Fracture initiation, gas ejection, and strain waves measured on specimen surfaces in model rock blasting

Abstract Crack velocity, gas ejection, and stress waves play an important role in determining delay time, designing a blast and understanding the mechanism of rock fragmentation by blasting. In this paper, the emerging times of the earliest cracks and gas ejection on the lateral surfaces of cylindrical granite specimens with a diameter of 240 mm and a length of 300 mm were determined by high-speed photography, and the strain waves measured by an instrument of dynamic strain measurement during model blasting. The results showed that: (1) the measured velocity of gas penetration into the radial cracks was in a range of 196–279 m/s; (2) the measured velocity of a radial crack extending from the blasthole to the specimen surface varied from 489 to 652 m/s; (3) the length of strain waves measured was about 2800 µs, which is approximately 1000 times greater than the detonation time. At about 2850 µs after detonation was initiated, gases were still ejected from the surface cracks, and the specimens still stood at their initial places, although surface cracks had opened widely