• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.195-204
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• 2018

Based on theories of rock mechanics, rock fragmentation, mechanics of elasto-plasticity, and energy dissipation etc., a method is presented for evaluating the rock fragmentation efficiency by using plastic energy dissipation ratio as an index. Using the presented method, the fragmentation efficiency of rocks with different strengths (corresponding to soft, intermediately hard and hard ones) under indentation is analyzed and compared. The theoretical and numerical simulation analyses are then combined with experimental results to systematically reveal the fragmentation mechanism of rocks under indentation of indenter. The results indicate that the fragmentation efficiency of rocks is higher when the plastic energy dissipation ratio is lower, and hence the drilling efficiency is higher. For the rocks with higher hardness and brittleness, the plastic energy dissipation ratio of the rocks at crush is lower. For rocks with lower hardness and brittleness (such as sandstone), most of the work done by the indenter to the rocks is transferred to the elastic and plastic energy of the rocks. However, most of such work is transferred to the elastic energy when the hardness and the brittleness of the rocks are higher. The plastic deformation is small and little energy is dissipated for brittle crush, and the elastic energy is mainly transferred to the kinetic energy of the rock fragment. The plastic energy ratio is proved to produce more accurate assessment on the fragmentation efficiency of rocks, and the presented method can provide a theoretical basis for the optimization of drill bit and selection of well drilling as well as for the selection of the rock fragmentation ways.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07e
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• pp.1592-1595
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• 1998

The rock fragmentation system with a capacitor bank, switching device, cable and blasting electrode are described. Utilization of the chemical energy from the electrolyte and the pseudospark with a large current capacity suggested the commercialization possibility of the rock fragmentation system. The vibration and noise level of the pulsed blasting is acceptable in the most ground breaking. And also the electromagnetic force produced by the inductor is introduced for the rock fragmentation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.444-454
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• 2003

Rock fragmentation technique by cutter penetration has widely been used in the mechanical tunnel excavation. Microcracks propagate and interact because of locally concentrated high stress induced by cutter penetration. which is caused by heterogeneity of rocks. In this study Weibull distribution function and degradation index are used to consider the strength heterogeneity of a rock and the degradation of rock properties after failure. Through the numerical analyses, it is shown that the lateral pressure has an important influence on the rock fragmentation. In the single cutter penetration, large chips are formed as lateral pressure increase. The cutter spacing is also an important factor that affects the rock fragmentation in the double cutter penetration. The fragmentation efficiency of the double cutter penetration is better when cutter spacing is 70 mm than 40 mm and 100 mm. From the results, it is expected that this study can be applied to a TBM tunnel design by understanding of chipping process and mechanism of rock due to cutter penetration.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.37-44
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• 2005

Recent studies reported that natural block size of rock and joint orientation highly affect on rock fragmentation. In this study, blasting test using high strength cement mortar was carried out to verify this fact. The result of this test indicated that fragmentation is influenced by the joint interval, and at same joint interval condition, fragmentation depends on joint orientation. These results are significantly coincident with field investigations.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.82-92
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• 2011

Stereophotogrammetry is used to extract spatial information of an object by constructing a stereo-image from two or more photos. In this study, stereophotogrammetry was adopted for analyzing blast fragmentation of rock blocks in a quarry site. 2D image processing and stereophotogrammetry were applied to the fragmentation analysis of rock blocks horizontally scattered in a laboratory, and their results were compared with physical measurements using a water tank. Fragmentation of rock muckpiles was estimated in laboratory and field tests by using the stereophotogrammetry and statistical analysis.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 2004

In bench blasting, rock fragmentation is one of the most important factors determining productivity. Rock fragmentation could be affected by various conditions and these were hewn that rock joint conditions and in-situ block sizes were the biggest effect on it. This research is focused on what or how to influence on rock fragmentation according to relation between blasting conditions and the in-situ rock conditions such as rock joint conditions and in-situ block size. Field measurements were carried out in 3 open pit limestone mines, where in-situ rock conditions and blasting conditions were fully investigated. The results show that the parameters interact with blasting conditions complicatedly and especially in-situ block size has bigger effects. Dip direction of major joint set also can affect on fragmentation. Mean fragment size become smallest when dip direction of major joint set is about $30^{\circ}$ with the bench direction. The reason is considered to be come from difference of propagation paths of elastic wave.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2014

Since the rock fragmentation from a bench blasting can affect the subsequent processes including loading, hauling and crushing, its control is essential for the assessment of blasting efficiency as well as production cost. In this study, the delay time could be precisely controlled by using electronic detonators. The rock fragmentations resulted from the blastings with different delay times of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 10ms per each meter of burden were measured from full scale field tests in a limestone mine. The results showed that the optimum delay time for minimum fragmentation was approximately 6ms/m. From the analysis of fragmentation size distribution, it was possible to find that delay time can be a parameter on rock fragmentation and thus it would be possible to control rock fragmentation by adjusting delay time.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1047-1059
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• 2018

This paper focuses on the cracking and fragmentation process in rock materials containing a pair of non-parallel flaws, which are through the specimen thickness, under vertical compression. Several numerical experiments are conducted with varying flaw arrangements that affect the initiation and tensile wing cracks, shear crack growth, and crack coalescing behaviors. To obtain realistic numerical results, a parallelized peridynamics formulation coupled with a finite element method, which is able to capture arbitrarily occurring cracks, is employed. From previous studies, crack initiation and propagation of tensile wing cracks, horsetail cracks, and anti-wing cracks are well understood along with the coalescence between two parallel flaws. In this study, the coalescence behaviors, their fragmentation sequences, and the role of an x-shaped shear band in rock material containing two non-parallel flaws are discussed in detail on the basis of simulation results strongly correlated with previous experimental results. Firstly, crack initiation and propagation of tensile wing cracks and shear cracks between non-parallel flaws are investigated in time-history and then sequential coalescing behavior is analyzed. Secondly, under the effect of varying inclination angles of two non-parallel flaws and overlapping ratios between a pair of non-parallel flaws, the cracking patterns including crack coalescence, fragmentation, and x-shaped shear band are investigated. These numerical results, which are in good agreement with reported physical test results, are expected to provide insightful information of the fracture mechanism of rock with non-parallel flaws.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.151-159
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• 2018

Annually, the global production of construction aggregates reaches over 40 billion tons, making aggregates the largest mining sector by volume and value. Currently, the aggregate industry is shifting from sand to hard rock as a result of legislation limiting the extraction of natural sands and gravels. A major implication of this change in the aggregate industry is the need for understanding rock fragmentation and energy absorption to produce more cost-effective aggregates. In this paper, we focused on incorporating dynamic rock and soil mechanics to understand the effects of loading rate and water saturation on the rock fragmentation and energy absorption of three different sandstones (Red, Berea and Buff) with different pore sizes. Rock core samples were prepared in accordance to the ASTM standards for compressive strength testing. Saturated and dry samples were subsequently prepared and fragmented via fast and dynamic compressive strength tests. The particle size distributions of the resulting fragments were subsequently analyzed using mechanical gradation tests. Our results indicate that the rock fragment size generally decreased with increasing loading rate and water content. In addition, the fragment sizes in the larger pore size sample (Buff sandstone) were relatively smaller those in the smaller pore size sample (Red sandstone). Notably, energy absorption decreased with increased loading rate, water content and rock pore size. These results support the conclusion that rock fragment size is positively correlated with the energy absorption of rocks. In addition, the rock fragment size increases as the energy absorption increases. Thus, our data provide insightful information for improving cost-effective aggregate production methods.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.353-362
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• 2004

Prediction of fragmentation in bench blasting is one of the most important factors to establish the production plan. It is widely accepted that fragmentation could be accurately predicted using the Kuz-Ram model in bench blasting. Nevertheless, the model has an ambiguous or subjective aspect in evaluating the model parameters such as joint condition, rock strength, density, burden, explosive strength and spacing. This study proposes a new method to evaluate the parameters of Kuz-Ram model, and the predicted mean fragment sizes using the proposed method are examined by comparing the measured sizes in the field. The results show that the predictions using Kuz-Ram model with the proposed method coincide with field measurements, but Kuz-Ram model does not reflect the in-situ rock condition and hence needs to be improved.