Rock Blasting Shockwave Fragmentation

Mining & Petroleum Engineering

How It Works

Commercial rock blasting uses high-explosive detonation in blastholes to shatter rock masses into manageable fragment sizes. The supersonic detonation wave produces intense compressive shock stresses that pulverize the immediate borehole wall, followed by expanding high-pressure gas that drives radial tensile hoop stress fractures. Peak particle velocity (PPV) attenuates with scaled distance according to Sadovsky's law.

Governing Equation
PPV = K · [D / √(W)]^(-β)  |  σ_θ = P_borehole · (r_w / r)²