Estimation of Sound Level Produced During Drilling of Igneous Rock Samples Using a Portable Drill Set-up

The mechanical strength of rock is one of the most important factors of concern to engineers involved in mining operations. Information about rock strength is used in rock excavation planning and design operations in civil and mining engineering. Drilling is widely carried out in hard rocks for blasting the rock mass so that the blasted material can be easily loaded by the excavators. The drillability of rock depends on many factors including rock properties whereas properties such as compressive strength, porosity, density etc. are uncontrollable parameters during drilling process. A number of studies have been reported recently on the application of sound level which have been concentrated on using either CNC or jack hammer machine for drilling purpose. It is worth mentioning that neither CNC machine nor jack hammer drill set-up is the normal way of drilling in rock, nor in mining, civil or any other operations, not even in working with rock in installation of countertops. Therefore, it is difficult to exactly say whether the noise generated during drilling is only from the rock drilling or from the drilling unit itself. In view of the above, it is important to fabricate a new drilling set-up which is a silent unit in itself. Such unit when used for drilling purpose will clearly indicate the change in sound level produced with different rock properties.