Study of blasting effect on bench stability

Abstract

The study of blast effect on bench stability is indispensable, because the overall stability of the quarry’s slope is directly linked to it. For this purpose, a study is conducted in a limestone quarry. Before the stability analysis, a fragmentation evaluation is carried out by two methods, by the Kuz-Ram model and the Digital Image analysis method using the WipFrag program, this part of the work aims to establish a more efficient blast design that assures a better fragmentation and a higher stability for the quarry’s structure. Afterwards, a numerical stability analysis approach is adopted, by employing the Finite Element Method (FEM) through the Phase2 software. A 2D numerical model of the quarry’s profile is constructed, on which simulations are carried out for two cases: 1-static conditions; 2-Dynamic conditions using the proposed blast design. This analysis goals are to define the possible deformation that the blasting process could engender to the benches and its effect on bench’s stability as an individual case and on the overall stability of the slope in general.