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By Donald H. Matthews

The usual method of dismantling massive concrete formations with explosives, is to totally demolish the entire concrete structure. If any portion of a concrete structure is required to remain in its original form and retain its structural integrity, the use of explosives is usually forbidden and the portion to be dismantled is demolished by mechanical means, using various techniques and equipment that are tedious and expensive.

Jan 1, 1978

By Salah A. Taqieddin

The blast casting technique of removing overburden is an innovative technique which was successfully used in the mining of certain surface coal and quarries. This method was found to be efficient in minimizing the labor and equipment cost while accelerating mining operation with safety. This method was successfully applied to horizontal as well as to dipping coal seams. Also it was practically applied to single as well as to multiple ore bodies

Jan 1, 1992

By Hans Perlid

In the handling of emulsion explosives pumping is a key operation. A number of serious accidents has shown that pumping can be a risky operation and should be care&lIy considered and investigated. This is the background behind a series of pump tests carried out by NTTRO NOBEL.

Jan 1, 1996

By E Castelli, M Fomaro, R Mancini, M Cardu

The economic return of rock blasting is not provided by brute volume of broken rock, rather by the amount of marketable product. That is the case of the porphyry quarries of Trento district, whose output is mainly absorbed by road paving and building facing elements production.

Jan 1, 1995

By Michael K. Phang, Thomas A. Simpson

Field studies at an underground mine site were conducted to evaluate and monitor blast-induced vibrations on an underground coal mine roof. The vibration data were evaluated so that a suitable damage criteria or guidelines from which a safe operating distance between surface blasting and underground mine operations can be established.

Jan 1, 1984

By Thomas Leonard, Philip R. Berger, Bryan E. Papillon

Bardon Trimount Inc., a large producer of aggregate, crushed stone, and concrete, was experiencing significant public opposition to its five quarries in the Boston area. It was believed by the authors that this opposition could be significantly lessened if the total number of blasts per week were reduced. Although the blasting company at these quarries, Austin Powder Company, contended that this could easily and safely be accomplished by increasing the size of the blasts, regulations precluded this alternative by limiting the total amount of explosives that could be used per blast.

Jan 1, 1996

Previous approaches to pre-split blasting theory have tended to concentrate on the mathematics of dynamic stress wave interaction, whilst only recognizing some interaction with quasi-static stresses induced by expanding gases in the boreholes. However the decoupling used in pre-splitting is specifically designed to reduce dynamic effects to a level that a small degree of radial fracturing is created around the borehole which is emphasized and extended by quasi-static gas effects. It can thus be argued that the process has more in common with hydrofracture than with more conventional use of explosives.

Jan 1, 1984

By D Wilson, E Nagy, R A. Augsten, R R. Vandebeek, R L. Guilbeault

The Canadian Explosives Research Laboratory (CERL), is evaluating the status of the Schedule IV explosives container as it presently pertains to the industry. The Schedule IV container serves the same purpose in Canada as the IME 22 container does in the United States. That is, to transport detonators on the same vehicle which is carrying explosives.

Jan 1, 1990

By James Goldberg, Sally Zadra, Wiliam Reisz

Early recognition and risk assessment is critical to sustaining a safe and productive blasting operation. While every blasting environment holds inherent risk, highwall blasting in highly congested areas such as Hanson Material Service Corporation’s Romeoville and Thornton quarries in the greater south Chicago metropolitan area can be particularly perilous

Jan 1, 2008

By Terri Jordan, Kenneth Hollingshead, Mary Jo Barkaszi

The Port of Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida (Port) is the largest container port in the State of Florida. However, it is located in the center of a diverse ecosystem. Biscayne Bay surrounds the Port and portions of the bay have been designated as a National Park, a Florida Aquatic Preserve and a state Critical Wildlife Area. The bay is home to many protected, threatened and endangered species including the Florida manatee, five sea turtle species, American crocodile and bottlenose dolphin, in addition to important recreational and commercial fish species.

Jan 1, 2007

By Donald H. Matthews

The Society of Explosives Engineers is an international organization of over four hundred members involved in the explosives industry, with most members being active in the United States. The regulations imposed by regulatory agencies on the explosives industry have drastic effects far beyond the industry. Since explosives are used in mining, manufacturing, construction, entertainment, and art, all phases of man's activities, including fundamental needs for survival, are affected by how efficient the industry uses explosives. We, as members of SEE, must be sincerely concerned with both the quantity and quality of government regulation, and this paper spells out some of the problems caused by regulations and offers a solution.

Jan 1, 1980

By Thomas M. Keevin, Gregory L. Hempen

Natural resource agencies, under various regulatory authorities, are challenged with permitting underwater explosive use while at the same time protecting aquatic resources. Deciding on whether or not to allow use of explosives requires striking a balance between development and aquatic resource protection. A company's goal in underwater explosive use is to select methods that are both expedient and cost effective. Use of explosives is often the best alternative for engineering reasons or economic considerations. Over and above legal requirements, indiscriminate destruction of fish and other aquatic resources is not in a company's best interests because of concerns relating to public image, as well as the need to secure future contracts.

Jan 1, 1995

By Lewis L. Oriard

Some two million cubic yards of sandstone and orthoquartzite were blasted and excavated at Upper Stillwater Dam, located high in the Uinta Mountains in northern Utah. The material was processed to produce concrete aggregate for the construction of the largest roller compacted concrete (RCC) dam ever constructed, and one of just a few in existence. The dam cross-section is shown in Figure 1. The aggregate was sound rock produced from required dam foundation excavation and from a quarry located about 1/2 mile from the dam site. Representative compressive strengths of the sandstones and quartzites were in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 psi.

Jan 1, 1993

By Larry R. Fletcher, John W. Kopp

The safety record for explosives in U. S. mining is excellent considering that over 4 billion pounds of explosives are now being used each year. However, blasting accidents remain one of the most serious concerns based on the number of injuries, the injury severity rate and the disaster potential. The Bureau of Mines has been analyzing blasting accident data obtained from the Mine Health and Safety Administration (MSHA) to determine the most frequent causes of mine blasting accidents and to examine trends in blasting accidents. This accident analysis is an update of two previous blasting accident studies conducted by the Bureau and published in 1983 and 1987.

Jan 1, 1991

By Andre Pinsonnault, Francois Lefebvre, Yves Newman

In 1989, Les Entreprises Kiewit Ltee signed a C$32 million contract with the Societe d'energie de la Baie James, on behalf of HydroQuebec, to excavate the intake and tailrace channels for a second powerhouse at the LO-2A James Bay hydroelectric project. The multistage contract included removing three marine rock plugs. The first plug was blasted in April 1990. It was a 43 yards wide, triangular shaped wedge that projected into 18 yards of water. Located at the mouth of the intake channel, it contained over 72,000 yd3 of rock, more than twice the 30,000 yd3 found in most rock plugs.

Jan 1, 1991

By Thomas P. Dowling

Historically, laws controlling the manufacture, sale, transportation and storage of high explosives and regulations governing the use of explosives were formulated to prevent accidents or eliminate incidents that might jeopardize public safety. Many of the original laws and regulations regarding classification of explosives and blasting materials, tables of distances for separation and/or isolation of explosives, construction of storage magazines and methods of blasting were based upon empirical data, field experiments or scientific facts. During the past few years, however, it appears that some of the explosive laws and blasting regulations introduced and/or enacted by federal, state and local agencies seem to be based more on political expediency than on factual information or technical data.

Jan 1, 1976

By Charles B. Ingram, Neil E. Gehrig

The development of water gel explosive products has been the single most important development in explosive research and development since the invention of nitroglycerine and dyne-mite many years ago. m e Explosives Department of Gulf Oil Chemicals Company has been engaged in the research, development, manufacturing an marketing of slurry explosives and blasting materials for over twenty years. Explosive research and development is being carried out at the Jayhawk Technical Laboratory and the Underwater Testing Facility near Pittsburg, Kansas. There are fourteen manufacturing facilities geographically located around the country to serve the mining, quarrying, and construction industries with a complete line of explosives, blasting agents, and accessories. This paper discusses the Gulf slurry products, their properties, and uses.

Jan 1, 1977

By Dale S. Preece, Stephen H. Chung

"In bench blasting, the distribution of loaded explosives with respect to the burden rock has strong effects on digging especially at the toe area. Blast design often focuses on other results such as percent-cast or fragmentation, sometimes leaving a diggability problem at the toe of the blast that is not discovered until excavation. A method for assessing the influence of blast design on diggability has been developed. This method relates the kinetic energy and rock displacement experienced by the material in the muckpile to its diggability. Simulation of the blast along with the calculation of kinetic energy and diggability is done with the discrete element computer program DMC_BLAST(DMC: Distinct Motion Code)."

Jan 1, 1999

By Kunihisa Katsuyama, Yuji Ogata, Yuji Wada

Test blasting was carried out to study the flying characteristics of rock mass caused in bench blasting. The quantity of explosives was increased from 7.6kg to 9.1kg and the Minimum burden was changed from 131mm to 451mm. The effect of condition for the characteristics of fly rock were considered. The fly rock was observed using the high-speed camera and video to study the flying characteristics of the rock mass caused in the bench blasting. Numerical simulation of fly rock was carried out using DDA (Discontinuous Deformation Analysis) method. It was clear that the DDA method can be applied in the simulation of fly rock caused in bench blasting.

Jan 1, 1997

By Q Liu, P D. Katsabanis

Dust explosions in underground sulphide and oil shale mines result from the detonation of explosives in the blasting operations. Explosive composition, oxygen balance, priming and ideality of detonation were examined theoretically and experimentally in the presence of reactive sulphide dust. It was found that the temperature as well as the chemical composition of the gaseous products of detonation are the controlling parameters related to the explosive. Non aluminized, oxygen balanced emulsion explosives were proven to be relatively safe, while explosives creating combustible products were proven to be extremely dangerous due to the secondary flame they generate. Since a large number of dusty orebodies are often very friable, low density emulsion explosives are also examined for application in production blasting.

Jan 1, 1991