diameter g Figure 4.1. An isometric view lie Tt of a bench showing blast ge- metry. Figure 4.2. Bench plan view of the one row blast layout, S=KsB @1) where Ks = constant relating spacing to the burden. This is the first of the fundamental design relationships. Each hole of diameter D can be thought of as having to break its own individual area (4p) as outlined by the dashed lines, in the figure. Ag=BxS (42) The volume required to be broken by a hole of unit length is Ve=BXSXL (43) A certain amount of explosive energy per unit volume (Ey) must be applied to satisfacto- Fily fragment the rock. The total energy (E,) required is therefore Eg= Vax Ey=BXSXxE, (4.4) Combining Equations (4.1) and (4.4) the required energy becomes Eq= Ks B Ey (4.5) Hence the required fragmentation energy is proportional to the square of the burden,Preliminary guidelines for blast layout 75 Ego Bt (4.6) The amount of available explosive energy (E,) is determined by the explosive volume V, present in that unit length of borehole Rn = Ep 4,7 ven 4D: (47) where D, = explosive diameter, multiplied by the explosive bulk strength expressed as energy per unit volume (E,) Ea= EOL Ee (4.8) When using packaged explosives and at pit perimeters where perimeter blasting tech- niques are employed, the charge diameter (D,) may be less than that (D) of the hole. However, in production blasting using bulk blasting agents, the entire cross-sectional ares of the hole is filled with explosive. Thus the hole diameter (D) and the explosive diameter (D,) are the same. This assumption will be used here. Thus the available energy is proportional to the square of the hole diameter E40 D2 (49) Setting the available and the required explosive energies equal to one another one finds that the burden is proportional to the hole diameter. BaD (4.10) Introducing the proportionality constant Kz, the relationship can be written as B=K,D (4.11) where Ky = constant relating burden to the hole diameter. This is the second of the fundamental design relationships. The constant K, as will be discussed in Section 4.6, incorporates both explosive energy factors and the rack density. ‘The design relationship (4.11) suggests a linear increase in the burden with hole diameter assuming that the same explosive is used (Fig. 4.3). The toc region (Fig. 4.4) is highly confined and extra explosive energy must be applied to assure adequate fragmentation. This extra explosive energy is generally provided by extending the drill hole below the toe elevation and filling the so-called subdrill length bo20—» Figure 43. Diagrammatic repre- sentation showing the effect of hole diameter on burden,76 Blasting principles for open pit mining: General design concepts Highly Constrained Toe Figure 4.4. The geometrical relationship between the subdril and the highly constrained toe. ! {Steady State VoD 4 ee Run-up Distance ‘Velocity of Detonation Figure 4.5. The variation of the detonation 0 2 4 6 8 0 velocity with distance from the primer (under Number of Hole Diameters From initiator driven) AECI, 19876, (), with explosive, There are several different rationales used for selecting the appropri- ate length. Here an explanation based upon explosive run-up distance will be presented, A second one will be included under the discussion of the stemming length. In Chapter 16 a third approach based upon strain wave superposition will be described. The results are es- sentially the same with all three techniques. As will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 8, there is a certain distance (called the run-up distance) characteristic of the initiating system/explosive which the shock wave must travel away from the point of initiation before steady state conditions are reached in the explosive column (Fig. 4.5). To break the confined toe, the borehole pressure should be as high as possible. Since the explosion (borehole wall) pressure (P,) is proportional to the square of the detonation velocity P..a (VOD)? (4.12) the elevation in the hole at which steady state velocity is reached should not be higher than the bench toe elevation. To be conservative the minimum run-up distance will be as- sumed to be 6D. {In addition, the primer is seldom placed directly at the bottom of the blasthole due to the presence of cuttings and water. A normal offset is of the order of 2D. ‘Therefore, the distance from the drilled end of the hole to the toe elevation (the subdrill distance J) should bePreliminary guidelines for blast layout 77 J~8D (4.13) As has been shown BaD and therefore the subdrill J may be expressed as J=KB (4.14) where K, = constant relating the subdrill distance to the burden. This is the third of the design retationships. As will be seen later, the burden dimension (B) for most bulk explosives and rock types is of the order of B= (25 4 35)D (4.15) Using Equations (4.13) and (4.15), one would therefore expect that K,=0.23 0.32 (4.16) A typical value used for design is 0.3. Near the hole collar, the rise of the explosive should be controlled so that the possibil- ity of breaking upward toward the horizontal free surface should be ‘as difficult” or ‘even more difficult’ than breaking, as is desired, toward the vertical free face. This could be satisfied, for example, by the placement of a spherical charge capable of breaking burden “B’ ata distance of ‘V” below the collar (Fig. 4.6). The general constraint would be written as V>B (4.17) The spherical charge geometry is not a practical one for most surface mining applications. However as will be discussed in a later chapter, there is a practical equivalence in break- ing effect between spherical and cylindrical charges. In Figure 4.7 the spherical charge has been replaced by a cylindrical charge of length 7c having the same total weight and effect. Obviously the degree of ‘equivalence’ of the charges will depend upon the proximity to the charge. As a first approximation it will be assumed that T¢ is linearly related to the distance of interest which in this case is B. Te = KrcB (4.18) For B large, then T is large and vice versa. The general expression for the uncharged hole length (7) may be written as Figure 4.6. Section view showing a spherical charge located near the collar.78 Blasting principles for open pit mining: General design concepts Figure 4.7. Section view showing a shor cylindrical change located at the hok collar. T=V¥- Te. (4.19) Tfone used the ‘as difficult? breaking constraint in Equation (4.17), then v=B Combining Equation (4.18) and Equation (4.19) subject to this condition yields T=B- a a (4.20) Equation (4.20) can be simplified to T=KrB (421) where (4.22) This becomes the fourth of the fundamental relationships, The problem is then the deter- mination of Kye. for bench blasting Langefors & Kihlstrém (1963) have suggested that the spheri- cal/cylindrical charge equivalence is as shown in Figure 4.8 To explain the significance of the curve, consider a bench containing two vertical side-by-side blastholes, The burden is, the same for both. Rather than discussing the collar region which is the subject of this por- Lect Amuch larger volume of tock. The energy density by the time it reaches the toe is much less than that produced by energy which has travelled a shorter distance, For a inert charge oF length 0.32 the total charge has a mass of 0.3 x 1x B. From the curve it is seer that thisPreliminary guidelines for blast layout 79 Equivalent ‘Spherical Charge 4 0sB LOB (5B Length of the Cylindrical Charge Figure 4.8. Toe breaking equivalence of spherical and cylindrical charges (Langefors & Kihlsttém, 1963). has the same effect at the toe as a spherical charge placed directly at the toe elevation with a mass 0.3 x I x B. For charges shorter than 0.38 this relationship holds as well, ie the elon- gated charge of a given weight has the same effect at the toe as a spherical charge of the same weight. For elongated charges with lengths greater than 0.3, the effect at the toe di- minishes rapidly with increasing length. The same effect could be achieved by considering the elongated charge extending from the toe elevation downward. Thus an elongated charge extending from 0.3B below the toe to 0.3B above the toc clevation (for a total explosive weight of 0.6 x Lx B) would, according to the curve have the same breaking capacity as a spherical charge with a weight of 0.6 x | x B placed directly at the toc clevation. In transfering this concept to the collar region one finds that Te $ 0.68 (4.23) Comparing Equations (4.18) and (4.23) one finds that Kye $0.6 (4.24) Substituting this into Equation (4.22) yields Thus Ky20.7 (4.25) To this point in the discussion there has been no specific mention of the bench height. If ‘one continues to increase the scale (hole diameter) as shown in Figure 4.9, the center of charge progresses further and further down the hole. The limiting condition is when the center of charge reaches the toe elevation (Fig. 4.10). This occurs for a hole diameter which yields a burden just equal to the bench height. The fifth and last of the fundamental rela- tionships is H=KyB (4.26) where Ky, = constant relating bench height to the burden. The value of Kj, is Ky21 (4.27)80 Blasting principles for open pit mining: General design concepts Figure 4.9. The effect of charge diameter on the charge center of gravity location, Figure 4.10. The limiting geometry for bench blasting, For most open pit operations today Ky is between 1.5 and 2. Combining Equations (4.26), (4.27) and (4.11) one finds that H2K,D (4.28) Rearranging Equation (4.28) yields A p< 4.29) Ke (429) which provides a rule of thumb for limiting the choice of hole diameter. 4.3 RATIOS FOR INITIAL DESIGN In Section 4.2 the following five relationships were developed for preliminary blast design Relationship 1: Spacing-Burden S=KsB Relationship 2: Burden-Diameter B=K,D Relationship 3: Subdrill-Burden J=K,B Relationship 4: Stemming-Burden T=K,B Relationship 5: Bench height-Burden H=KyB In this section numerical values for the ratios Ks, Ka, K,, Kr, and Ky will be presented for use during initial design (Ash, 1963),Preliminary guidelines for blast layout 81 Ratio Ks As is discussed more fully in Chapter 5, the ratio of spacing and burden as drilled is based upon energy coverage of the bench. For a square pattern, the best energy coverage is achieved with Ks = 1 although there isn’t too much difference when Ks is varied between Ks = 1 to Ks = For a staggered drilling pattern, the best energy coverage is with Ks= 1.15. The efficiency of coverage is not substantially different for Ks = 1.0 to 1.5, A staggered pattern yields a much better uniformity of energy coverage than does a square one. Ratio Kp In Section 4.5 a detailed examination of this factor is presented. In brief, it has been found that Kg = 25 when using ANFO (p = 0.80 gm/cm?, Syyro = 1) in rock of medium density (Pp = 2.65 gm/em?). When using other explosives p= density Suro = weight strength in rock of this density one can use, as a first approximation, =25 Saar, (430) If for example the explosive has a density of 1.2 grv/cm} and a weight strength relative to ANFO of 1.1 the appropriate Ky becomes 12/1 = 25)“ |=32 Ke ta I } K, Ratio Ky The most common value of K, is 0.3. In certain sedimentary deposits with a parting plane at toc elevation subdrilling may not be required. In very hard toe situations, the subdrill- ing may be increased over that indicated by using K, = 0.3, However it is probably better to consider using a more energetic explosive. It must be remembered that the subdrill re- gion generally forms the future crest/bench top for the bench below. Unwanted damage done at this stage may have a long and costly life. In addition excessive subdrill results in 1. A waste of drilling and blasting expenditures 2. An increase in ground vibrations 3. Undesirable shattering of the bench floor. This in tun creates drilling problems, abandoned blastholes and deviations for the bench below. 4, It accentuates vertical movement in the blast. This increases the chances for cutoffs (misfires) and overbreak. Ratio Ky The minimum recommended value for Kr for large hole production blasting is Kr = 0.7. Some specialists suggest the use of Ky~ 1.0. Placing the charge too close to the collar can result in backbreak, flyrock and early release of the explosive gases with resulting poor fragmentation, On the other hand, increasing the length of stemming may reduce the en- ergy concentration in the collar region to the point where large boulders result.82 Blasting principles for open pit mining: General design concepts Ratio Ky Currently most open pit operations have Kj values which are of the order of 1.6 or more. In some operations the burden is of the same order as the bench height (Ky = 1) which ‘means that the blasting is similar to cratering with two free surfaces, 4.4 RATIO BASED BLAST DESIGN EXAMPLE To illustrate the use of the geometrical relationships developed in Sections 4.2 and 4.3 as- sume that the initial design parameters are ~ Rock = syenite porphyry (SG = 2.6), — Explosive = ANFO (p = 0.8, Savro = 1), ~ Bench height (H) = 15 m, ~ Hole diameter (D) = 381 mm (15 ins), ~ Staggered drilling pattern, vertical holes, — 4 rows of holes each containing 6 holes to make up I blast. Using the design relationships, the following results are obtained Kg = 25 (assumed) = 25 (0.381) =9.5 m S= 1.15B = 11 m (staggered drilling pattern) 0.7B= 6.5m J=038=3m L=H+J=15m+3m=18m The value of Ky is calculated to be Ka= = = L.6(acceptable) The layout for this comer blast would be as shown in Figure 4.1 1a. The burden (B) and hole spacing (5) dimensions (the pattern to be drilled) have been laid out with respect to the long face. Figure 4.11b is a typical cross section through one of the holes. The volume (V,) and weight (.) of explosive loaded into each hole is given by, respectively V, FOPE-N=F 0381) 18-65) = 131m W,= Ve 9 = 131m x 800 kg/m? = 1049 kg Since there are 24 holes in the round the total amount of explosive required (Txp) is Texp = We n= 24 x 1049 = 25,176 kg where = number of holes. The volume of rock which will be broken is Vp=nx BxSXHPreliminary guidelines for blast layout 83 Figure 4.11. Layout for a comer blast. Thus Vp = 24 (9.5) (11) (15) = 37,620 m> Using a rock density of 2.6 t/m?, a total of Tr = Pax Va = 97,812 tons would be broken. The resulting powder factor (PF) defined as the amount of explosive required to break one ton of rock is Texe _ 25,176 = Tete = = 0.26 ight PF ano 97.812 g/ton The subscript ANFO has been added to the powder factor designation since it is explosive dependent. To complete the design decisions have to be made regarding hole sequencing. This im- portant topic is covered in Chapter 8 and the example will be continued at that time. 4.5 THE ASH DESIGN STANDARDS. 4.5.1 Introduction Before proceeding, it is well to have a reality check on these design equations. One of the classical papers in rock blasting ‘The Mechanics of Rock Blasting’ was written nearly 35