Authors
Iverson S; Kuchta M
Source
2019 SME Annual Meeting, February 24-27, 2019, Denver, Colorado, preprint 19-060. Englewood, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., 2019 Feb; :1-10
Abstract
Underground blasting with perimeter damage control can reduce the requirement for loose rock scaling and reduce the risk of groundfall injury. In previous work Johnson and associates (2010) from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed a rock blasting perimeter damage and control design method included in the DRIFT software tool (NIOSH, 2018). This blast design software tool utilizes current methods of perimeter blasting with the added design element of a buffer row coordinated with the perimeter row to reduce perimeter damage. The coordination is in applying one of several blast damage models to calculate the damage extent for each production, buffer, and perimeter blast hole in the design. The calculated damage is then applied to the spacing between the blast holes. The basis of the buffer row design is the practical damage limit and is supported in this paper with computer models of signature blasts and full blast rounds using PFC2D (Itasca Consulting Group, Inc., 2018).
Keywords
Underground mining; Underground mines; Blasting; Explosives; Exposure levels; Risk factors; Ground falls; Injuries; Computer software; Mine safety
Document Type
Conference/Symposia Proceedings
Source Name
2019 SME Annual Meeting, February 24-27, 2019, Denver, Colorado, preprint 19-060
