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Methods for evaluating drill pattern parameters such as burden, spacing, borehole diameter, etc., at a blast site are disclosed. One method involves accumulating the burden contributed by successive layers of rock and matching the accumulated rock burden to a target value for a borehole having a len

Methods for evaluating drill pattern parameters such as burden, spacing, borehole diameter, etc., at a blast site are disclosed. One method involves accumulating the burden contributed by successive layers of rock and matching the accumulated rock burden to a target value for a borehole having a length related to the average height of the layers. Another method relates to varying drill pattern parameters and characteristics to match blast design constraints, including the substitution of one explosive material for another by the proper balance of materials and/or output energies to the associated rock burden. Analysis of deviations from target rock burdens and corrective measures are disclosed, as well as cost optimization methods. The various methods can be practiced using an appropriately programmed general purpose computer.

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1. A method for establishing a drill pattern for a plurality of boreholes of predetermined diameter for use with a specified explosive material along a drill line along a bench of rock having a known density and a rock face, the method comprising:(a) defining a drill line having a start point and an

1. A method for establishing a drill pattern for a plurality of boreholes of predetermined diameter for use with a specified explosive material along a drill line along a bench of rock having a known density and a rock face, the method comprising:(a) defining a drill line having a start point and an end point;(b) determining a target rock burden B T for a hypothetical borehole having the predetermined diameter at the start point;(c) defining along the drill line a progression of successive layers of rock each defining an incremental burden, determining the cumulative burden B cum of the defined layers and revising B T with each successive layer until B cum accounts for one-half B T ; and then(d) setting and indicating a position for the borehole on the drill line in the layer most distant from the start point;(e) defining additional successive layers of rock until the total of the incremental burdens of the layers defined in steps (c) and (e) accounts for B T ;(f) setting and indicating a location for a distant boundary of the rock burden for the borehole; and(g) using the distant boundary as the start point for an additional borehole and repeating steps (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) for each additional borehole until a layer coincides with the end point. 2. A method for establishing a drill pattern for a plurality of boreholes of predetermined diameter for use with a specified explosive material along a drill line along a bench of rock having a known density and a rock face, the method comprising:(a) defining a drill line having a start point and an end point;(b) determining a target rock burden B T based on a hypothetical borehole having the predetermined diameter at the start point;(c) defining along the drill line a progression of successive intermediate layers of rock each having a mass less than the target rock burden B T and being bounded by an intermediate boundary plane and a distant boundary plane and for each proximal layer (i) calculating a revised B T based on a hypothetical borehole on the last defined distant boundary plane and (ii) determining the cumulative burden B cum of the defined intermediate until B cum accounts for one-half of B T and then setting and indicating the location of a borehole on the drill line in the last defined layer (referred to as the “central layer”);(d) defining along the drill line a progression of successive distant layers of rock, and accumulating the rock burdens of the distant layers until the total rock burden accumulated in steps (c) and (d) accounts for B T ;(c) setting and indicating the distant boundary of the rock burden for the borehole; and(f) using the distant boundary as a start point and repeating steps (b)-(e) until an incremental layer coincides with the end point. 3. The method of claim 2 comprising setting tie position of the borehole on or between the boundaries of the central layer by interpolation. 4. A method for proposing a drill pattern comprising positions for boreholes of predetermined diameter for use with a specified explosive material along a drill line along a bench of rock having a known density and having a rock face, the method comprising:(a) defining a drill line having a start point and an end point;(b) determining a target rock burden B T for a hypothetical borehole at the start point;(c) defining along the drill line a progression of successive layers of rock each having a mass less than B T and each being bounded by planar cross sections of the bench and having an intermediate boundary plane and a distant boundary plane, determining the cumulative burden B cum of the defined layers, and calculating an average height of the layers with each successive layer;(d) using each average height to calculate a revised B T for the hypothetical borehole; and(e) repeating steps (c) and (d) until B cum accounts for B T and then setting and indicating the location of a borehole on the drill line between the start point and the mo st distant layer, and using the distant boundary of the most distant layer as a start point and returning to step (b) until a layer coincides with the end point. 5. The method of claim 4 wherein calculating the average height of the incremental layers comprises defining spaced parallel planes that define layer boundaries and taking the average height of the planes. 6. The method of claim 2, claim 3 or claim 4 wherein the rock mass of a layer is calculated as the rock density multiplied by the volume of the layer, the volume being calculated as one-half of the sum of the surface areas of the planes bounding the layer multiplied by the spacing between the planes. 7. The method of claim 1, claim 2, claim 3 or claim 4 wherein determining B T comprises determining the amount of the specified explosive material that would be loaded in the hypothetical borehole, converting the amount to a corresponding quantity of a reference explosive material and calculating a target burden associated with the corresponding quantity of the reference explosive material. 8. The method of claim 7 wherein converting the amount to a corresponding quantity of a reference explosive material comprises scaling the mass of the specified explosive material by the relative magnitudes of the specific energies of the specified explosive material and the reference explosive material. 9. The method of claim 8 wherein calculating the target burden comprises determining a Material Factor for the reference explosive material and multiplying the corresponding quantity by the Material Factor. 10. The method of claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3 wherein determining B T comprises determining an Energy Factor for the rock burden and relating the rock burden to the amount of explosive material that would be in the hypothetical borehole using the Energy Factor. 11. The method of claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3 further comprising:designating blast design constraints comprising minimum and maximum values for hole-to-rock face burden, hole spacing and at least one of a Material Factor and Energy Factor; anddetermining and indicating for each borehole whether the constraints are met. 12. The method of claim 4 comprising determining the drill pattern characteristics of each borehole on a section-by-section basis for each borehole. 13. The method of claim 11 comprising:analyzing deviations of drill pattern characteristics from the constraints to evaluate at least one of the drill line distance and drill line orientation relative to the rock face and indicating the evaluation. 14. The method of claim 13 comprising determining the drill pattern characteristics of each borehole on a section-by-section basis for each borehole. 15. The method of claim 12 comprising identifying and reporting each borehole having an excess toe burden. 16. The method of claim 11 comprising identifying and reporting a swell or hollow in the rock face. 17. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable code therein for assigning positions for boreholes of predetermined diameter for use with a specified explosive material along a primary drill line along a bench of rock having a known density and a rock face, the medium comprising:(a) code responsive to user input defining a drill line having a start point and an end point;(b) code for determining a target rock burden B T for a hypothetical borehole having a height corresponding to the start point;(c) code responsive to data reflecting a model of the bench for defining along the drill line an incremental layer of rock having a mass less than B T and having an intermediate boundary and a distant boundary, determining the cumulative burden B cum of the defined incremental layers, and the height of the layer at the distant boundary;(d) code for using the height at the distant boundary to calculate a revised B T for the hypothetical borehole;(e) code for causing the further execution of code (c) and code (d) if B cum accounts for less than about one-half B T ;(f) code for setting and indicating the location of a borehole on the drill line between the intermediate boundary and the distant boundary of the last incremental layer when B cum accounts for less than about one-half B T ;(g) code responsive to said data for defining along the drill line further incremental layers of rock until B cum accounts for about B T ; and(h) code for setting and indicating the position of the distant boundary of the rock burden associated with the borehole and, until the position of any previously accumulated layer exceeds the end point, for using the distant boundary as a start point and repeating the code of parts (b)-(g). 18. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable code therein for assigning positions for boreholes of predetermined diameter for use with a specified explosive material along a primary drill line along a bench of rock having a known density and a rock face, the medium comprising:(a) code responsive to user input defining a drill line having a start point and an end point;(b) code for determining a target rock burden B T based on a hypothetical borehole having the predetermined diameter at the start point;(c) code responsive to data reflecting a model of the bench, for defining along the drill line a progression of successive intermediate layers of rock each having a mass less than the target rock burden B T and being bounded by an intermediate boundary plane and a distant boundary plane and for each proximal layer (i) calculating a revised B T based on a hypothetical borehole on the last defined distant boundary plane and (ii) determining the cumulative burden B cum of the defined intermediate until B cum accounts for about one-half of B T and then setting and indicating the location of a borehole on the drill line in the last defined layer (referred to as the “central layer”);(d) code for defining along the drill line a progression of successive distant layers of rock, and accumulating the rock burdens of the distant layers until the total rock burden accumulated in steps (c) and (d) accounts for about B T ;(e) code for setting and indicating the distant boundary of the rock burden for the borehole; and(f) code for using the distant boundary as a start point and repeating steps (b)-(e) until an incremental layer coincides with the end point. 19. The medium of claim 18 further comprising code for determining the position of the borehole between said intermediate and distant boundaries by interpolation. 20. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable code therein for assigning positions for boreholes of predetermined diameter for use with a specified explosive material along a primary drill line along a bench of rock having a known density and a rock face, the medium comprising:(a) code responsive to user input defining a drill line having a start point and an end point;(b) code for determining a target rock burden B T for a hypothetical borehole having a height corresponding to the start point;(c) code responsive to data reflecting a model of the bench for defining along the drill line an incremental layer of rock having a mass less than B T and having an intermediate boundary and a distant boundary, determining the cumulative burden B cum of the defined incremental layers, and calculating an average height of the incremental layers with each successive layer;(d) code for using each average height to calculate a new target rock burden B T for the hypothetical borehole;(e) code for comparing B cum to the borehole burden B T for each successive layer and then for causing the further execution of code (c) and code (d) if B cum is less than B T ;(f) code for setting and indicating the location of a borehole on the drill line between the intermediate boundary and the distant boundary of a last incremental layer when B cum is not less than B T , and using the distant boundary of a last incremental layer as a start point in respon se to code (e) when B cum is not less than B T ; and(g) code for comparing each incremental layer to the end point and for causing the execution of code (b)-(e) until an incremental layer coincides with the end point. 21. The medium of claim 20 wherein code (c) for calculating the average height of the incremental layers comprises code for defining spaced parallel planes that define layer boundaries and taking the average height of the planes. 22. The medium of any one of claims 17 - 21 wherein the code (c) for determining B cum includes code for calculating the volume of the layer as one-half of the sum of the surface areas of the planes bounding the layer multiplied by the spacing between the planes, and for calculating the rock mass by multiplying the rock density by the volume. 23. The medium of claim 17 or claim 21 wherein code (d) includes code for determining the amount of the specified explosive material that would be loaded in the hypothetical borehole, determining the quantity of a reference explosive material corresponding to the calculated volume of a specified explosive material and calculating a target burden associated with the corresponding quantity of the reference explosive material. 24. The medium of claim 23 comprising code for scaling a mass of a specified explosive material by the relative magnitudes of the specific energies of the specified explosive material and the reference explosive material. 25. The medium of claim 24 comprising code for calculating the target burden comprises determining a Material Factor for the reference explosive material and multiplying the corresponding quantity by the Material Factor. 26. The medium of claim 17, claim 18 or claim 20 comprising code for determining B T by determining an Energy Factor for the rock burden and relating the rock burden to the amount of explosive material that would be in the hypothetical borehole using the Energy Factor. 27. The medium of claim 17, claim 18 or claim 20 further comprising code for designating blast design constraints comprising minimum and maximum values for hole-to-rock face burden, hole spacing and at least one of a Material Factor and Energy Factor; anddetermining the drill pattern characteristics of each borehole and comparing the characteristics to the constraints and indicating whether the constraints are met. 28. The medium of claim 27 comprising code for determining the drill pattern characteristics of each borehole on a section-by-section basis for each borehole. 29. The medium of claim 22 comprising code for analyzing deviations of drill pattern characteristics from the constraints to evaluate at least one of the drill line distance and drill line orientation relative to the rock face and reporting the evaluation. 30. The medium of claim 28 comprising code for analyzing deviations of drill pattern characteristics from the constraints to evaluate at least one of the drill line distance and drill line orientation relative to the rock face and reporting the evaluation. 31. The medium of claim 17, claim 18 or claim 20 comprising code for identifying and reporting each borehole having an excess toe burden. 32. The medium of claim 17, claim 18 or claim 20 comprising code for identifying and reporting a swell or hollow in the rock face. 33. An apparatus for assigning positions for boreholes of predetermined diameter for use with a specified explosive material along a primary drill line along a bench of rock having a known density and a rock face, the apparatus comprising:a processor;storage media accessible to the processor, for storing data and executable code;input means for delivering data to the at least one storage medium; andoutput means for conveying data representing locations for boreholes;wherein the storage media comprises a storage medium as set forth in claim 17. 34. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the storage media comprise code for determining the position of the borehole between said intermediate and dista nt boundaries by interpolation. 35. An apparatus for assigning positions for boreholes of predetermined diameter for use with a specified explosive material along a primary drill line along a bench of rock having a known density and a rock face, the apparatus comprising:a processor;storage media accessible to the processor, for storing data and executable code;input means for delivering data to the storage media; andoutput means for conveying data representing locations for boreholes;wherein the storage media comprises a storage medium as set forth in claim 18. 36. An apparatus for assigning positions for boreholes of predetermined diameter for use with a specified explosive material along a primary drill line along a bench of rock having a known density and a rock face, the apparatus comprising:a computer processor; storage media accessible to the processor, for storing data and executable code;input means for delivering data to at least one storage medium; andoutput means for conveying data representing locations of boreholes;wherein the storage media comprise a storage medium as defined in claim 20. 37. The method of claim 11 wherein the blast design constraints comprise a minimum spacing constraint and a maximum spacing constraint, and the method further comprising reducing the cost of a blast pattern by:(a) broadening the at least one blast design constraint by an acceptable degree to yield revised constraints;(b) proposing a hole position at a spacing compliant with the spacing constraints;(c) evaluating a hole at the proposed position for compliance with the revised blast design constraints and calculating and recording the cost per unit burden mass for blasting at that position;(d) proposing another position for the hole at a different compliant spacing;(e) repeating steps (c) and (d) until the constraints are no longer met; then(f) evaluating the calculated costs per unit burden mass and indicating the spacing having the lowest cost per unit burden mass. 38. The method of claim 37 further comprising the steps of:(g) proposing a subsequent borehole at a compliant spacing from the previous hole; and(h) repeating the evaluation of steps (c)-(g) until the end point is reached. 39. The method of claim 38 wherein step (b) comprises proposing a borehole compliant with the minimum spacing constraint and wherein step (d) comprises proposing a position with an incrementally larger spacing than for the previous borehole unless maximum spacing constraint is exceeded. 40. The method of claim 38 wherein step (b) comprises proposing a borehole compliant with the maximum spacing constraint and wherein step (d) comprises proposing a position with an incrementally smaller spacing than for the previous borehole unless the minimum spacing constraint is exceeded.