Numerical investigation on impacts of blast-hole deviation on fragmentation

Purpose and goal

The project objectives are to develop a procedure to evaluate the impact of blast-hole deviation on the blast performance based on cutting edge numerical modelling and develop a modelling-based assessment procedure for given blast-hole deviation patterns. The goal is to provide a better understanding of the effects of blast-hole deviation on fragmentation and develop a numerical tool to evaluate the effects.

Expected results and effects

The expected results include the numerical modelling method for investigating the effect of hole deviation on fragmentation. A code will be developed to evaluate the fragment size distributrion based on numerical modelling results. The effect of blast-hole deviation patterns and extents on fragmentation will be quantificationally investigated by comparing the fragment size distribution and the mean fragment size.

Planned approach and implementation

The project will be executed as a joint project between Epiroc and LTU. The work is divided into different work packages. The planned time for this project is 6 months. The small-scale experiments will be modelled to investigate the effect of blast-hole deviation on blast fragmentation first. Since the small-scale experiments only investigated collaring deviations with straight vertical holes by changing burden and/or spacing, more deviation patterns will be investigated based on the modelling of the small-scale experiments and calibrated parameters.