Velocity of detonation measurement and fragmentation analysis to evaluate blasting efficacy

In holes, the measurement of the velocity of detonation (VOD) helps in comparing and evaluating relative performance of explosives. In this paper a blast performance assessment was conducted based on the results obtained from the steady state VOD measurement of emulsion explosives HEF100 and degree of blast fragmentation conducted on an open pit blast. The aim of this study was to compare the steady state VOD measured in the field and the published VOD of HEF100 under ideal laboratory conditions and ascertain its efficacy. In the trial, a resistance wire continuous VOD measurement system connected to a SpeedVOD was employed to measure and record the steady state VOD values from five different blast holes. Furthermore, a post fragmentation analysis was conducted using the existing fragmentation models and an image processing software. The steady state VOD values recorded from the field ranged between 4981 m/s to 5387 m/s consistent with the published VOD subjected to ideal laboratory conditions and the analyzed fragmentation size distribution indicates that 90% of the blasted muck pile was within the allowable and optimal 700 mm passing size.