Reduction of the undesirable bench-blasting consequences with emphasis on ground vibration using a developed multi-objective stochastic programming

Abstract In this research, a model was developed based on stochastic goal programming by considering the fuzzy weights and the risk aversion coefficients of the goals, in order to determine the best blasting plan with minimum ground vibration as a critical environmental consequence in surface mines. In this model, the binary decision variables (zero and one) were taken into consideration, in the form of selecting or not selecting the blasting plans in the developed model. In order to model the problem mathematically, for Asgarabad 2 limestone mine, the goals of reducing the air and ground vibration, reduction of fragmentation size, reduction of specific charge and reduction of the blasting costs at optimal levels were considered as the most important. The results obtained from solving the stochastic goal model suggested the selection of Plan 4 which includes a hole diameter of 64 mm, a burden of 2 m, a spacing of 2.2 m, a hole length of 3.5 m, a stemming length of 1.35 m, a specific charge of 154.45 g/tonne, a maximum charge per delay of 60 kg, the fragmentation size of 80 cm and a blasting cost of 6030 Rials/tonne (0.17 $/tonne). In practice, this plan also included the best results, confirming the validity of the obtained results. This implied the high accuracy of the response and good efficiency of the developed model. The main reason was to take into account, more real conditions, by considering the effect of the variance of blasting data and risk aversion coefficients of the goals.