ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to provide an understanding of the available techniques for selecting the type of explosive to use for a specific application, and for calculating the charge distribution within each drillhole, the pattern of drillholes within the blast, and the fragment size distribution of the broken rock. Full-face boring, the technique of mechanical excavation of the entire tunnel without the use of explosives, provides the competition for rock blasting, a stimulus for further development of tunneling techniques. The size of the charge, and the linear scale of the rock mass to be fragmented by that charge, has an important influence on the rock blasting capacity of a given mass of explosive. To provide for the use of various explosives, it is necessary to have a basis for comparing the blasting "strength" of different explosives. Several methods have been developed to characterize the strength of an explosive.
