Skip to main content
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 1
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 2
There are several blasting techniques used to control the blasting results.
The technique selected is dependent on the nature of the project or end
use of the rock face, geology, drilling equipment available and associated
cost. Some common controlled blasting techniques are_
 Line Drilling
 Pre-splitting
 Cushion Blasting
 Smooth Blasting
 Air-Decking, and
 muffle Blasting.
The techniques most commonly used to control damage in the final wall of
excavations are Smooth blasting, Pre-splitting and Air-decking.
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 3
 Line Drilling:
Line drilling is a drilling of a row of closely spaced holes along the final
excavation line.
The line drilled holes are not loaded with explosive.
These holes provide a plane of weakness to which the final row of blast
holes can break.
This technique is used mostly in small blasting jobs and involves small
holes in the range of 50-75 mm dia.
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 4
Line drilling holes are spaced 2-4 times of the dia. of drill bit used.
The distance between these unloaded row to last row of the production
blast is approximately 0.4 – 0.6 times the Burden of the production hole.
This distance is termed as BUFFER DISTANCE.
The depth should be maximum include sub-drilling.
The Back row of production holes should be charged 50% only.
The holes in the line drilling system help to reflect the shock wave and
help to reduce the shattering effect of the rock out side the periphery.
 It is very difficult to maintain the accuracy of drilling and cost involved
in this technique is also very high.
 In this system a grater amount of drilling is required.
 it is applied only in HOMOGENEOUS Rock.
 this type practice shall not be done in in-homogeneous rock since
plane of weakness in this case may extend in the finished wall.
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 5
 Pre-splitting:
In Pre-splitting, a row of holes are drilled along the final excavation line.
These holes are loaded with light charge of explosives and fired prior to
the primary blast.
The line of pre-splitting holes can be fired separate from the primary blast
or simultaneously with primary blast with early delay period.
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 6
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 7
This creates a fracture zone between the holes may be a single narrow
crack or a thick zone of several cracks.
This crack creates a artificial discontinuity along the periphery of
designed and expected limit of the main blast fragmentation to isolate the
blasted zone from the remaining rock mass.
It helps to prevent over break from the subsequent main primary blast and
creates smooth & stable finished wall.
Pre-splitting is best carried out when the burden is composed of
homogeneous consolidated rock.
In badly fractured rock, un-loaded guide holes may be drilled between the
holes.
The light explosives charge can be obtained by using specially designed
pipe cartridges.
A heavier bottom charge is used in the bottom part of the hole.
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 8
This picture shows three charge loading methods for pre-splitting_
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 9
In homogeneous rocks, The Drill holes are charged up to 75-80% of the
hole depth.
If the rock is highly fractured, the charge can be reduced up to 55%.
The stemming used consists of the locking devices to prevent the pipe
charges being blown-out.
When special charges (pipe charges) are not available, high strength
cartridges taped on detonating cord can be used at a distance of 0.7-1.0 m
for up to 87mm drill, 0.8-1.2 m for up to100 drill and 1.5 to 2.3 for up to 200
mm drill.
The presplit charges are initiated simultaneously with d-cord and trunk
lines or instantaneous electric detonators. Where a number of holes are to
be fired, portions should be delayed with MS delays.
For pre-splitting, the drill holes spacing is normally 08-12 times the drill
hole dia.
The distance between the row of pre-split holes to last row of the
production blast is approximately 0.4 – 0.6 times the Burden of the
production holes.
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 10
Hole dia. (mm)
Loading density (kg/m) Spacing (m)
38-44 0.12 – 0.38 0.30 – 0.45
51-64 0.12 – 0.38 0.45 – 0.60
76-89 0.20 – 0.75 0.45 – 0.90
102 0.38 – 1.12 0.60 – 1.20
This table shows the drilling and explosives charge parameters:
Dr. HOLMBERG (1982) indicates, that the minimum required linear charge
concentration for pre-splitting is a_
W=90d2
Where, w is the linear charge concentration of ANFO/equivalent in kg/m
d is the hole dia. In meter.
If the drill holes are close enough to each other and over charges in pre-
splitting operation, it can be seen that the crack formation deviates from
the direction between the holes and instead follows the natural cleavage
direction of the rock.
MALLESWARARAO DODDAKA 11
In pre-splitting technique it is extremely important to find the right hole
spacing and charges for the type of rock.
The characteristics of the rock influence the result to a grater extent than
in most other blasting methods.
It is advisable to carry out a sample blasting in a short span (about 5m
length) before drilling a long distance.
Optimum distance and charge values can be found by blasting with
variable inter hole distances and charges.