Abstract
In the Sri Lankan mining and quarrying industry, gelatine dynamite has been the widely used explosive for rock blasting purposes. In the recent past, it has been phased out and replaced by locally manufactured Water-gels(WG). So far, there had been only a very few tests conducted to assess the suitability and to evaluate the performance of this explosive with other available explosives. Complaints made by the users of Water-gels have been a cause of concern and prompted research to be conducted with the aim of evaluating the performance of Dynamites, Water-gels and Emulsion explosives with the measurement of major performance indicators in local mining and quarrying practice. In this research, performance comparison of WG, Dynamite and Emulsion explosives with regard to rock breakage in underground tunneling and in metal quarrying has been carried out. Comparison of fragmentation with the evaluation of particle size distribution in concrete block blasting using the three types of explosives has been one of the main tests. Gap sensitivity, density and the determination of velocity of detonation (VOD) has also been carried out. ENGINEER, Vol. 48, No.01, pp. 31-37, 2015
Highlights
Water-gel(WG) was introduced to Sri Lanka in 2011 as a substitute for dynamite
Water-gel currently produced in Sri Lanka has been introduced to the industry by the government
2.1 Test Blasting on Concrete Blocks Concrete blocks of 0.5mx0.5mx0.5m in size having a 32mm diameter centre hole of 30cm deep were made to facilitate explosive charging(Figure 1)
Summary
Water-gel(WG) was introduced to Sri Lanka in 2011 as a substitute for dynamite. So far there had been only a very few tests conducted to assess the suitability and to evaluate the performance of this explosive in contrast to other available explosives.Density measurements and gap sensitivity has been conducted to cross check the manufacturers’ specifications on WG.Measurement of VOD using D’Autriche’s method was carried out for the first time in Sri Lanka for Dynamite, Water-gel and Emulsion explosives.Water-gel currently produced in Sri Lanka has been introduced to the industry by the government. Water-gel(WG) was introduced to Sri Lanka in 2011 as a substitute for dynamite. There had been only a very few tests conducted to assess the suitability and to evaluate the performance of this explosive in contrast to other available explosives. Density measurements and gap sensitivity has been conducted to cross check the manufacturers’ specifications on WG. Measurement of VOD using D’Autriche’s method was carried out for the first time in Sri Lanka for Dynamite, Water-gel and Emulsion explosives. Water-gel currently produced in Sri Lanka has been introduced to the industry by the government. The complaints made by the users with regard to the performance of watergels have been a cause of concern
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