Numerical study on the fracturing mechanism of shock wave interactions between two adjacent blast holes in deep rock blasting

With the application of electronic detonators, millisecond blasting is regarded as a significant promising approach to improve the rock fragmentation in deep rock blasting. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the fracturing mechanisms of short-delay blasting. In this work, a rectangle model with two circle boreholes is modeled as a particles assembly based on the discrete element method to simulate the shock wave interactions induced by millisecond blasting. The rectangle model has a size of 12 × 6 m (L × W) and two blast holes have the same diameter of 12 cm. The shock waves are simplified as time-varying forces applied at the particles of walls of the two boreholes. Among a series of numerical tests in this study, the spacing between two adjacent boreholes and delay time of millisecond blasting are considered as two primary variables, and the decoupling charge with a coefficient of 1.5 is taken into account in each case. The results show that stress superposition is not a key factor for improving rock fragmentation (tensile stress interactions rather than compressive stress superposition could affect the generation of cracks), whereas collision actions from isolated particles or particles with weakened constraints play a crucial role in creating the fracture network. The delay time has an influence on causing cracks in rock blasting, however, whether it works heavily depends on the distance between the two holes.