ROCK EXCAVATION

Rock Excavation
Nunnally Chapter 6

Classifications of rock:
 Igneous rock – formed when the earth’s molten
material cooled. Most difficult rock to excavate.
Examples are granite and basalt
 Sedimentary rock – formed by the precipitation of
material from water to air. As a result it is highly
satisfied and has many planes of weakness. Most
easily excavated rock.
Examples are sandstone, shale and limestone
 Metamorphic rock – originated as igneous or
sedimentary rock but has been changed by heat,
pressure or chemical action into a different type of
rock. It is intermediate between igneous rock and
sedimentary rock in it’s difficulty to excavate.
Examples are slate, marble etc.
Igneous Rock
 Sedimentary Rock

Sandy granules
Limestone
Sedimentary Rock
Metamorphic Rock
Carrara marble quarry, Colonnata, Italy
Carrara marble quarry, Colonnata, Italy
Carrara marble quarry, Colonnata, Italy
Marble tops
Marble floor tiles
Granite floor tiles
Granite floor tiles
The difficulty involved in excavating rock
depends on a number of factors in addition
to the type of rock:
- Extent of fractures and other planes of
weakness
- The amount of weathering that has
occurred
- The predominant grain size
- Whether the rock has a crystalline
structure
- Rock brittleness
- Rock hardness
 - Extent of
fractures
and other
planes of
weakness
- The amount of
weathering that
has occurred
- The predominant
grain size
- Whether the rock
has a
crystalline
structure
- Rock brittleness
- Rock hardness
Altering the loadability of the rock
Altering the loadability of the rock
 “Soft” rock excavated
“Soft” rock excavations
“Hard” rock excavated
“Soft” rock excavated: Menlyn Maine
“Hard” rock excavated: Menlyn Maine
“Hard” rock being processed
 ROCK INVESTIGATION

• Relative hardness is measured on Moh’s

scale from 1 (talc) to 10 (diamond)
• As a rule: any
rock that can be
scratched by a knife blade
(harness about 5) can easily be
excavated by ripping or other
mechanical method – type of
equipment?
 ROCK INVESTIGATION

• For harder rock: additional investigation

(report) is required to evaluate the rock
characteristics – choice of equipment?
• The principal methods for investigating
subsurface conditions include
1. drilling – fig. 6,7 & 8 p. 100-101
2. excavating test pits
3. taking seismic measurements
 ROCK HANDLING SYSTEMS
• The process of moving rock include:
– Loosening – blasting/chemical or mechanical
procedures etc.
– Loading – how does the loadability influence the
choice of equipment?
– Hauling - ditto
– Compacting - ditto
• The traditional method for excavating rock
involves:
– drilling blast holes in the rock
– loading the holes with explosives
– detonating the explosives
– loading the fractured rock into haul units with
power shovels
– hauling the rock away in trucks
• Newer alternatives include
– the use of tractor-mounted rippers to loosen
rock
– wheel loaders to load fractured rock into haul
units
– reinforced scrapers to both load and haul
fractured rock
 TUNNELING

• Tunneling in rock is a specialized form of rock

excavation that has traditionally been
accomplished by drilling and blasting
• Recently tunneling machines or mechanical
moles equipped with multiple cutter heads and
capable of excavating to full tunnel diameter
• See fig. 4 p.98 & fig. 5 p.99
 DRILLING 

Self study
• Raise boring is a drilling
technique in which a large-
diameter hole is drilled upward
from the bottom
• The procedure:
– First a pilot hole is drilled from the
surface into a mine or other
underground cavity
– A large reaming head is attached to
the lower end of a raise boring
machine drill string which has been
lowered into the shaft
– The large-diameter hole is then
created as the reaming head is
rotated and raised by the raise
boring machine sitting on the surface
 DRILLING

• Rock drills have traditionally been

powered by compressed air
• The current trend is toward the use of
hydraulically powered drills (fig. 6-6)
• Hydraulic drills penetrate faster and
consume less energy
• Hydraulic drills also produce less noise
and dust
• See figure 10 p.102 for rock drill bits
• What type of material is used for the
manufacture of the drill bit to drill through
diamond?
 BLASTING

Explosives
• The principal explosives used for rock
excavations include:
– Dynamite
– Ammonium nitrate
– Ammonium nitrate in fuel oil (ANFO)
– Slurries
 Slurries are mixtures of gels, explosives and
water. They may also contain powdered metals
to increase blast energy
• Detonators used to initiate the explosion include
both electric and non-electric caps
Electric Blasting Circuits 
• These may be connected in series, parallel or
parallel-series circuits (See figure 12)
• The type of wires used to make up these circuits
include:
– Legwires – two wires that form an integral
part of each electric blasting cap
– Buswires – used to connect the legwires of
caps into parallel or parallel-series circuits
– Connecting wires – are used to connect
legwires or buswires to the firing line
– Firing lines – consist of two parallel
conductors that connect the power source to
the remainder of the blasting circuit
Blasting safety  NB! NB! NB! NB! NB!
Blasting is a dangerous procedure and is controlled by a
number of government regulations. Major safety
precautions are:
1. Storage magazines for explosives should be
located in isolated areas, properly marked, sturdily
constructed and resistant to theft
2. Detonators must be stored in separate containers
3. Electric blasting circuits should not be connected
to the power source and should be kept short-
circuited until ready to fire
4. Permit no radio transmission in the vicinity of
electric blasting circuits, and discontinue work if there
is evidence of an approaching electric storm
5. Protect detonators and primed charges in the work
area from all physical harm
6. Check blast holes before loading, because hot rock
or a piece of hot drill steel in the hole can cause an
explosion
7. Do not drop or tamp primed charges or drop other
charges directly on them
8. Use only non-metallic tools for tamping
9. Employ simple, clear signals for blasting, and
ensure that all persons in the work area are familiar
with the signals
10. Make sure that the blasting area is clear before a
blast is fired
11. Misfires are particularly dangerous. Wait at least 1
hour before investigating a misfire. Allow only
well-trained personnel to investigate and dispose of
misfires


 ROCK RIPPING

Employment of rippers
– Rippers have been utilized since ancient
times to break up hard soils
– Only heavy-duty tractor-mounted rippers are
capable of ripping rock
– Advantages of ripping:
• Less expensive than drilling or blasting
• Increased production
• Fewer safety hazards
• Reduced insurance cost
ROCK RIPPING
 RIPPING
Ripping equipment
– Most modern rippers are the adjustable
parallelogram type (See figure 16 page 108)
– This type of ripper maintains a constant angle
with the ground as it is raised and lowered
– The upper hydraulic cylinder permits the tip
angle to be varied as desired to obtain
optimum results
– The tip angle that produces the best surface
penetration is usually different from the tip
angle that produces optimum rock breakage
after penetration
– Automatic ripper control systems are available
that control ripping depth and automatically
vary tip angle as the ripper is raised and
lowered
 “Ripper” could have
“Soft” rock excavations
been utilised?
 RIPPING
– Impact rippers utilize a hydraulic mechanism
to impart a hammering action to a single
shank ripper
– As a result, impact rippers are able to
effectively rip tougher rock than can
conventional rippers and usually produce a
significant increase in ripper production
Considerations in Ripping
– Ripping
• speed and depth,
• spacing of ripper passes,
• and the number of shanks to be used for
maximum ripper production depend on
rock type and soundness and tractor
power
– In general, rip downhill to take advantage
of gravity
– However when ripping laminated material, it
may be necessary to rip uphill to enable the
ripper teeth to penetrate under the layers
Limestone
 Limestone could be
“ripped” using a dozer with
ripper attachment
– The number of shanks to be used in a ripper
should be the number that yields the desired
penetration without straining the tractor
– Depth of ripping will depend on the number
of shanks used and the tractor power
– In stratified material, try to match ripping
depth to layer thickness
– Ripping speed should be kept low to reduce
wear on ripping teeth and shanks
 Compressed Air
Nunnally Chapter 9

Construction applications
– Compressed air is used as a power source for
construction tools and equipment
– While hydraulic power is gradually replacing
compressed air as the power source for rock drilling,
compressed air is still required for cleaning out the
drill hole produced
– Some other uses for compressed air in construction:
• Paint spraying
• Pneumatic application of concrete (shotcrete)
• Conveying cement
• Pumping water
• Operating pneumatic tools
Concrete “applied” pneumatically using
compressed air - shotcrete
“Shotcrete”
 COMPRESSED AIR
– Common pneumatic tools include:
• Spaders (trench diggers)
• Concrete vibrators
• Drills
• Grinders
• Hammers
• Paving breakers
• Sandblasting guns
• Saws
• Staple guns
• Nailers
• Tampers
• Wrenches
Pneumatic saws
– Pumps and water supply systems are utilized
in construction:
• De-watering excavations - ?
• Supply water for cleaning equipment
and aggregates
• Mixing and curing of concrete
• Aiding soil compaction
• Jetting piles into place