A Comprehensive Review of Rockmass Classification Systems for Assessing Blastability

Rock mass classifications are in vogue for quite some time now. Lot of work has been done on the subject for engineering design of underground structures and their support, ground control, slope stability, foundation and rippability for excavations of varied nature. The essence of such classification systems is that most of them include information about the strength of the rock and its quality, joint conditions and joint filling. While some classifications are purely focused on defining the quality of rock and its continuity, others are of holistic nature. Such classifications have also been used to develop correlation between the rock class with cohesion and angle of friction. However, the use of such classifications for determining the blastability of the rockmass are very scant in nature. This paper attempts to mine the literature for cases where such classifications have been used to define the blastability of the rockmass. An attempt is made to critically analyze such use and define a course for future definition of blastability in relevant terms and determine whether such classification can be used as an aid to replace the existing rock factor in blasting with an eye on prediction of blast fragmentation and related outcomes of blasting.