Blast Patterns and Explosive
Distribution
Abbas Taheri
Terminology and geometry of open pit blasts
Stemming
Burden
Bench Height
Hole Length
Sub-drill
Cross Section through a single hole in a bench blast
The burden for an explosive charge is the shortest distance to a free face or
plane of relief.
It is therefore the direction in which it is expected that most work will be
done by the explosive charge.
Drilling Patterns
• An even distribution of explosives requires an even distribution of holes
Square pattern Staggered pattern
S:B = 1 S:B = 2
Effective Burden
Effective Spacing
The significance of burden
Blast patterns
• Patterns of holes are used to blast
large areas.
• These holes can be arranged in
different patterns relative to each
other and relative to the blast
boundaries.
• The relationship between burden
and spacing can vary over a wide
range to suit the distribution of
explosives and initiation pattern
required. Staggered blasthole pattern with two
free faces
Powder factor
Each hole is theoretically responsible for
blasting the bench height multiplied by
the spacing multiplied by the burden.
The amount of explosive that contributes
to blasting this volume includes the
explosive in the sub-drill because if this
were not provided it is likely that
breakage would be inadequate at the
grade of the new bench.
kilograms per bank cubic metre (kg/m3)
kilograms per tonne (kg/t)
Powder factor
• Powder factor is a convenient way to express the overall
amount of explosive that is used in a blast and is therefore a
convenient accounting concept.
• However it can be extended to describe the explosive
concentration and its variability within a blast volume.
• The work done by the explosive can be related to the
explosive concentration.
Problems with Powder Factor
• No guidance as to how specific blasting outcomes can be achieved.
• Rock mass dynamic and structural properties are ignored.
• “Powder Factor” is ambiguous.
• The actual sequence of events and blast hole timing are not considered.
However the Powder Factor gives you a general idea of blasting design
Bench blasting (2 free face): 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5
>> varied by Explosive type, Rock hardness, discontinuities condition, water etc.
Bench height etc.
Underground Tunnelling (1 free face): 0.7 ~ 1.5
>> varied by Explosive type, Rock hardness, discontinuities condition, water etc.
size of drift, cut design etc.
Powder factor
• This Figure shows the energy concentration on a cross section
through a blast pattern.
• The role of sub-drill ensuring breakage down to the new bench
floor and the impact of the stemming zone reducing the
explosive concentration near the bench surface are both
apparent on the plot.
Powder factor
Powder factor
A blast design using 127 mm diameter blastholes on a staggered pattern providing an
overall powder factor of 0.5 kg/bcm using ANFO.
The pattern shows a very even distribution of energy at concentrations above 2
kg/bcm. A fragmentation model indicates that the mean fragment size from this
blast would be 175 mm.
Powder factor
A pattern using 250 mm diameter blastholes in the same geometry and
providing the same powder factor.
The explosive concentration is clearly less even and fragmentation
modelling indicates that the mean fragment size would increase by 15%
to 202 mm.
Vertical blast hole
Angled blastholes
Angled blastholes
• Many open pit blasthole drills can drill angled holes, but this is
usually limited to within 20o of vertical for large diameter rigs.
• Drilling angled holes can increase the rate of wear on drill pipes
• Angled holes can suffer stability problems in broken or weak
ground.
• The length of the blasthole is increased compared with vertical
drilling and this difference needs to be taken into account in
charge calculations.
