Numerical simulations of rock mass damage induced by underground explosion

The damage prediction of rock mass under blast loads induced by accidental explosions, rock bursts or weapon attacks is crucial in rock engineering. In this paper, parametric studies are conducted to evaluate the effect of loading density, rock mass rating (RMR) and weight of charge on the rock mass damage induced by underground explosions. The numerical simulations are carried out based on the transient dynamic finite element program ANSYS-LSDYNA. The numerical model was calibrated against the data obtained from a field blast test. A fully coupled numerical analysis, incorporating the explosion process, has been performed, where the large deformation zone near the charge is solved by the Arbitrary Lagrange–Euler (ALE) method. The deformable modulus and compressive strength of rock mass of granite are estimated by the RMR system. The peak particle velocity (PPV) damage criterion and the plastic strain criterion were adopted to study the damage zone around the charge hole, and an empirical formula considering the effects of loading density, RMR and weight of charge was obtained to estimate the damage zone in granite based on the numerical results.