Damage zone induced by quasi-static gas pressure during blasting

준정적인 발파 가스압에 의한 암반의 손상 영역 예측

It is essential to predict a blasting-induced excavation damage zone (EDZ) beyond the proposed excavation line of a tunnel because the unwanted damage area requires extra support system for tunnel safety. Complicated blasting process which may hinder a proper characterization of the damage zone can be effectively represented by two loading mechanisms. The one is a dynamic impulsive load generating stress waves outwards immediately after detonation. The other is a gas pressure that remains for a relatively long time. Since the gas pressure reopens up the arrested cracks and continues to extend some cracks, it contributes to the final formation of EDZ induced by blasting. This paper presents the simple method to evaluate EDZ induced by gas pressure during blasting in rock. The EDZ is characterized by analyzing crack propagation from the blasthole. To do this, a model of the blasthole with a number of radial cracks of equal length in an infinite elastic plane is considered. In this model, the crack propagation is simulated by using three conditions, the crack propagation criterion, the mass conservation of the gas, and the adiabatic condition. As a result, the stress intensity factor of the crack generally decreases as crack propagates from the blasthole so that the length of the crack is determined. In addition, the effect of rock properties, initial number of cracks, and the adiabatic exponent are investigated.