Assessment of Blastability Index in massive limestone from Rawang Quarry, Selangor

The demand for construction materials produced by quarry rises in tandem with urbanization. Selangor is one of the highly populated states in Malaysia with residential projects now located very close or even next to quarry. Due to the fact that limestone consists of numerous weak spots in rock masse...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Hamidun, Haizam
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2023
Subjects:	TA Engineering (General) Civil engineering (General)
Online Access:	http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/101444/1/HaizamHamidunMSKA2023.pdf
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

id	my-utm-ep.101444
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-utm-ep.1014442023-06-21T09:32:39Z Assessment of Blastability Index in massive limestone from Rawang Quarry, Selangor 2023 Hamidun, Haizam TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) The demand for construction materials produced by quarry rises in tandem with urbanization. Selangor is one of the highly populated states in Malaysia with residential projects now located very close or even next to quarry. Due to the fact that limestone consists of numerous weak spots in rock masses, it has always been thought that limestone quarry operation is riskier than common granite quarry operations. Geologically, limestone formation in Rawang sits uncomfortably on top of the older metamorphic rocks with its own unique joints system. The goal of the study was to identify the rock mass properties in massive limestone profile from a quarry in Rawang, Selangor and its relation to blast design as well as effects on the surrounding environment due to blasting. For a systematic study, the quarry face was divided into four (4) sections i.e., section A, section B, section C, and section D. The site mapping showed significant findings where section A is considered high potential of having excessive flyrock as it has the most joint number (J), joint plane spacing (JPS) and joint aperture (JA) with 31, 559.8 mm and 28.5 mm, respectively. When blasthole intersected with many joints, explosive energy escape through joints causing sudden drop in blasthole pressure and open joints extend up to the face thus creating high possibility of flyrock during blasting. The degree of difficulty to fragment rock in terms of Blastability Index (BI) was also calculated based on the geological mapping data. The results show that BI ranged from 49.18 to 59.26 percent throughout all study sections indicating that the rock mass at the quarry was easy to be blasted as per Blastibility Quality System (BQS). The calculated BI was also justified the suitability of blast design used during blasting at the quarry. The new site constants i.e., K and β for the study area were also calculated with USBM predictor at 40 and 1.0, while Langefors- Kihlstrom (LK) predictor at 6.8 and 1.07, respectively. Although at maximum charge per delay (Wmax) the blasting was being carried out safely with very minimal effects to the surrounding areas. Finally, correlations between all earlier findings such as BI, blast design and environment effects i.e., peak particle velocity (PPV) measured and predicted were justified the significant relation of rock mass properties and ground vibration effect due to blasting operation at the quarry. 2023 Thesis http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/101444/ http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/101444/1/HaizamHamidunMSKA2023.pdf application/pdf en public http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:151656 masters Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Engineering - School of Civil Engineering Faculty of Engineering - School of Civil Engineering
institution	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
collection	UTM Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	TA Engineering (General) Civil engineering (General)
spellingShingle	TA Engineering (General) Civil engineering (General) Hamidun, Haizam Assessment of Blastability Index in massive limestone from Rawang Quarry, Selangor
description	The demand for construction materials produced by quarry rises in tandem with urbanization. Selangor is one of the highly populated states in Malaysia with residential projects now located very close or even next to quarry. Due to the fact that limestone consists of numerous weak spots in rock masses, it has always been thought that limestone quarry operation is riskier than common granite quarry operations. Geologically, limestone formation in Rawang sits uncomfortably on top of the older metamorphic rocks with its own unique joints system. The goal of the study was to identify the rock mass properties in massive limestone profile from a quarry in Rawang, Selangor and its relation to blast design as well as effects on the surrounding environment due to blasting. For a systematic study, the quarry face was divided into four (4) sections i.e., section A, section B, section C, and section D. The site mapping showed significant findings where section A is considered high potential of having excessive flyrock as it has the most joint number (J), joint plane spacing (JPS) and joint aperture (JA) with 31, 559.8 mm and 28.5 mm, respectively. When blasthole intersected with many joints, explosive energy escape through joints causing sudden drop in blasthole pressure and open joints extend up to the face thus creating high possibility of flyrock during blasting. The degree of difficulty to fragment rock in terms of Blastability Index (BI) was also calculated based on the geological mapping data. The results show that BI ranged from 49.18 to 59.26 percent throughout all study sections indicating that the rock mass at the quarry was easy to be blasted as per Blastibility Quality System (BQS). The calculated BI was also justified the suitability of blast design used during blasting at the quarry. The new site constants i.e., K and β for the study area were also calculated with USBM predictor at 40 and 1.0, while Langefors- Kihlstrom (LK) predictor at 6.8 and 1.07, respectively. Although at maximum charge per delay (Wmax) the blasting was being carried out safely with very minimal effects to the surrounding areas. Finally, correlations between all earlier findings such as BI, blast design and environment effects i.e., peak particle velocity (PPV) measured and predicted were justified the significant relation of rock mass properties and ground vibration effect due to blasting operation at the quarry.
format	Thesis
qualification_level	Master's degree
author	Hamidun, Haizam
author_facet	Hamidun, Haizam
author_sort	Hamidun, Haizam
title	Assessment of Blastability Index in massive limestone from Rawang Quarry, Selangor
title_short	Assessment of Blastability Index in massive limestone from Rawang Quarry, Selangor
title_full	Assessment of Blastability Index in massive limestone from Rawang Quarry, Selangor
title_fullStr	Assessment of Blastability Index in massive limestone from Rawang Quarry, Selangor
title_full_unstemmed	Assessment of Blastability Index in massive limestone from Rawang Quarry, Selangor
title_sort	assessment of blastability index in massive limestone from rawang quarry, selangor
granting_institution	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Engineering - School of Civil Engineering
granting_department	Faculty of Engineering - School of Civil Engineering
publishDate	2023
url	http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/101444/1/HaizamHamidunMSKA2023.pdf
_version_	1776100699539505152

Assessment of Blastability Index in massive limestone from Rawang Quarry, Selangor

Similar Items