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Rock fragment size prediction using RSM in bench blasting: a focus on the influencing factors and their interactions

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Abstract

The main purpose of drilling and blasting (D&B) operations in mining and in a civil engineering project is rock mass fragmentation. Muck pile fragment size plays an important role in the efficiency of transportation and crushing and milling operations. Fragment size is a function of the characteristics of the rock mass, explosive type, and drilling and blasting pattern. The development of fragment size predictor models has been the output of many researches in the field of explosive engineering. In this research, a model for predicting the muck pile mean fragment size (X50) based on the response surface method (RSM) is presented. For this purpose, 97 data series from different cases are used for modeling. The purpose of this study is to model the X50 with regard to the individual impact of the effective factors and their interaction. In the suggested RSM-based model, the D&B pattern spacing to burden ratio, bench height to burden ratio, burden to hole diameter ratio, stemming to burden ratio, and a powder factor and two rock mass factors which included in situ block size and modulus of elasticity are used as effective factors on X50 as model response. The proposed RSM-based quadratic model consists of four quadratic, six linear, and 14 interaction terms. The statistical details of this model, conventional-related graphs, and RSM-specific analysis have satisfied the recommended model. For the X50, the bench height to burden ratio is more effective than the other independent factors; also, the most significant interaction is found to be between bench height to burden ratio and powder factor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Engineering, Urmia University of Technology, Box: 57155-419, Urmia, Postal Code: 5716693188, Iran

    Aref Alipour

  2. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, USA

    Mostafa Asadizadeh

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  1. Aref Alipour
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  2. Mostafa Asadizadeh
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Correspondence to Aref Alipour.

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Alipour, A., Asadizadeh, M. Rock fragment size prediction using RSM in bench blasting: a focus on the influencing factors and their interactions. Arab J Geosci 16, 61 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-11072-8

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