Model rock blasting—effect of explosives properties and other variables on blasting results

Abstract Results of instrumented model blasting experiments in homogeneous granite and limestone showed that rock fragmentation is not controlled by a single explosive property but by a combination of several properties. Empirical fragmentation equations were developed for granite, limestone and sandstone. From these relationships an expression was developed that may be used to rate fragmentation performance of different explosives. The results also indicate that gage hole pressure can be related to fragmentation for PETN based explosives provided the proper corrections are applied to the measured pressure values.