Now-a-days, blasts are planned using large diameter blast holes. The loading density (kg/m) and subsequently the energy available for the breakage of the rockmass increase with the diameter. The in-hole velocity of detonation (VoD) of non-ideal explosive also boosts up with the increase in diameter till the optimum diameter is reached. The increase in the energy content and in-hole VoD cause a sizable effect on the rock fragmentation. The effect can be assessed by counting the number of oversize boulders. This paper explains as to how the technique of artificial neural network modeling was used to predict the number of oversize boulders resulting from ANFO and SME blasts with blast holes of different diameters. The results from ANFO blasts indicated that there was no significant variation in the number of oversize boulders with the diameter whereas a perceptible variation was noticed in case of SME blasts with the change in the diameter. The change in the number of oversize boulders in ANFO blasts was negligible because mean energy factor remained almost same even when the diameter of the blast holes was altered. The decrease in the number of oversize boulders in SME blasts was on account of increase in mean energy factor when the blast hole diameter was increased. The increase in the in-hole VoD due to increase in the diameter of the hole was not found to have an effect on the generation of oversize boulders as this increase was not substantial both in SME and ANFO blasts.

In blasting of soft to medium hard rock, the problem of high density resulting in excessive utilization of emulsion explosive is well known. The authors have conducted some experimental blasts to delve into the detonation behavior of conventional blasting and various other explosive consumption reduction techniques which induce air gaps using plastic tubes, plastic bottles or plastic balls in the explosive column. Resistance wire technique is used for gauging in-hole continuous velocity of detonation. The VOD varies from 5321.6 m/s to 4544.2 m/s and from 5123.4 m/s to 4274.2 m/s in conventional site mixed emulsion column and distributed spherical air gap column respectively. The detonation behavior is stable and similar in both these cases. While using plastic bottles or plastic tubes as air gaps, the VOD is fluctuating from 4636.3 m/s to 3268.4 m/s and from 4935.9 m/s to 3362.8 m/s respectively with a collapse of about 12 % from the average VOD of conventional SME column. The VOD falls abruptly when the detonation wave encounters large air gaps but it is successfully travelling through the air gaps making the detonation behavior more capricious.

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