Simulation of Damage Zones

Induced by Destress Blasting

Atsushi Sainoki, Postdoctoral Fellow, McGill
University
Hani, S. Mitri, Professor, McGill University
 Outline
• Background
• Methodology
– 3D numerical model
– Constitutive model
– Analysis conditions
• Results
– Effect of in-situ stress state
– Effect of stress orientation
• Estimation of stress reduction due to destress blasting
• Conclusions
 Rockbursts due to High Stress Conditions

Drift advance

Drift developments at great depths generate extremely high stress conditions.

Rockbursts due to High Stress Conditions

The high stress condition leads to strainbursts involving rock ejection.

 Destress Blasting Practices

Fractured zone
• Blast-induced damage (fractures)
dissipates strain energy stored in
rockmass, thereby decreasing the risk for
rockbursts.
• The technique has been widely employed
over the past decades not only in deep
hard rock mines but also in deep coal
mines all over the world (Andrieux et al,
2013; Konicek et al, 2013).
 Previous Study on Modelling of Destress
Blasting
• In order to take into account the effect of destress blasting, a parameter, α, is
proposed by Blake (1972).

Eafter  Ebefore   The rigidity of rockmass is decreased with α, which allows for blast-
induced fractures.

• Tang and Mitri (2001) propose an additional parameter, β, which takes into
account blast-induced stress reduction.

 after   before  1    Stress is reduced in the area where fracturing takes place due
to destress blasting.

• Assumed damage (destressed) zone,

Drift where α and β were applied in previous
study
 Scope and Objectives

• The proposed parameters are applied only to blast-induced damage zones.

• It is still not clear that how large area is subjected to damage due to destress blasting.

How large?

This study focuses on estimating the extent of

blast-induced damage zone.
 Methodology

• Dynamic analysis is performed using a 3D numerical model with a single

blast hole.

• Inherent heterogeneity of rockmass strength is taken into account with

Weibull’s distribution.
• Optimized blast pressure profile for ANFO explosive is employed.
• Yielding is simulated with failure criteria allowing for strain rate.
 3D Numerical Model

4m 7m

Toe of blast hole

0.1 m Blast hole (6m)
4m

Blasthole Blasted area

Sectional view Longitudinal sectional view

• The blasthole is 6 m long with a diameter of 0.1 m.

• Only a small part of the blasthole is blasted, which is consistent with actual
destress blasting.
 Mechanical Properties of Rockmass

Mechanical properties of rock derived from a deep hard rock mine in

Canada are applied to the model (Malek et al, 2009).

Rock E: Elastic σc: Uxial ϕ: ν: Poisson’s γ: Unit σT : Tensile :

type modulus compressive Friction ratio weight strength Dilation
strength angle angle
Granite 60 GPa 240 MPa 63˚ 0.26 25.5 11 MPa 8.75˚
kN/m3

The type of the rock is granite, which is hard rock and subjected to
rockburst under high stress conditions (Hongjian et al, 2015).
 Weibull’s Distribution

• Weibull’s distribution is used to take

into account the heterogeneity of rock.
Blasthole
m u 
m 1   u m 
f u     exp     (Zhu et al, 2013)
u0  u0    u0  

• The parameter, m, representing the

degree of heterogeneity is set to 1.5.
• Obviously, it would be future study to
examine the effect of m on the extent
of damage zones.
Sectional view showing tensile strength
 Initial Stress State

Initial stress state applied to the model is based on equations for a deep hard
rock mine in Canada (O’Donnell, 1992).

1  0.042  D  10.35 Maximum horizontal stress

 2  0.033  D  8.69 Minimum horizontal stress

 3  0.029  D Vertical stress

Unit: MPa
D: Mining depth (m)

As a base case, it is assumed that σ1 acts in the direction perpendicular to the blast hole.
 Constitutive Models
Failure criteria taking into account strain rate are employed (Hao and Hao, 2013).

For uniaxial compressive strength:

CDIF  0.018668log    1.291887 for 1s 1    220 s 1

CDIF  1.8547log    7.9014log    9.6674 for 220 s 1    1000 s 1

2

 c     c  CDIF

For tensile strength:

TDIF  0.059805log    1.35883 for 10 6 s 1    220 s 1

TDIF  0.560483log    1.387057log    2.125599 for 0.1 s 1    50 s 1

2

 T     T  TDIF
 Borehole Pressure

Borehole pressure  load amplitude  peak borehole pressure

• The peak borehole pressure of ANFO is estimated to be 2.5 GPa for a blasthole
with a diameter of 86 mm (Saharan and Mitri, 2009).
 Borehole Pressure Considering Detonation
Propagation

Longitudinal view

• The borehole pressure is applied to the blasthole while considering the propagation
of detonation.
• Detonation velocity is assumed to be 4700 m/s (Adams et al, 1993).
 Analysis Procedure

1. Static analysis to simulate in-situ stress state

2. Dynamic analysis to simulate destress blasting
What’s Examined with the Numerical Model

Primary objective is to investigate the extent of yielding zone.

― Effect of mining depth (in-situ stress magnitude)

― Effect of stress orientation and blast hole orientation

Magnitude of a stress drop caused by destress blasting

How large stress reduction takes

place in damage area?
 Effect of In-situ Stress

Mining depth is
1000 m.
Plan view Longitudinal section

Mining depth is
2000 m.
Plan view Longitudinal section

Mining depth is
3000 m.
Plan view Longitudinal section
 Results

• Volume of yielding (damage) zones decreases with the increasing mining depth.
• The reduction can be approximated with an quadratic function.
 Effect of Stress Orientation

Effect of stress orientation on the extent of damage zones is investigated.

 Results
Analysis are performed for Case A, B, and C, assuming a mining depth of 2000 m.

Volume of yielding zone

Case A 0.90 m3

Case B 0.82 m3

Case C 0.94 m3

Base case 0.90 m3

The effect of stress and blasthole orientations on the volume of yielding zones is
much less, compared to the effect of mining depth.
Estimation of Stress Drop induced by Destress
Blasting
Based on the obtained yielding zones, stress reduction induced by destress
blasting is simulated.

1. Modulus of elasticity in the yielding zone is decreased by α.

2. The in-situ stresses are applied to the model boundaries.
 Simulated Stress Reduction

Result when α = 0.1 (E=0.1E in damage area)

Based on the stress reduction, an average value of β is computed.

 after   before  1    β = 0.84

 Summary of Stress Reduction
• A model parametrical study with respect to α are performed.
• For each case, β is computed.

• As α decreases, β increases, i.e.,

more significant stress reduction.
• It appears that mining depth does
not influence on stress reduction
rate.
• Thus, the relationship between α
and β can be used irrespective of
mining depth.
 Conclusions

• The extent of damage zone significantly decreases with increasing mining

depth.

• Compared to the effect of mining depth, stress orientation has an lesser

influence on blast-induced damage.

• The relationship between mining depth and volume of damage zone has
been established for hard rock under stress state in the Canadian Shield.

• A stress drop induced by destress blasting is simulated.

• Based on the simulations, the relationship between the parameters, α and

β, has been developed.
 Acknowledgements

• This work is financially supported by a grant by the Natural Science and

Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in partnership with Vale
Ltd – Sudbury Operations, Canada, under the Collaborative Research and
Development Program. The authors are grateful for their support.
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