Drilling and blasting

Drilling and blasting is the controlled use of explosives and other methods such as
gas pressure blasting pyrotechnics, to break rock for excavation. It is practiced most
often in mining, quarrying and civil engineering such as dam or road construction.
The result of rock blasting is often known as arock cut.

Drilling and blasting currently utilizes many different varieties of explosives with
different compositions and performance properties. Higher velocity explosives are
used for relatively hard rock in order to shatter and break the rock, while low
velocity explosives are used in soft rocks to generate more gas pressure and a greater Rock blasting in Finland
heaving effect. For instance, an early 20th-century blasting manual compared the
effects of black powder to that of a wedge, and dynamite to that of a hammer.[1] The
most commonly used explosives in mining today areANFO based blends due to lower cost thandynamite.

Before the advent of tunnel boring machines, drilling and blasting was the only economical way of excavating long tunnels through
hard rock, where digging is not possible. Even today, the method is still used in the construction of tunnels, such as in the
construction of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel. The decision whether to construct a tunnel using a TBM or using a drill and blast
method includes a number of factors. Tunnel length is a key issue that needs to be addressed because large TBMs for a rock tunnel
have a high capital cost, but because they are usually quicker than a drill and blast tunnel the price per metre of tunnel is lower.[2]
This means that shorter tunnels tend to be less economical to construct with a TBM and are therefore usually constructed by drill and
blast. Managing ground conditions can also have a significant effect on the choice with different methods suited to different hazards
in the ground.

Contents
History
Procedure
Rock support
Gallery
See also
References
External links

History
The use of explosives in mining goes back to the year 1627,[3] when gunpowder was first used in place of mechanical tools in the
Hungarian (now Slovak) town of Banská Štiavnica. The innovation spread quickly throughout Europe and the Americas.

While drilling and blasting saw limited use in pre-industrial times using gunpowder (such as with the Blue Ridge Tunnel in the
United States, built in the 1850s), it was not until more powerful (and safer) explosives, such as dynamite (patented 1867), as well as
powered drills were developed, that its potential was fully realised.

Drilling and blasting was successfully used to construct tunnels throughout the world, notably the Fréjus Rail Tunnel, the Gotthard
Rail Tunnel, the Simplon Tunnel, the Jungfraubahn and even the longest road tunnel in the world, Lærdalstunnelen, are constructed
using this method.
In 1990, 2.1 million tonnes (2.32 million short tons) of commercial explosives were consumed in the United States, representing an
estimated expenditure of 3.5 to 4 billion 1993 dollars on blasting. Australia had the highest explosives consumption that year at 500
million tonnes (551 million short tons), withScandinavian countriesanother leader in rock blasting (Persson et al. 1994:1).

Procedure
As the name suggests, drilling and blasting works as follows:

A number of holes are drilled into the rock, which are then filled with
explosives.
Detonating the explosive causes the rock to collapse.
Rubble is removed and the new tunnel surface is reinforced.
Repeating these steps until desired excavation is complete.
The positions and depths of the holes (and the amount of explosive each hole
receives) are determined by a carefully constructed pattern, which, together with the
correct timing of the individual explosions, will guarantee that the tunnel will have A drill jumbo during the construction
an approximately circular cross-section. of Citybanan under Stockholm, used
for drilling holes for explosives
During operation, blasting mats may be used to contain the blast, suppress dust and
[4][5]
noise, for fly rock prevention and sometimes to direct the blast.

Rock support
As a tunnel or excavation progresses the roof and side walls need to be supported to stop the rock falling into the excavation. The
philosophy and methods for rock support vary widely but typical rock support systems can include:

Rock bolts or rock dowels

Shotcrete
Ribs or mining arches and lagging
Cable bolts
In-situ concrete
Typically a rock support system would include a number of these support methods, each intended to undertake a specific role in the
rock support such as the combination of rock bolting and shotcrete.

Gallery
Blast hole drilling with Tamrock Scout 700 Blast-hole drilling at the Bingham Canyon
Mine, Utah. Note the pattern of drill holes
being prepared for blasting.

Loading blast holes withANFO Rock surface newly blasted. This is called
pre-split, it's a technique to leave a smooth
face.
Sideling Hill road cut formed by rock Tire blasting mats for fly rock prevention
blasting and dust suppression.

Map describing the clearance zones

during blasting in a limestone quarry.
These notices are produced by surveyors
(see topography).

See also
Demolition
Building implosion

References
Persson, Per-Anders; Roger Holmberg; Jaimin Lee (1994).Rock Blasting and Explosives Engineering. Boca Raton,
Fla.: CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-8978-X.

Notes

1. Maurice, William (c. 1910).The Shot-Firer's Guide(https://archive.org/stream/shotfirersguidep00maurrich#page/78/

mode/2up). London: "The Electrician" Printing and Publishing Company Ltd. pp. 79–80.
2. Kolymbas, Dimitrios (2005).Tunelling and tunnel mechanics: a rational approach to tunnelling. Springer-Verlag.
p. 444. ISBN 3-540-25196-0.
 3. Gary L. Buffington, The Art of Blasting on Construction and Surface Mining Sites(http://www.onepetro.org/mslib/serv
let/onepetropreview?id=ASSE-00-005), American Society of Safety Engineers (2000).
4. Hansen, T. C., ed. (2004). Recycling of Demolished Concrete and Masonry(https://books.google.com/books?id=z4K
M4Xrr6Y0C&dq=blasting+mat&hl=sv&source=gbs_navlinks_s)(Illustrated ed.). Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
p. 284. ISBN 0-203-62645-1.
5. "Incidents like Cape Ray blasting mishap deemed rare"(http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/inci
dents-like-cape-ray-blasting-mishap-deemed-rare-1.3205477) . www.cbc.ca. CBC News. 27 August 2015. Retrieved
26 September 2015.

External links
"Air Curtain Fences Blast"Popular Mechanics, August 1954, pp. 96–97, the delicate controlled blast in 1954 to
connect the two reservoirs at a Canadian Niagara Falls power station.
Hogeboom, Charles L. (1879). "Blasting". The American Cyclopædia.
"Blasting". Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 44–48.This is an extensive survey of techniques
used in the early 20th century.

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