Numerical study on fractal characteristic of blast-induced cracks in deep rock mass

Abstract

The quantitative representation on the characteristics of blasting-induced cracks in rock mass is of great significance to guide the fine blasting design in practice. However, the quantitative relation between blasting-induced cracks of rock mass and in-situ stresses is currently lacking. To provide the reference for the fine blasting design to excavate rock mass with different in-situ stresses, the present study adopts the fractal theory to quantitatively represent the characteristics of blasting-induced cracks in rock mass. The effects of in-situ stress levels and lateral coefficients on the modes and fractal dimensions of blasting-induced cracks are investigated by numerical simulation combined with image processing. The results show that with the increase of in-situ stresses and lateral coefficients, the fractal dimensions of blast-induced cracks gradually decrease. In addition, quantitative relations between the fractal dimensions of blasting-induced cracks and in-situ stresses are established to provide the reference for the design of rock blasting.