Introduction

Fragmentation produced by explosive blasting is an

extremely complex process involving the nucleation and
propagation of myriad microcracks that finally coalesce,
breaking the rock into fragments. Moreover, the
fragmentation is affected by inherent properties of the
material, loading conditions, geometry such as the
existence of free boundaries and discontinuities, and so
on. Therefore, most blast models today depend on a
suite of models and equations that are based on
empirical or semi-empirical formulas. The major
difficulty involved in exploring fragmentation may be
that complete experimental observations are rather
difficult to obtain, although some attempts have been
made using high speed photography coupled with
various techniques.
Fragmentation depends largely on the dynamic
fracture process, which plays an important role in
controlling the number of fractures produced, fracture
propagation direction, etc. In order to control
fragmentation, it is necessary to consider the fracture
processes associated with material properties and the
external force. To reveal the fragmentation
mechanisms, it is first necessary to develop an
appropriate method of analysis that simulates the
progressive fracture of rock leading to failure and allows
prediction of rock fragmentation under various loading
conditions. This should enable an explanation of the
strain-rate dependency mechanism of the dynamic
strength and fracture phenomena in rock. To investigate
the fragmentation mechanism in bench blasting, it is
also necessary to develop a new method for predicting
blast fragmentation (the fragment size distribution) from
the results of analysis. In addition, to understand blast
fragmentation in bench blasting fully, rock fracturing
due to stress waves and gas pressurization should be
considered.
This dissertation proposes a dynamic fracture process
analysis for simulating dynamic fracture propagation in
rock under various loading conditions. Using the
proposed analysis method, the strain rate dependency
mechanisms of the dynamic tensile strength of rock are
revealed. The analysis is extended to clarify the dynamic
fracture mechanisms involved in blast-induced borehole
breakdown. To predict and control blast fragmentation, a
new method using the proposed analysis method and an
image analysis program is proposed. The optimum
conditions for blast fragmentation with respect to blast
pattern are discussed. Furthermore, to investigate the
optimum conditions for blast fragmentation with respect
to delay time, analysis of the dynamic fracture process is
improved to simulate a fully blast-induced fracture by
coupling it with a detonation gas flow model.


Dynamic Fracture Process Analysis

The increment displacement form of a dynamic finite
element method is used to explain large displacement
behavior. A re-meshing algorithm is used to model crack
propagation, assuming that tensile fractures, i.e., crack
initiation, propagation, and interconnection, occur at
element boundaries. Therefore, cracks are modeled as
separations from element boundaries that do not change
the shape of the elements. At each element boundary, the
fracture potential is checked at every timestep. The
fracture potential is calculated from the ratio of the
normal stress and tensile strength at the element
boundary. If the fracture potential of two elements
exceeds 1, the node between the elements is separated
into two nodes. Since the cracking and fracture
processes are treated as the separation of elements,
contact problems, i.e., overlapping of the separated
elements, may occur due to the perpendicular
compression stress that is applied to the separated
elements. This problem is solved iteratively to prevent
meshing overlaps when the separated elements are in
contact with each other.
Finally, the Incomplete Choleski Decomposition and
Conjugate Gradient (ICCG) method is used to decrease
the required computational memory. An algorithm to
solve the set of linear equations is used to improve the
computational time.


Strain-Rate Dependency of the Dynamic
Tensile Strength of Rock

The fracture processes under various loading
conditions were analyzed with a proposed finite element
method to verify the differences and the strain-rate
dependency of the dynamic and static tensile strengths
(Fig. 1). Different tensile fracturing processes were
observed in dynamic fractures based on Hopkinsons
effect and static fractures under uni-axial tension. The
differences were caused by the stress concentrations and
redistribution mechanisms. However, although the
mechanisms were different, the static and dynamic
tensile strengths were close to the mean microscopic
Dynamic Fracture Process Analysis of Rock and Its Application to
Fragmentation Control in Blasting

Sang-Ho CHO
Candidate for the Degree of Doctor
Supervisor: Prof. Katsuhiko Kaneko
Division of Environment and Resource Engineering
strength at higher values of the uniformity coefficient.
Thus, the inhomogeneity of rock contributed to the
different specimen strengths under dynamic and static
loading conditions. The range of the dynamic tensile
strengths became narrower and the strengths were closer
to the mean microscopic tensile strength as the
uniformity coefficient was increased.
The strain-rate dependency of the apparent and
local dynamic tensile strengths was determined from the
fracture process results. The dynamic tensile strength
and the scatter of the strength data increased with the
apparent strain rate. The dynamic tensile strength
strongly increased with the local strain rate and the
uniformity coefficient (Fig. 2). The dynamic tensile
strength in each model also increased with the local
strain rate for different microscopic strength spatial
distributions, even in the same specimen. The dynamic
tensile strength and the scatter of the strength data
decreased with increasing uniformity coefficients,
regardless of the apparent and local strain rates.
Therefore, the inhomogeneity of rock has a significant
effect on the dynamic tensile strength.
Higher strain rates increased the number of
microcracks, and the crack arrests caused by the stress
released from adjacent microcracks interfered with the
formation of a fracture plane. Ultimately, this led to an
increased stress in the rock without the formation of
fractures, resulting in a high dynamic tensile strength. At
lower strain rates, the number of microcracks and crack
arrests caused by the stresses released at adjacent
microcracks was reduced, while the number of longer
microcracks was increased. This stimulated the
formation of fractures at lower applied stresses and
lower dynamic tensile strengths. Thus, this study could
verify the strain rate dependency mechanism of dynamic
tensile strength in rock.


Influence of the Applied Pressure Waveform
on the Dynamic Fracture Processes in Rock

The proposed dynamic fracture process analysis
was performed for various applied pressures to
investigate the influence of an applied pressure
waveform on the dynamic fracture processes in rock
(Fig 3). The fracture processes due to applied stress
fields were compared for different rise and decay times.
Crack extensions, which corresponded to tensile
fractures, increased with the rise time, and the fracture
patterns were affected to a greater extent by the rise time
than the decay time. The effect of the initial
stress-loading rate on the fracture processes was also
investigated. A higher stress-loading rate increased the
number of radial cracks, thereby releasing intense levels
of stress around the running cracks. The stress released
from adjacent cracks affected the crack extensions and
resulted in shorter crack propagation lengths. At lower
stress-loading rates, the number of cracks and the crack
arrests caused by the stress released at adjacent cracks
were reduced. This led to longer crack extension.
These analyses showed that when the preferential cracks
branched earlier, the crack extension was longer.
The dynamic fracture process analyses were
extended to investigate the influence of the applied
pressure waveform on the dynamic fracture processes in
a free face model. The crack extensions increased with
the rise time; if the rise time was sufficient, the crack
extension was dependent predominantly on the rise time
and the peak value of the applied pressure, regardless of
the decay time. The crack arrest occurred after the
peak phase of the stress wave for all cases. The
transition condition from dynamic to static fractures was
discussed using the non-dimensional time parameter C
p
t
0
/w. The transition occurred between 3.0 < C
p
t
0
/w <
4.0.
Figure 2 Dynamic tensile strength plotted against the
local strain rate: (a) m=5 and (b) m=50
Figure 1 Distribution of the axial stress and crack
propagation process in (a) a Model I specimen

Blast Fragmentation in Bench Blasting

To evaluate the fragmentation in a field bench
blasting, two bench experiments were conducted and
fragment sizes of blasted rocks were estimated by
sieving analysis and image analysis (Fig. 4). The
fragment size distributions by image analysis were
corrected with the evaluation of the fines. From
experimental results, it was found that the size
distributions obtained by image analysis did not contain
the fines ratio of 13%. After the distribution corrections
with the evaluation of the fines, the fragment size
distributions were approximately coincident with the
fragment size distributions obtained by sieving analysis
and the average mean particle size became closer to the
mean particle size obtained by sieving analysis.
Gaudin-Schuhman distribution agreed with the
fragmentation obtained by the sieving analysis in the
range from 74 m to 1 m approximately.
A numerical approach for prediction of rock
fragmentation and verify the fracture mechanism in
bench blasting was proposed. Five models were decided
with considering the effect of the applied borehole
pressure and geometry in bench blasting (Fig. 5). From
the fracture processes in the bench blast models, it was
realized that the predominant fracture mechanism in
simultaneous blasting were the tensile fractures (spalls)
generated by the reflected tensile stresses from the
superposition of radiating stress waves from the adjacent
holes, and the craters between the holes and the free face.
To investigate the influence of blast pattern on
fragmentations in bench blast simulations, the
fragmentation obtained by the numerical approach were
compared and analyzed. With the specific charge
increase, the mean particle sizes D
50,
top sizes K and the
n
s
values decreased, while fine ratios increase. With the
specific charge increase, the mean particle sizes, top
sizes K and fine ratios increased approximately, while
the n
s
values decrease. Thus, it was realized that the only
burden and spacing increase results in the uniformity
decrease of the fragments.
In order to discuses the controlled fragmentation
related to the blast patterns, the wide space blast patterns
were simulated and compared with the fracture process
in the general bench blasting (Fig. 6). The controlled
fragmentation with respect to delay timing was also
discussed (Fig. 7).


Figure 3 Fractures patterns with different pressure
waveforms
(a) t
0
=10s and /=100
(b) t
0
=100s and /=1.5
(b) t
0
=100s and /=100
(c) t
0
=500s and /=1.5
(c) t
0
=500s and /=100
(d) t
0
=1000s and /=1.5 (d) t
0
=1000s and /=100
(a) t
0
=10s and /=1.5
Figure 4 Fragment size distributions obtained by
sieving analysis on a log-log plot
1E-5 1E-4 1E-3 0.01 0.1 1 10
1
10
100
P
a
s
s
i
n
g

P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e

(
%
)
Size (m)
No. 1
No. 2
1E-5 1E-4 1E-3 0.01 0.1 1 10
0
20
40
60
80
100
P
a
s
s
i
n
g

P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e

(
%
)
Size (m)
Type 1
Type 2
Type 3
Type 4
Type 5
Figure 5 Numerical fragmentations for all the types on a
log-lin plot
Dynamic Fracture Process due to Stress
Wave and Gas Pressurization

The effect of the gas flow though the fractures due
to detonation of explosive on the fracture process of
rock was investigated. In order to simulate the gas
flowing and pressurization in the fractures, the dynamic
fracture process analysis was combined with the finite
difference method (Fig. 8). The numerical gas velocity
agreed well with the experimental velocity. The results
of this study are summarized as follows:
To simulate the multiple fracture propagation due to
the stress waves and the detonation gas, a numerical
approach was developed. It was confirmed that the
detonation gas considerably affects the generation and
propagation of the fractures. The gas pressures in the
fractures gradually increased with time and the
maximum pressures were constant near the blast hole.
To verify the fracturing and the gas flow due to the
detonation of an explosive, experiments using a notched
charge hole were performed using two models. The
average propagation velocity of the incident waves was
4450 m/s. The average gas-propagation velocities were
178 m/sec.
The numerical gas-propagation velocity along the
fractures dramatically dropped at near the blast hole and
remained stable at about 150 m/s within a radius of
0.06-0.1 m (Fig. 9). The experimental average
gas-propagation velocity, 178 m/s, approximately agrees
with the numerical velocity at the observation point
0.05m in radius.
Finally, from the relation between gas flow and
radiating stress wave from adjacent holes, optimum
fragmentation condition with respect to the delay timing
in the bench blasting is discussed (Fig. 10). This gives a
significant insight to predict precise fragmentation
control with respect to delay time in field blast.
Figure 6 Comparison of fragmentations for general bench
blast and wide space pattern
1E-5 1E-4 1E-3 0.01 0.1 1 10
0
20
40
60
80
100
P
a
s
s
i
n
g

P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e

(
%
)
Size (m)
Type 1'(Wide Space)
Type 1
0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
M
e
a
n

f
r
a
g
m
e
n
t

s
i
z
e

(
D
5
0
)
Delay Time/Burden (ms/m)
Case 1
Case 2
Case 3
Case 4
Case 5

Figure 7 Variation of average size with the ratio of
delay time and burden
(b)
Fracture geometry (COD etc.)
Dynamic Fracture Process Analysis
Network Model for the Fractures
(Crack search algorithm)
Finite Difference Analysis for Gas Flow
Gas pressure
Figure 8 Flow chart of gas flow coupling with the
finite element analysis
Figure 10 Variation of optimum fragmentation
condition with various gas flow velocities
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
10.0
C
g
= 100 m/s
C
g
= 150 m/s
C
g
= 200 m/s
C
g
= 300 m/s
D
t
/
B

(
m
s
/
m
)
S/B ratio
Figure 9 Comparison of COD of the fractures due to (a) only
stress wave and (b) both stress wave and gas pressurization
at 900 s
0.8MPa
3.4MPa
(a)