The explosion process of explosives in a borehole applies a very high pressure on its surrounding rock media. This process can initiate and propagate rock fractures, and finally, may result in the rock fragmentation. Rock fragmentation is mainly caused by the propagation of inherent pre-existing fractures of the rock mass and also from the extension of the newly formed cracks within the intact ...

The particle size distribution of fragmented rock in mines significantly affects operational performance of loading equipment, materials handling and crushing systems. A number of methods to measure rock fragmentation exist at present, however these systems have a number of shortcomings in an underground environment. This paper outlines the first implementation of high resolution 3D laser scann...

Underground mining becomes more efficient due to the technological advancements of drilling and blasting methods and the developing of highly productive mining methods that facilitate easier access to ore. In the perspective of maximizing productivity in underground mining by drilling and blasting methods, overbreak control is an essential component. The causing factors of overbreak can simply ...

By evaluation of the blasting results, a proper blast pattern can be presented. It is, therefore, essential to employ a reliable method to evaluate blastings for the effective control and optimization of the main cycle operations. This paper aims to propose a criterion for evaluating the blasting results such as the fragmentation, muckpile condition, back-break, and fly rock, and to make a poss...

The assessment of fragmentation through blasting and therefore subsequent crushing and grinding stages is important in order to control and optimize the mining operation. Prediction of the mean size of fragmented rock by the rock mass characteristics, the blasting geometry, the technical parameters and the explosive properties is an important challenge for the blasting engineers. Some of the ef...

The use of blasting cost (BC) prediction to achieve optimal fragmentation is necessary in order to control the adverse consequences of blasting such as fly rock, ground vibration, and air blast in open-pit mines. In this research work, BC is predicted through collecting 146 blasting data from six limestone mines in Iran using the artificial neural networks (ANNs), gene expression programming (G...

explosion has always been regarded as one of the most complicated engineering problems. as a result, many engineers have preferred rather simplified empirical approaches in comparison to extremely complex deterministic analyses. in this paper, however, a numerical simulation based on the combined finite/discrete element methodology is presented for analyzing the dynamic behavior of fracturing r...