Comparative analysis of stress wave propagation and rock damage evolution in water versus air medium decoupled blasting
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Decoupled charge structures fundamentally influence blasting performance in mining operations. Unlike previous studies that focused on single-medium conditions or limited decoupling ranges, this study provides the first systematic three-dimensional comparison of water and air medium decoupled blasting across decoupling coefficients of K = 2-6, integrating stress wave propagation, damage evolution, and fractal analysis within a unified computational framework. Results demonstrate that water-medium decoupled charges exhibit a pronounced "energy transfer amplification effect," generating circumferential stress peaks that are twice the magnitude of air-filled charges while more than doubling the effective stress duration. With increasing decoupling coefficients, stress attenuation indices decrease following a power-law relationship, with water-medium values (0.87-1.33) consistently higher than air-medium values (0.53-1.06). A significant "near-zone suppression and far-zone promotion effect" occurs when K increases from 1 to 2, reducing the crushed zone by approximately 60% while slightly expanding the fractured zone. Quantitative damage analysis reveals that water-medium charges produce substantially larger effective damage areas than air-medium charges under identical decoupling conditions. Fractal analysis indicates that crack networks formed under water-medium decoupling possess higher fractal dimensions (1.33-1.55) compared to air-medium conditions (1.17-1.46), signifying more complex and uniform fracture structures. These findings elucidate the mechanisms underlying water-medium decoupled blasting's superior performance and provide theoretical guidance for optimizing charge structures in mining operations.
Source: Scientific Reports
Authors: Jianping Peng, Yue Pan, Bingrui Chen, Lei Han, Fei Xue
Language: English
Topic: Rock Mechanics and Modeling
Subfield: Mechanics of Materials
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,690
Award: G940852218
OpenAlex ID: W7154728911