Concept of Blastability - An update

Abstract

The main objective of fragmentation by blasting is to achieve the optimum powder factor, which may be defined as the powder factor required for the optimum fragmentation, throw, ground vibration, etc. for a specified blast condition to minimize the overall mining cost. Presently, the powder factor is established through the trial blasts. However, powder factor may be approximated using rock, design and explosive parameters. The term blastability is used to indicate the susceptibility of the rock mass to blasting and is closely related with the powder factor. This paper presents a review of some of the important studies made on blastability and powder factor determination using rock and design parameters