Trend analysis and comparison of basic parameters for tunnel blast design models

One of the most important factors influencing on a tunnel blast efficiency is the proper design of blasting pattern. Among blasting parameters, blasthole diameter and tunnel face area are more significant so that any change in these parameters could finally affect on specific charge and specific drilling. There are mainly two groups of methods for tunnel blast design categorized based on the parallel cuts and angular cuts. In this research, a software for tunnel blast design was developed to analyze the effect and sensitiveness of blasthole diameter and the tunnel face area on blasting results in different blast design models. Using the software, it is quickly possible to determine specific charge, specific drilling and number of blastholes for each blast design model. The relations between both of blasthole diameters and the tunnel face area with the above parameters in different blast design models were then investigated to yield a set of equations with the highest correlations to compare the methods. The results showed that angular method requires more blasthole numbers than parallel method in similar condition (blasthole diameter and tunnel face area). Moreover, the specific charge values yielded by the two methods are approximately the same and very close together.