An Investigation Into the Effect of Rockmass Properties on Mean Fragmentation

Desired rock fragmentation is the need of the hour, which influences the entire mining cycle. Thus, most engineering segments pay attention to rock fragmentation and neglect by-products like ground vibration and fly rock. Structural and mechanical properties of rock mass like joint spacing, joint angle, and compressive strength of rock pose a puzzling impact on both fragmentation and ground vibration. About 80% of explosive energy that gets wasted in producing ill effects can be positively optimised, with a new set of blast design parameters upon identifying the behaviour of rock mass properties. In this connection, this research aims to investigate the influence of joint spacing, joint angle, and compressive strength of rock on fragmentation and induced ground vibration. To accomplish this task, research was carried out at an opencast coal mine. It was discovered from this research that compressive strength, joint spacing, and joint angle have a significant effect on the mean fragmentation size (MFS) and peak particle velocity (PPV). With the increase in compressive strength, MFS explicit both increase and decrease trends whilst PPV increased with a specific increase in compressive strength of the rock. An increase in joint spacing triggers both increase and decrease trends in both MFS and PPV. While there is an increase in joint angle, MFS and PPV decrease.