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Abstract
Rotary blast hole drills were observed in several formations at dierent open pit mines and quarries. Rock samples were
collected as near as possible to drilling locations and mechanical and physical properties of the total 22 rock samples were
determined. Indentation tests were carried out on the block samples from the same formations. A new drillability index for the
prediction of the penetration rates of rotary blast hole drills and the mechanical and physical properties of the rock formations
was de®ned from force-indentation curves of indentation tests. A penetration rate model for rotary for blast hole drills was
developed using this drillability index. It was seen that the model was valid for the formations having uniaxial compressive
strength over 40 MPa and especially for carbonaceous rocks.
The drillability index exhibits a signi®cant correlation with the proportionality constant k de®ned in the model. It is also seen
that signi®cant correlations exist between the drillability index and rock properties suggesting that the proposed model may be
used universally to estimate the penetration rate of rotary blast hole drills. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
1365-1609/00/$ - see front matter 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 3 6 5 - 1 6 0 9 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 0 7 - 1
730 S. Kahraman et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37 (2000) 729±743
Table 1
Drilling parameters and net penetration rates for each formation
Location Formation Thrust (kN) Rotational speed (rpm) Bit diameter (cm) Net penetration rate (m/h) Date
Table 2
Mechanical and physical properties of rocks tested
Location Formation UCS Tensile strength Schmidt rebound number Impact strength Point load strength P-wave velocity Elastic modulus Density
(MPa) (MPa) (N-type) (MPa) (km/s) (MPa) (g/cm3)
Soma (Isiklar) marl 64.9 4.4 60 75.2 3.0 3.4 4758 2.45
SeyitoÈmer marl 11.4 1.0 42 67.5 0.8 1.0 241 1.83
Tunc° bilek (panel 36) marl 21.4 2.2 53 69.9 1.7 1.9 1595 1.91
Tunc° bilek (Beke) marl 13.5 1.5 52 70.4 1.4 1.5 980 2.03
Pozanti limestone 123.8 6.6 61 82.9 5.3 5.3 10,682 2.73
Pozanti clayed limestone 45.1 6.0 68 80.5 4.6 3.3 22,419 2.42
Emet sandstone 70.5 5.5 38 75.8 6.3 3.7 13,855 2.56
Emet limestone 42.1 6.0 58 82.0 4.4 4.7 16,757 2.70
Orhaneli tu 10.1 0.9 35 69.3 1.2 1.2 193 1.85
Bahc° e sandstone-1 149.2 16.1 70 87.8 11.2 4.6 8746 3.00
Bahc° e sandstone-2 45.2 5.8 53 80.3 3.6 4.5 11,092 2.77
Bahc° e dolomite 68.0 6.0 59 83.4 3.5 6.3 6830 2.92
Erikli limestone 51.3 7.0 55 82.2 4.6 5.4 7193 2.74
Erikli serpentine 69.1 7.5 62 81.2 5.8 2.9 21,116 2.88
Erikli diabase 110.9 10.1 64 89.5 10.3 5.2 10,901 2.96
Erikli marl 39.5 5.2 56 76.1 2.7 3.1 4060 2.20
Konya serpentine 54.3 11.7 59 90.3 13.2 5.0 20,224 2.63
Yahyali hematite 61.8 6.6 44 84.3 6.7 2.8 19,566 3.61
Adana limestone 15.7 0.9 42 72.5 1.1 2.2 790 1.86
Misis limestone 85.2 9.1 68 84.1 8.0 5.5 20,253 2.71
Darica dolomite 189.8 10.0 56 85.8 14.9 5.1 30,163 2.92
Darica limestone 70.56 5.5 48 79.1 3.9 4.0 12,517 2.50
S. Kahraman et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37 (2000) 729±743
S. Kahraman et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37 (2000) 729±743 733
m
Pang et al. [13] stated that the crushing phase of sf 1 V2
1
the indentation process is linear for a wedge tip sf 2 V1
and a quadratic curve for a conical bit. The chip-
ping phase is approximately linear for both wedge where the constant m is frequently labelled the Weibull
tip and a conical bit. The crushing phase and the parameter associated with the sample volume.
chipping phase of the force-indentation curves At least three chipping points are necessary to
obtained in this study were examined and it was establish quadratic relation. Because very few force-
seen that the crushing phase is usually quadratic indentation curves contain three chips, it is not
and the chipping phase is generally linear as was possible to make meaningful statements about the
stated by Pang et al. [13]. Pang et al. [13] also sta- upper bound of chipping. However, both concave
ted that the upper bound of chipping exhibits a upward (Fig. 3) and concave downward (Fig. 4)
continuous concave downward shape for wedge envelopes were seen, when the upper bound of
indenters. For conical indenters the upper bound of chipping of the force-indentation curves containing
chipping is concave upward or downward depending three chips were examined.
on the Weibull parameter. Based on statistical data, Lundberg [12] stated that when one-half of the
Weibull showed that the ratio of the failure wedge angle is greater than 608, chip failure is rare.
strength sf of two specimens with volumes V1 and V2, But, when the force-indentation curves of spherical
respectively, is given by bit-tooth were studied, it was seen that there was chip-
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic diagram of the indentation test apparatus; (b) geometry of spherical bit-tooth (a) and conical bit-tooth (b).
734 S. Kahraman et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37 (2000) 729±743
Fig. 2. Typical force-indenti®cation curves; a, non-linear and discontinuous curve; b, linear curve; c, stepped curve.
S. Kahraman et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37 (2000) 729±743 735
ping on the curves for ten rock types. This anomaly not. In the method, for the force-indentation curves
may be due to the fact that Lundberg made his exper- giving chip formation, the average slope of the tangent
iments on Swedish Bohus Granite. plotted for the 50% value of the chipping force was
described as the drillability index (Fig. 2a). For the
force-indentation curves not giving chip formation, the
slope of the force-indentation curve was taken at the
6. Development of the penetration rate model
half of the maximum penetration value as seen in
Fig. 2b and c. Drillability index is formulated as fol-
The following model and steps were followed to
lows:
develop an equation for prediction of drilling rate
(Fig. 5). F
a
2
p0
6.1. Description of the drillability index
where a is the drillability index (kN/mm), F is the
Morris [11] established a drillability index p '/F, by force (kN) and p ' the penetration (mm).
measuring the crater depth ( p ') produced at the The values of drillability indexes of all rock types
threshold force (F ) at which chips form. The method tested were calculated and are given in Table 3.
is especially suited to the harder metamorphic and
igneous rocks, and is not suited to soft rocks that do 6.2. Penetration rate model
not exhibit chip formation.
The dierent drillability index in this study can be The model of penetration rate for rotary drills with
applied to all rocks, whether chip formation occurs or tri-cone bit was developed by using the Morris [11]
and the Bilgin's [25] approach. The penetration rate of average number of bit elements working (I ) we should
a roller-cone rock bit may be expressed by: arrive at an eective drilling weight (W ).
PR Np
3 W FI
4
where PR is the penetration rate, N the rotational Morris showed that only 8% of the total bits in a tri-
speed and p the bit penetration per revolution. cone roller bit are in contact with the rock and he for-
Assuming the actual bit penetration per revolution mulates I as I 0:08C, where, C is the total number
( p ) is directly proportional to the test bit-tooth pen- of bit elements, therefore,
etration ( p ') in a given rock or p=kp ', then
W 0:08FC
4a
PR Nkp 0
3a
As a function of bit diameter the total number of bit
where k is the proportionality constant. elements can be expressed as C nD [25], where, D is
By multiplying the static threshold force (F ) by the the bit diameter (cm), n is a constant that varies
Fig. 5. The ¯ow chart for the developed penetration rate equation.
S. Kahraman et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37 (2000) 729±743 737
between 6 and 7, thus, Averaging the whole k values, for conical bit-tooth
kcon 0:022420:018 and for spherical bit-tooth ksph
W 0:08FnD
4b 0:018120:013 were found. Using these k values, pen-
From the drillability index, a F=p 0 or F ap 0 , then, etration rates were estimated from Eq. (6). Actual and
estimated penetration rates are compared in Table 5.
W 0:08ap 0 nD
4c As can be seen here, the estimated penetration rates do
not conform to the actual penetration rates. To make
or the dierences more visual the actual penetration rates
W vs estimated penetration rates are plotted in Fig. 6.
p0
5 The data points are not distributed uniformly about
0:08anD
the diagonal line. This suggests that perhaps k values
So, Eq. (2a) can be written as follows: are not valid. Also, the standard deviations of the
NW averaged k values are high.
PR k
6 During the investigation of this situation, it was
0:08anD
seen that the teeth of roller-cone bits used in working
areas were not suited to the formations having uniaxial
6.3. Determination of constant k compressive strength below 40 MPa. When these
roller-cone bits are used in soft formations, the bit-
Eq. (6) may be written teeth are buried in rock and crushing occurs domi-
nantly. Therefore, drilling operation becomes ine-
0:08PRanD
k
7 cient. It is also shown in Table 4 that the k values can
NW
be divided into two groups, i.e. the k values for the
Substituting the penetration rate and the drilling par- rock types having uniaxial compressive strengths
ameters recorded during the ®eld observations and below and above 40 MPa.
drillability index, k values were calculated for each ob- Averaging the k values for the rock types having
servation and for conical and spherical bit-tooth, re- uniaxial compressive strength over 40 MPa, the conical
spectively (Table 4). bit-tooth gives kcon 0:027720:007 and the spherical
Table 3
The values of drillability index obtained from force-indentation curves
Table 4
The values ofthe constant k
Location Formation UCS (MPa) Thrust (kN) Rotational speed (rmp) kcon ksph
bit-tooth gives ksph 0:029020:008: Using these k 6.4. The ®nal equations for the penetration rate
values, penetration rates were estimated from Eq. (6)
and compared with the actual penetration rates After the valid k values are substituted separately in
(Table 6). When Table 6 is examined, it is seen that Eq. (6), if constant n is selected as 6.5 and the
the estimated penetration rates conform approximately equations are re-arranged, the following ®nal
to the actual penetration rates. The plot of actual pen- equations are found.
etration rates vs estimated penetration rates is shown For conical bit-tooth:
in Fig. 7. Data points are distributed nearly uniformly
about the diagonal line, suggesting that the k values NW
PR 3:20
8
are valid. aD
Table 5
Actual and estimated penetration rates
Location Formation Thrust (kN) Rotational Actual penetration rate (m/h) Estimated penetration rate from Eq. (5) (m/h)
Fig. 6. The plot of actual penetration rates vs estimated penetration rates (before modifying the index).
Table 6
Actual and estimated penetration rates for the formations having uniaxial compressive strength over 40 MPa
Location Formation Thrust Rotational speed Actual penetration rate Estimated penetration rate from Eq. (5)
(kN) (rpm) (m/h) (m/h)
Fig. 7. The plot of actual penetration rates vs estimated penetration rates for the rock types having a uniaxial compressive strength over 40 MPa
(after modifying the index).
740 S. Kahraman et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37 (2000) 729±743
Fig. 8. The plot of the k as a a function of drillability index. RN r 77:34a0:22 conical bit-tooth
18
S. Kahraman et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37 (2000) 729±743 741
RN r 78:27a0:20 spherical bit-tooth
19 where, r is the density (g/cm3) and a the drillability
index (kN/mm). The correlation coecients for the
where RN is the Schmidt hammer (N-type) rebound
conical bit-tooth equation and the spherical bit-tooth
number r the density (g/cm3) and a the drillability
equation are 0.76 and 0.80, respectively.
index (kN/mm). The correlation coecients for the
It is seen that the correlation coecients of Eqs.
conical bit-tooth equation and the spherical bit-tooth
(19), (25) and (26) are quite weak (0.76, 0.78 and 0.76,
equation are 0.84 and 0.76, respectively.
respectively). Also, other equations do not exhibit
The plot of impact strength as a function of drill-
strong correlations. This is probably due to the fact
ability index is shown in Fig. 9e. The non-linear curves
that the rock types tested are generally carbonates and
of the two bit-teeth are in agreement. The equations of
the number of rock types is limited. It is expected that
the two curves are:
if the number of rock types tested is increased, the
IS 68:17a0:061 conical bit-tooth
20 stronger correlations may be obtained. So, some rock
properties can be estimated from the drillability index,
or the drillability index can approximately be esti-
IS 66:83a0:064 spherical bit-tooth
21 mated from practical tests, such as impact strength
test, point load test and Schmidt hammer test.
where IS is the impact strength and a the drillability
index (kN/mm). The correlation coecients for the
conical bit-tooth equation and the spherical bit-tooth
8. The comparison of conical and spherical bit-tooth
equation are 0.86 and 0.90, respectively.
There is a non-linear relationship between drillability
It is stated in the literature [3,4] that penetration
index and P-wave velocity (Fig. 9f). The slope of the
force exponentially increases with increasing bit-tooth
conical bit-tooth curve is slightly greater than that of
angle. In this study, to see the dierence between the
the spherical bit-tooth curve. The equations of the two
conical and spherical bit-tooth, the graphs of drillabil-
curves are:
ity index vs rock properties were plotted individually
Vp 1:37a0:36 conical bit-tooth
22 for the conical and spherical bit-tooth (Fig. 9). As it is
shown in Fig. 9 the conical bit-tooth follows a more
sloped line or curve than the spherical bit-tooth, except
Vp 1:30a0:34 spherical bit-tooth
23 Fig. 9e and Fig. 9h in which the curves are similar.
This means that when the rock properties are constant,
where Vp is the P-wave velocity (km/s) and a the drill-
the drillability index of the spherical bit-tooth is
ability index (kN/mm). The correlation coecients for
greater than the drillability index of the conical bit-
the conical bit-tooth equation and the spherical bit-
tooth. For a given penetration depth, the penetration
tooth equation are 0.84 and 0.83, respectively.
force for the spherical bit-tooth is greater than the
In Fig. 9g, a non-linear relationship between drill-
penetration force for the conical bit-tooth in the same
ability index and elastic modulus is shown. The conical
rock.
bit-tooth follows a more slightly sloped curve than the
spherical bit-tooth. The equations of the two curves
are:
9. Conclusions
E 405:4a1:05 conical bit-tooth
24
Drilling and blasting operations are widely used in
surface mines, quarries and in some of the civil engin-
E 399:7a1:02 spherical bit-tooth
25 eering construction works. An accurate prediction of
the penetration rate of rotary blast hole drills from
where E is the elastic modulus (MPa) and a the drill-
rock properties and drill operational parameters is of
ability index (kN/mm). The correlation coecients for
vital importance for an ecient planning of mining
the conical bit-tooth equation and the spherical bit-
and quarrying operations. A practising engineer may
tooth equation are 0.84 and 0.78, respectively.
control also the changing characteristics of the rock
There is a non-linear relationship between drillability
formations if well-de®ned relationships between rock
index and density (Fig. 9h). The non-linear curves of
properties and drilling rates are de®ned. A detailed
the two bit-teeth are nearly in conjunction. The
research programme was followed in order to ful®l the
equations of the two curves are:
requirements of these objectives. Dierent drilling
r 1:88a0:11 conical bit-tooth
26 sides in open pit mines and quarries were carefully
selected. Drilling rates of rotary blast hole drills were
recorded for a given rotational speed and thrust force.
r 1:82a0:12 spherical bit-tooth
27 Rock samples were collected from the same sides for
S. Kahraman et al. / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37 (2000) 729±743 743
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