Rock Fragmentation

Oleh:
Dr. Singgih Saptono
 Fragmentation
A blasted rock muckpile and the fragment sizes within it
are very important for the mining industry since they
affect the downstream processes from hauling to
grinding.
The size distribution of the blasted muckpile can be
predicted by a variety of semi empirical models which
are based on blast design parameters, such as burden,
spacing, drillhole diameter, bench height and explosives
consumption.
It has been the experience of many researchers that
these models are quite successful in predicting the mean
fragment size; however they lack accuracy in predicting
the 80% passing size used in comminution calculations.
A simple diagrammatic
presentation of
Drill to Mill
fragmentation flow
sheet
Mechanism of breakage by flexion
 Potential problems related to
stiffness ratio

The ratio of bench height (H) to effective firing burden

(Be) represents the stiffness ratio in a surface mine bench
blast.
 Fragmentation

Good fragmentation with good Poor fragmentation with

uniformity inside the muckpile boulders inside
the muckpile
 Uncontrollable factors
Uncontrollable parameters concerning
blast design are
The rock mass properties and
The geological structure
 These factors also influence the blast design
parameters and the fragmentation produced;
thus their effects to blasting need to be
quantified (Tandanand, 1973; Hustrulid, 1999) .
Rock factor
A = 0.06*(RMD + JF + RDI + HF)
where RMD is the mass description, JF is the
joint factor, RDI is the rock density influence
and HF is the hardness factor. Details on the
model can be found in Cunninghams
publication (Cunningham, 1987).
 Controllable factors
A- Geometric: Diameter, charge
length, burden, spacing etc.
B- Physicochemical or pertaining to
explosives: Types of explosives,
strength, energy, priming systems,
etc.
C- Time: Delay timing and initiation
sequence.
 Geometric parameters are actually influenced
by uncontrollable and controllable factors,

(i) Diameter (d) and Depth of Drillhole (di).

(ii) Inclination (di) and Subdrilling Depth (SUB) of Drillhole.
(iii) Height (ls) and Material of Stemming.
(iv) Bench Height (Hb).
(v) Spacing to Burden Ratio (m b).
(vi) Blast Size, Direction and Configuration.
(vii) Initiating Sequence and System.
(viii) Buffers and Free Faces.
(ix) Explosive Type, Energy and Loading Method.
(x) Powder Factor q =Q/Vo where Q is the total quantity of
explosive per borehole and V is the total volume of rock
blasted.
 Fragmentation Models
Particle sizing

Gates-Gaudin-Schumann function

Where y is the fraction of the muckpile with particle size

smaller than x, n is a distribution parameter and ks is the
maximum particle size.

Rosin-Rammler equation

where b is a constant.
The Rosin-Rammler equation has been
used by Cunningham for blasting
analysis

where R is the fraction of material retained on a screen, x

is the screen size, xc is a constant, called the characteristic
size, and n is the uniformity index.

The uniformity index, typically, has values from 0.6 to 2.2.

The value of n determines the shape of a curve. A value of
0.6 means that the muckpile is non uniform (dust and
boulders) while a value of 2.2 means a uniform muckpile
with the majority of fragments close to the mean size
(Clark, 1987).
These equations are often used in combination
with Kuznetsovs equation,
which is expressed in terms of the quantity of
explosive per blasthole, Q e and the relative to
ANFO weight strength of explosives, EANFO and
the powder factor, q = Q/Vo.
 The following parameters are
related to muckpile uniformity.
(i) Distribution of explosive in the
blast (burden, spacing to burden
ratio, borehole diameter, collar,
subgrade, bench height)
(ii) Firing accuracy of detonators
used
(iii) Timing of detonators used
(iv) In situ fragmentation due to
geological discontinuities
Cunningham expressed the uniformity index
n by

where B is the burden in m, d is the hole diameter in

mm, Dt is the standard deviation of drilling accuracy in m,
mb is the spacing to burden ratio, lcb is the charge length
above grade level in (m) and Hb is the bench height in (m).
where BL is the bottom charge length above
grade (m), CL is the column charge length (m),
and lcb is the total charge length above grade.
(Cunningham, 1987)
Where C(n ) is a correction factor used to calibrate the
model if data are available and ns is a factor
incorporating scatter of the delay times used in the blast.
The factor ns can be expressed as follows:

With t being the standard deviation

of the initiation system and Tx the
desired delay
time between holes.
Kuz-Ram model