Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 513519 www.elsevier.

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Design of a model blasting system to measure peak p-wave stress

Korichi Talhi*, Bachir Bensaker
partement de Ge nie Minier et dElectronique, Universite dAnnaba, BP 12, Annaba 23000, Algeria De

Abstract Literature review information and model scale rock blasting tests have been utilized to study the effects of some blast and fragmentation parameters on peak p-wave stress. A method for modelling scaled blasting in sandstone blocks with dimensions 515 335 215 mm3 has been presented. The dynamic and static properties of the sandstone are given. The results from model blasting experiments instrumented with pressure gauges are discussed. It is also shown there exists a useful correlation between blast, fragmentation parameters and peak p-wave stress. q 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Model blasting; p-wave stress; Sandstone; Fragmentation; Experiments

1. Introduction The study of stress waves in soils and rocks has been carried out for many years under the impetus of problems of damage from underground and surface blasts of exploration seismology and of detecting nuclear explosions. Theoretical studies of stress wave propagation have been carried out by assuming a reasonable pressure input to the fractured zone of a long cylindrical charge [1]. The US Bureau of Mines and others have made extensive measurements on wave propagation. Concurrent studies of stress wave propagation in plastics, metals, and rock cores have also been reported [2 4]. A detailed development of stress wave theory is given in Refs. [5 9]. It has been found that the blast parameters have signicant effects on the model blasting results. The rate of decay of the peak strain, generated by conned explosives, with distance as a function of the physical properties of the rock as well as the size (diameter) and the depth of burial of the explosive charge have also been studied [10,11]. The effect of decoupling of the charge in a cavity is known as the decrease of the peak of the seismic signal produced by the explosion [12]. Similar effects should be observed in laboratory-scale model blasting if a sufcient degree of similitude is achieved. The main purpose of this work is to develop a suitable method for instrumented model scale blasting. The experiments were conducted in sandstone in the form of
* Corresponding author. 0267-7261/03/$ - see front matter q 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0267-7261(03)00018-6

blocks. This paper gives the results of instrumented tests in such blocks using pressure gauges to study the effects of blast and fragmentation parameters on peak p-wave stress.

2. Model scale blasting In model blasting concerning a particular explosive/rock system, the peak p-wave stress Ppw is a function of the form Ppw f W ; Lb ; Ls ; S; d; Rc ; N where with reference Fig. 1, Ppw is the peak p-wave stress produced by an explosion in a charge hole, W is the burden, which is the distance between the main body of the charge and the nearest free face, Lb is the stemming length, which is the material prepared and wrapped in cartridge form used for sealing a blasthole after the charge has been placed, S is the spacing, which is the linear distance between blastholes parallel to a free face, Rc is the decoupling which is the ratio of the diameter of the hole to the diameter charge and N is the hole number in round which is the series of blastholes required to produce a unit of advance in a face. If Lb is constant, Eq. (1) will be of the form Ppw f W ; Ls ; S; d; Rc ; N 2 1

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The validity of model scale tests for studying the blasting phenomena has been shown by Singh et al. [14]. The results obtained from small scale blasting are only qualitative because of the inability to provide the required rock and explosive characteristics to meet similitude requirements [15,16].

3. Properties of the sandstone materials Before blasting, the sandstone material properties were determined by static and dynamic experiments. The results are summarised in Table 1. The representative cores are obtained from a block sandstone sample; 38 mm rock cores were cut from it. All core samples were cut to length/diameter of 2.5. The ends of cores were grounded at and parallel. The diameter and the length of each specimen were measured and the mass of each specimen was determined immediately before testing. Specimens were afxed to two laterally and two axially oriented foil strain gauges of type N22-FA-5-120-H. These pairs were placed diametrically opposite each other and located centrally on the specimen. During testing the pairs were connected up with the pairs of gauges on dummy sample away from the machine to obtain temperature variation compensation. A Wheatstone bridge was formed and strain changes were monitored by changes in the voltage across the bridge. The compression tests were carried out in a fastresponse, closed-loop, programmable testing machine. To carry out a test, the specimen was inserted in the testing machine between platens having the same diameter as the specimen. The program was switched on and the specimen was then displaced at a constant rate of 2 1023 mm/s corresponding to an axial strain rate of about 3 1023%/s. Displacement was thus the independent variable and force was the dependent variable. Failure was then controlled beyond the peak force because the displacement was programmed to increase at a constant rate regardless of whether this necessitated a rise or fall in applied force. The load was
Table 1 Summary of the sandstone materials testing Property Uniaxial compressive strength, C0 (MPa) Tensile strength, T (MPa) Shear strength, t (MPa) Density, g (g/cm3) P-wave velocity Cp (m/s) S-wave velocity, Cs (m/s) Youngs modulus static, E (GPa) Youngs modulus dynamic, Ed (GPa) Poissons ratio static, m Poissons ratio dynamic, md Mean value 37 3.4 11 2.25 4000 2429 24 28 0.15 0.21

Fig. 1. Model congurations used in the blast tests (1-blasthole, 2-pressure guage, W -burden, S-spacing).

The task of relating these variables in some mathematical form is an extremely difcult one. In order to simplify the problem, one of the parameters was varied while the others remained constant. It is always recommended to conduct blasting experiments in full scale so that they include the structural discontinuities present in the rock mass. This type of work requires handling of large volumes of broken material and thus increases the cost and the difculty of the experiment. It is generally not possible to carry out enough repeats to make a statistically signicant analysis of results. This explains why, only a few eld studies have been undertaken where all the blasted fragments were recovered and screened. Dick et al. [13] have overcome this drawback by conducting the experiments on a reduced scale in situ rock with physically consistent properties.

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monitored with a pressure transducer and a complete force displacement curve was obtained for each specimen on an X Y recorder. Remote X Y chart recorder that was used to monitor the axial and the lateral displacement detected by the stain gauges additionally monitored axial load. The load displacement curves obtained from the X Y recorder were converted to stress strain curves by dividing the load by the original cross-sectional area of the specimen to give stress and by dividing the displacement by the original length of the specimen to give strain. The uniaxial compressive strength C0 was obtained from the peak of each curve. Youngs modulus E and Poissons ratio m were obtained from the stress strain axial and lateral curves. The details are given in Talhi et al. [17]. The method used to determine the tensile strength T of the sandstone was the indirect tensile strength. The Brazilian test was performed using 38 mm diameter specimen and thickness equal to the specimen radius. From the load at failure and the specimen dimensions, the tensile strength was calculated. The shear box was used to determine the shear strength t: The specimen and plaster were placed into the shear box and constant holding load was applied by means of a hand operated hydraulic pump. Another such pump was used to apply a shearing load along the shear plane. This load was progressively increased until rupture occurred. Knowing the force applied along the shearing plane and the cross sectional area, the shear strength was computed. The dynamic properties of the sandstone were determined indirectly by measuring the propagation velocities in the sandstone. In pulse techniques, a mechanical impulse is imported to a specimen. The time required for the transient pulse to traverse the specimen length is used to calculate the wave velocity. The instrumentation consisted of pulse generator, sample holder assembly, a timer stabiliser, an amplier and an oscilloscope. Two sample holder assemblies were employed. One was used to determine the p-wave velocity CP and the other was used to determine the s-wave velocity CS : The sample holder assembly contained two rectangular (in CP experiments) or triangular (in CS experiments) Pyrex glass plates upon which were placed transducers. The pulse coming directly from the pulse generator was transmitted through the specimen by one glass wedge (driver) and picked by an other (pickup) connected to the amplier. The amplied signal was fed to an oscilloscope. The wave travel in a specimen was recorded from the timer and checked by the time indicated on the oscilloscope. Knowing CP and CS ; dynamic E-modulus Ed and dynamic Poisson ratio md were calculated.

the difculty of the preparation of a large number of blocks, the authors decided to carry out two shots in each block. The block dimensions were such that for any set of boreholes, the minimum distance from the edge of any hole to the block side was not less than 2.5 times the burden. This forces the cracks to take place in the burden towards the face. The blastholes in each block were drilled parallel to the blasted surface with different model groups in order to study the effect of the pattern parameters (hole diameter, hole length, burden and hole spacing) on shock wave pressure from the experiment in the groups A C (Fig. 1(b)) and for two hole patterns in the groups D and E (Fig. 1(c)). The experiments involving decoupling were also presented. To study the effect of each of these parameters on the shock wave pressure, the experiments were divided as shown in Table 2. 4.1. Shothole diameter experiments In the experiments concerning the group A and B (Table 2(a)), the hole diameters were, respectively, taken equal to 11 and 5.5 mm. The explosive quantity for a pattern in the experiments of the group A was twice the explosive quantity of the same pattern for the experiments of the group B (two equal lengths of the detonating fuse were inserted in the hole for the experiments of the group A and one length, only, for the experiments of the group B). The burden was included in the experiments concerning the two groups and was varied from 15 to 60 mm. The decoupling ratio and the borehole length were kept constant. 4.2. Shothole length experiments In the experiments concerning the groups B and C (Table 2(b)), the hole depths were, respectively, taken equal to 80 and 60 mm, the burden was varied from 15 to 50 mm. The decoupling ratio and the loading density were kept constant. 4.3. Experiments concerning the burden To obtain the optimum burden W0 from the groups A C, the total weight of the fragment was used for each shot. The optimum burden (Table 2(c)) was taken equal to 75% of the burden which gives the maximum total weight of broken material (W0 75% of Livingstons optimum burden). 4.4. Hole spacing experiments (a) The experiments of the group D (Table 2(c)) were divided into three series of tests: In the rst series of tests with two hole patterns, the optimum burden (W0 30 mm) was dened from the results of the experiments of the group B. The hole diameter (d 5.5 mm), the hole length (Ls 80 mm), and the explosive quantity (80 mm of detonating fuse) were kept constant.

4. Preparation of models The rock was sawn into shaped blocks (Fig. 1(a)) with the dimensions of 515 335 215 mm3. Because of

516 Table 2 Summary of the series of tests Model group (a) Shot hole diameter tests A B (b)Shot hole length tests B C Series of tests (c)Hole spacing tests D1 D2 D3 E Cases (d) Decoupling tests Single hole Two holes

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Hole diameter d; mm

Explosive charge Q

Burden (W ), mm

Hole length Ls ; mm

11 5.5

2Q 1Q

1560 1560

80 80

5.5 5.5 Hole diameter d; mm

1Q 1Q Optimum burden W0 ; mm

1550 1550 Spacing burden ratio S=W

80 60 Hole length Ls ; mm

Spacing optimum burden ratio S=W0

5.5 5.5 11 5.5 Hole diameter (d), mm

30 22 40 Burden (W), mm

116 Hole length (Ls), mm

80 60 80 80 Spacing optimum burden ratio (S/W0)

25 25 25

5.5; 6.5; 7; 8 5.5; 6.5; 7; 8

2050

80 80

25

In the second series of tests, the optimum burden (W0 22 mm) was dened from the experiments of the group C. The hole diameter (d 5.5 mm) and the charge length (Ls 60 mm of detonating fuse) were kept constant. In the third series of tests, the optimum burden (W0 40 mm) was calculated from the results of the experiments of the group A. The hole diameter (d 11 mm), the hole length (Ls 80 mm), and the explosive quantity (80 mm of the detonating fuse) were kept constant. (b) The experiments of the group E (Table 2(c)) consisted of a series of tests where the product S W was taken equal to 3600 mm2 for all experiments, while the ratio S=W was varied from 1 to 16. The hole diameter ( d 5:5 mm), the hole length (Ls 80 mm) and the explosive quantity (80 mm detonating fuse) were kept constant.

Two hole pattern tests using the optimum burden, the hole spacing was changed from 2 to 5 W0 ; for different hole diameters.

For all experiments in both groups D and E, the decoupling was kept constant and the ratio S=W0 was varied from 2 to 5. 4.5. Decoupling experiments Two cases were investigated (Table 2(d)): Single hole pattern tests, the burden was varied from 20 to 50 mm for different hole diameters.

In both cases, the shot hole diameters of 5.5, 6.5, 7, 8 and 80 mm deep were examined. The hole charges (an 80 mm length of detonating fuse and 5 mm diameter) were kept constant and placed in the hole centre. The blastholes were charged with P.E.T.N as the explosive (loading density 7.0 g/m, velocity of detonation 6900 m/s and outside diameter 5 mm) and incorporated a single electric N86 cap to simultaneously initiate a single or two charges outside the blastholes. For reasons of safety the block was placed in a special steel box and was clamped in two directions to reduce the inuence of side, bottom and front surface on fragmentation. A piece of plastic foam with thickness 10 mm was used to cover the model to prevent secondary breakage. After blasting all fragments were collected and sieved.

5. Experimental technique, apparatus and testing method The experimental technique was as follows: at a distance equal to the burden, behind the shot hole one water lled gauge hole was included (Fig. 1). The pressure gauge port connection was extended using an adaptor and terminated in

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an open pipe which was inserted into the hole, while the main body above the surface was connected to a display system. The gauge measured the pressure pulse produced in the water lled hole. For all shots, measurements were made of the fragmentation size and gauge hole pressure. It was clear that the pulse duration was going to be in the sub millisecond region, so the only obvious choice was an oscilloscope with digital storage and single shot facility. The gauge chosen has a nominal range of 0.14 bar (2 psi), with a burst pressure of 0.70 bar (10 psi). This was considerably more than required, but the device displayed good resolution over the small range used. It is temperature compensated and internally regulated. This means that variation in supply voltage does not affect the result, as long as it stays in the range of 8 20 V. The output is to steady 1 V at atmospheric pressure, with linear rise to 6 V at 0.14 bar (2 psi). This makes this device very convenient to use as 1V 25 bar (400 psi). The device is rugged, well made and proved to be reliable. The voltage source for detonator was a current limited power supply, which was fed through a switchbox, and then to the ring cable. A tap was taken downstream of the switchbox and fed into the oscilloscope external trigger, so that when the button is pushed the trigger and the shot were synchronised. The full system of the blasting model apparatus used is shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3. Pressure in water lled guage hole as a function of time for one of the experiments.

It is now necessary to nd the corresponding peak stress Ppw in the sandstone at the position of the water lled borehole. For such a quasi-static case, assuming linear elastic behaviour the following formulae can be used [18].
2 g0 Cp0 P0 2 Ppw 1 gpw Cspw

where Ppw refers to values in the incoming wave (in the sandstone) and P0 refers to values in the transmitted wave (in the water lled borehole), g0 is the density of the water, gpw is the density of the sandstone, Cp0 is the p-wave velocity in the water, and Cspw is the s-wave velocity in the sandstone. Using g0 1000 kg/m 3, gpw 2250 kg/m3 , Cp0 1500 m/s, and Cspw 2429 m/s one can obtain from Eq. (3). P0 0:17 Ppw 4

6. Measuring the pressure in water lled borehole From the chart recorder, the peak pressure P0 obtained in the water lled borehole was measured; a typical result is shown in Fig. 3 which is for one of the experiments.

In this case of water lled borehole in sandstone, the peak pressure in the water is 17% of the stress in the p-wave front. Using Eq. (3), the corresponding peak p-wave stress in the sandstone at the burden W is then calculated. The fragmentation from each blast was weighed and passed over a set of sieves. The sizes of the sieves used were 76, 38, 19, 9.5 and 4.75 mm. Each size fraction fragmentation was weighed and its cumulative mass percentage was calculated. The average fragment sizes were also computed.

7. Analysis and discussion of results The experiment of groups A and B show an increase in the shock wave pressure at the free face in the case of the smaller burden distance and explosive charge (Fig. 4). This indicates that the attenuation of peak of the shock wave pressure through the rock (for a particular rock and an explosive) depends on the quantity of the explosive and the distance from the explosive charge (when the other variables such as length of the charge, decoupling, and stemming are constant).

Fig. 2. Arrangement of the signal recording apparatuses.

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Fig. 4. Peak p-wave stress vs. W and Q as a parameter (single hole shots).

Fig. 6. Peak p-wave stress vs. S=Wo and d as a parameter (two hole pattern shots).

It can be seen from curves (B and C), in Fig. 4, that the shock wave pressure/explosive length is slightly higher for the experiments using the shorter charge (group C), when decoupling, loading density of the explosive and the burden are constant. From this gure it can be seen that the pressure is also changing in proportion to the total charge, Q: Fig. 5 shows shock pressure as a function of S=W0 and S=W for the experiments in groups D and E. The results may be interpreted as, peak shock pressure decreases with increasing S=W0 (at constant W0 ) and increases with increasing S=W (at constant S W ). Figs. 6 and 7 show peak shock pressure versus burden for the single hole pattern tests and S=W0 for two hole pattern tests at various decoupling degrees. These gures show that decoupling the charge reduces signicantly the peak of shock wave pressure. An attempt was made to unify all data on average fragment size and peak pressure of shock wave from all the experiments at Ls 80 mm and with a constant explosive quantity. This data are plotted in Figs. 8 and 9, and it was found a proportional relationship between the shock wave

pressure and the average fragment size. Thus, it is more reasonable when efcient fragmentation is analysed to look for factors which give rise to the shock wave value. These include small burden, good decoupling, small spacing distance, a higher explosion pressure and small hole depth.

Fig. 7. Peak p-wave stress vs. S=Wo and d as a parameter (two hole pattern shots).

Fig. 5. Peak p-wave stress vs. S=W and S=Wo (two hole pattern shots).

Fig. 8. Average fragment size vs. peak p-wave stress (single hole pattern shots).

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Acknowledgements The authors are indebted to Prof. G.M. Maxwell and his staff, Strathclyde University, for their many suggestions and to Visiting Prof. I. Malyarov, Magnitogorsk Mining and Metallurgical Institute, for his interest in this work.

References
[1] Blair DP. Rise times of attenuated seismic pulses detected in both empty and uid-lled cylindrical boreholes. Geophysics 1984;49: 398410. [2] Rustan P. Burden. Spacing and borehole diameter at rock blasting. Third International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, Brisbane, Australia; 2631 August, 1990. p. 30310. [3] Yang ZG. The inuence of primary structure on fragmentation by blasting. First International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, Lulea Univeristy of Technology; 2226 August, 1983. [4] Fletcher LR, DAndrea DV. Control y rock in blasting. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Exploration and Blast Technique by Konya, Atlanta, GA, Society of Exploration Engineering Montville; 9 14 February, 1986. p. 16777. [5] Dowding CH. Blast vibration monitoring and control. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1985. [6] Jiang J, Blair DP, Baird GR. Surface vibrations due to a buried explosive source. Fourth International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Basting, Vienna, Austria; 1993. p. 8996. [7] Blair DP, Jiang J. Surface vibrations due to a vertical column of explosive. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech 1995;32:149 54. [8] Dowding CH. Construction vibrations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1996. [9] Ghosh A, Daemen JK. Statistics. A better blast vibration predictions, research and engineering applications in rock mechanics. Proceedings of the 26th US Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Rapid City, South Dakota; 2628 June, 1985. p. 114150. [10] Atchison TC. In: Peicher EP, editor. Fragmentation principles in surface mining. AIME; 1968. p. 355 72. [11] Blair DP, Minchinton A. On the damage zone surrounding a single blasthole. Fifth International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, Montreal, Canada; 1996. p. 121 30. [12] Konya CJ, Britton R, Lukovic S. Charge decoupling and its effect on energy release and transmission for one dynamite and water gel explosive. Proceedings of the Third Mini-Symposium on Explosives and Blasting Research, Miami Florida; 56 February, 1987. [13] Dick RA, Fletcher LR, DAndrea DV. A study of fragmentation from blasting in limestone at a reduced scale, R.I 7704, US Bureau of Mines; 1973. [14] Singh DP, Saluja SS, Rao YVA. A laboratory study of effects of joints on rock fragmentation. Proceedings of the 21st US Rock Mechanics Symposium, University of Missouri Rolla; 1980. [15] Martin CW, Murphy C. Prediction of fracture due to explosives. Eng Mech Div ASCE 1963;89:13350. [16] Da Gama CD. Laboratory studies of communication in rock blasting. MS Thesis, University of Minnesota; 1970. termination des proprie te s de re sistance dun gre `s [17] Talhi K, et al. De riaux 2000;3:225 30. naturel. Annales de Chimie-Sciences des Mate [18] Bjarnholt G, Skhalare H. Instrumented model scale blasting in concrete. First International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, Lulea University of Technology; 2326 August, 1983.

Fig. 9. Average fragment size vs. peak p-wave stress (two hole pattern shots).

It would be useful to correlate the experimental results to a real quarry face from different geological conditions. This could be achieved by lowering a gauge down a test hole in a sausage bag lled with liquid. This thin bag would squat at the bottom achieving a reasonably good coupling with the rock. Planning and performing the type of experiments reported in this work has given valuable experience for future instrumented blasting. It would be possible to connect a second device to the second channel of the display system to analyse simultaneously two different functions. The sandstone material properties testing can be limited, for a standard case, to measurements of p-wave velocity, swave velocity and density.

8. Conclusions The use of a small quantity of explosive charge and pressure transducers, both in small diameter holes in a block of rock, gives good quality values for the peak pressure of the shock wave. Each of the charge loading parameters has a signicant effect on the peak p-wave stress. The peak wave pressure is signicantly reduced by decoupling the charge. There is a proportional relationship between the shock wave pressure and the fragmentation. To make instrumentation possible and to ensure reproducibility of initiation, detonation and fragmentation, the size of the experiment should be reasonably reduced.