Abstract

Blasting is the most productive excavation method in hard rock mining. In quarries, to remove the mother rock from in-situ and crush into the desired size is realized by bench blasting method. The latter more used in our country because it is a very profitable method. In the quarry of Jebel Medjounes in Ain El-Kebira eastherne Algeria (Setif), the fragmentation of the rocks is done by blasting. The primary purpose of blasting is to fragment rock, and there are significant rewards for delivering a fragmentation size range. Various models have been put forward over the years, attempting to analyse the size distribution resulting from blast designs such as Kuz-Ram model and digital image processing (SplitDesktop® software). The Kuz–Ram model is possibly the most widely used approach to estimating fragmentation from blasting, and the most important function of Kuz–Ram is to guide the blasting engineer in thinking through the effect of various parameters when attempting to improve blasting effects.

In this context, the results of fragmentation such as the rate of oversize fragments were studied using two different methods, the analytical method through the Kuz-Ram model and the numerical method through digital images in an image analysis system called Split Desktop® software. from the results found we note that the value of the oversize of the fragments found by the digital image processing is 11.21%, lower than that found by Kuz-Ram (31.95%), which implies that the numerical analysis of the images gives us a better results compared to the Kuz-Ram model, because it is based on the treatment of all the parts of the pile with the different granulometric classes of the rocks.

Keywords: Blasting; Kuz-Ram model; Split-desktop®; Jebel medjounes quarry