The Development of Methods for Minimizing the Overbreak in Tunnel

Blasting
Tai-Ro Lee, Researcher, Research Development Team, LG E&C
Dong-Hyun Kim, Researcher, Research Development Team, LG E&C
Young-Hwa Seo, Vice-President & Principal Researcher, LG E&C
Abstract
Overbreak occurred inevitably in a tunnel excavation, is the main factor for increasing cost and period in
tunnel projects. Furthermore the damage to the remaining rock mass related to the overbreak can give
rise to a serious safety problem in tunnels. As a rule of thumb, causes for the overbreak are inaccuracy in
drilling, the wrong design of blasting and selection of explosives, and heterogeneity in rock mass.
Specially, the geological features of the rock mass around the periphery of an excavation are very
important factors, so a lot of research has been conducted to describe this phenomena. But the geological
rockmass classification for the overbreak and the method for decreasing the overbreak have not been
fully established. Besides, the technical improvement of the charge method is needed as explosives for
the smooth blasting have not functioned efficiently. In this study, the working face around periphery of
an excavation has been continuously sectionalized to 5~ 6 parts, and the new Blastability Index for the
overbreak based on 6 factors of RMD(Rock Mass Description), UCS(Uniaxial Compressive Strength)
JPS(Joint Plane Spacing), JPO(Joint Plane Orientation), JPA(Joint Plane Aperture) and FM(Filling
Material) is proposed to classify sections of the working face. On the basis of this classification, the
distance between contour holes and the charging density are determined to minimize the overbreak. For
controlling the charging density and improving the function of explosives, the New Deck
Charge(N.D.C) method utilizing the deck charge effect and detonation transmission in hole has been
developed.
1. Introduction
The importance of minimizing the overbreak in tunnel blasting lies largely in a prevention of the
rockmass damage and an optimization of the tunnel design cross-section. Excessive
overbreak causes a lot of problems including shotcreting and rockbolting which directly
increases the reinforcement cost, an extra mucking work which results in a delay in a
construction schedule, and a formation of a key block which causes rock falling. Furthermore,
the expansion of the rockmass damage enlarges joint widths that form a groundwater flow
network threatening the overall rockmass safety. A published statistical reference showed that
an additional cost due to the overbreak in tunneling is assumed to be 15 to 18% of total
tunneling cost in South Korea (Korea highway Corporation, 1995). The current construction
cost guide specifies the allowances for overbreak as 15 to 20 cm in the crown of tunnel and 10
to 15cm in the wall. Usually, tunnels have been designed on the basis of this allowance level.
However, the actual overbreaks in projects are reported to be much larger than the allowance
as much as 30 to 40cm in general and up to 100cm in extreme cases. Notwithstanding, the
lack of acknowledgements among tunnel engineers left much to be desired in making efforts to
minimize the overbreak.
In this study, the causes of the overbreak in tunnel blasting were analyzed and improvement
schemes were presented. In these schemes, the new classification for blasting rockmass and
the N.D.C(New Deck Charge) blasting method incorporating the characteristics of the
rockmass and explosives were introduced. The application of the N.D.C blasting method to a
pilot site showed reduction in overbreaks, This proved to be effective in cutting tunneling cost.

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2. Specification for the overbreak allowance in tunneling and the present state of the
overbreak in South Korea
2.1 The specification for overbreak allowance in tunneling in South Korea
Overbreak is unavoidable in tunnel blasting. This overbreak plays an important role not only in
safety concern, but also in increasing the tunneling cost and period. The look out by drilling
equipments, which is an unavoidable factor among all causes of errors, inevitably increases
as the drilling hole gets deeper. Thus in South Korea, the specification for overbreak allowance
was set and applied to the design, thus these allowances are included in the construction cost
for projects when owners invite tenders. The general tolerance of 10 to 20 cm suggested by
CONSTRUCTION STANDARD COST, is usually applied. However this value does not reflect
the various tunnel conditions , therefore adequate adjustments are required according to site
conditions.
2.2 The present condition of overbreaks in South Korean tunnels
The overbreak in the tunnel site may vary by the drilling length but overbreaks are similar
because the drilling length is mutually supplementary to the rock condition. That is to say, in
the tunnel face of a long drilling hole, the overbreak depends on the drilling error because the
rockmass is hard and has few joints. In the tunnel face of relatively short drilling hole, the
overbreak depends on the rock characteristics because the rockmass is poor and has more
developed joints. To survey the present overbreak status in South Korean tunnels, a thorough
investigation was done in one of the tunnels in KyungChoon rail road project of LG Engineering
and Construction. As compared to that of road tunnel, this rail road tunnel has a relatively
smaller cross section of 86.8m2 . The rockmass of the investigated face was gneiss with a
R.M.R value between 50 and 70 - classified as hard to fair rock. The survey on the overbreak
was done 15 times and 200 points at each face were measured for the data acquisition by AMT
profiler (an optic measurer using non prism). The average of measured values was
approximately 40 cm. Table 1 shows the results of overbreak measurements.
2.3 The analysis on the causes of the overbreak and problems identification
The causes of the overbreak in tunnel blasting can be classified as heterogeneous rockmass
characteristics, the performance of fine explosives in contour holes, and the constructability
which is mainly drilling error. These three factors influence the phenomenon of the overbreak
when combined, thus the overbreak minimization is hard if only one of these three factors is
considered. Causes and problems making overbreak larger can be listed as follows.
(1) The rockmass characteristics
Generally, low density rockmass can be easily crushed by low a level of energy thus yields
larger overbreak, and high density rockmass requires a higher level of energy thus gives less
overbreak. The stronger the rock strength is, the more explosives are needed, but the less
overbreak occurs. Although the rockmass of low strength requires less use of explosives
sometimes it yields more overbreak. Also joints in the rockmass play a large role in developing
cracks by causing stress concentration and exerting moment to the drilling rod.

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Even in the same face of the tunnel, there may be different kinds of rock and joints that make
the rockmass of the face non-homogeneous. This phenomenon makes different depths of
overbreaks along the excavation line after blasting, as shown at Figure 1. Nevertheless, the
blasting patterns in most sites are designed regardless of this non-homogeneous condition.
(2) The performance of fine explosives in contour holes
At present, the controlled blasting is generally applied to reduce the overbreak, and fine
explosives are used for controlled blasting in contour holes. But sometimes these fine
explosives do not perform with enough power in hard rock, so underbreak or overbreak
through the joint line occurs. Also fine explosives are weak in sensitivity and have low
detonation velocity so that misfires have occurred often in blasting work at sites, yielding low
rock crushing effect. Furthermore, these misfired explosives remain in the rockmass and cause
a safety problem in mucking work after blasting.
(3) Constructability aspects
In drilling at the face of the tunnel, a look out angle equal to 3-4 degrees should be enough to
give space for drilling the next round. In South Korea, it is designed that the starting point of
drilling in contour holes should be located 10 cm inside of the excavation line. But in most sites,
to prevent from the underbreak, the workers start drilling from the outside of excavation line,
which becomes a direct cause of the overbreak. In addition, according to the expertise of
drilling workers, the drilling angle and spacing are often not equal.
3. The development of the overbreak minimization technology
The non-homogeneous rock condition has been pointed to as a main cause of overbreak
therefore diverse researches has been done so far. Although the directly influencing factor on
the overbreak is the rock condition near the excavation line not the overall rock condition, the
classification method focuses on the perimeter of the excavation line and the methods for the
overbreak reduction are not fully established. Also the technical improvement in regard to
characteristics of explosives in contour holes which are another cause of the overbreak, is
strongly required.
3.1 The suggestion about the rock classification method for minimizing the overbreak
The most widely known blasting rock classification can be represented by two in South Korea.
One is Lillys and another is the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources. These
are based on sum of assigned points for each factor which considers rock mechanical
characteristics in the tunnel face. The total sum of these points decides the easiness of blasting.
The key concept of blasting easiness used to determine the basic charge concentration was presented as
the rock constant C by Langefors and Kihlstrm(1978). Lilly(1986) developed this concept into the
Blastability Index which was the sum of RMD(Rock Mass Description), JPS(Joint Plane Spacing),
JPO(Joint Plane Orientation), SGI(Specific Gravity Influence and HD(Hardness). In South Korea, Korea
Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resource and Hanyang University suggested the modified blasting
rock classification method which incorporated WI(Water Intensity) in BI of Lilly. The blasting rock
classification study has been done according to the site characteristics, for example, in Austria, JKMRC
incorporating the blasting results was studied. However the conventional blasting rock classification

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methods were focused on the blasting efficiency not on the prevention of excessive overbreak.
In the tunnel face, the most influential factor for the overbreak is the rock condition near the excavation
line the strength of the rock, and the orientation and characteristics of joints. In the case of the joint
that has a certain orientation, the angle between a joint and the excavation line becomes different along
the excavation line. For example, the angle which is 20 in the crown may be 60 in the wall at the same
face. Therefore, the new blasting rock classification method can reflect the difference of the angle
between the joint and the excavation line, as required. Also, faults and intrusive rock can make rock
characteristics different in the same tunnel face, thus careful handling of these differences is required. As
addressed before, conventional rock classification methods cannot consider these problems. In this
research, we suggested new blasting rock classification method reflecting the rock conditions at the
perimeter of the excavation line by dividing the rock near the excavation line into 5 to 6 uniform interval.
First, Weighted points were assigned to representative six factors evaluated by general geological
elements and site experiences.
(1) RMD(Rock Mass Description)
The intact rock with few joints requires a high level of energy in blasting, but it can be easier to control
the shape of the excavation line by lined cracks between holes. The powdery rock can be easily
destroyed by a small amount of explosives, but may yield large overbreak and increase the damage areas.
As shown in the table 2, 0 to 15 points were assigned by suggested empirical decision on the rock joint
structure, quantitative decision based on RQD and degree of weathering.
(2) UCS(Uniaxial Compressive Strength)
It is well known that hard rock with over 20 GPa Youngs Modulus and over 50MPa uniaxial
compressive strength it is easy to control the shape of the excavation line (Cunningham and Goetzche,
1990). The weak rock that has few joints can be controlled easily. The uniaxial strength is representative
factor for blasting easiness and for determining the kind of explosives to be used. Elastic wave velocity
is related to uniaxial strength to a degree, that the kind of explosives can be decided by elastic wave
velocity.
(3) JPS(Joint Plane Spacing)
The joint itself is not only poorer than the rock in tensile strength, but also weakened by concentrated
wave energy, which contributes to the overbreak. The larger the spacing of joints, the more closely the
rockmass behaves like one mass, that enables us to control the overbreak more easily. The smaller the
spacing of joints, the larger the overbreak can be.
(4) JPO(Joint Plane Orientation)
The direction of the joint is another main factor of the overbreak. Through the laboratory and site tests,
Worsey et al. concluded that the precise blasting is hard to do when the angle between the joint and
excavation line is less than 60 degrees and it has little effect when the angle is less than 15 degree. When
the strike of the joint is perpendicular to the tunnel direction, minimized overbreak can be expected. On
the other hand, when strike the of joint is parallel to the tunnel direction, significant overbreak may be
occurred (Singh, 2000).
(5) JPA(Joint Plane Aperture) & FM(Filling Material)
Worsey & Qu(1987) mentioned that the increase of the joint plane aperture caused severe overbreak and
the closeness of JPA yielded good condition for forming an excavation line. The filling materials

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between joints negatively influence the overbreak or the underbreak according to the swelling and
thickness of the filling materials. If a JPA is small and filled with strong and firm materials, the
overbreak will depend on the direction of joints. JPA and FM are closely related and are put togethe r in
the manner shown in table 2.
The blasting rock classification is calculated as the sum of these five categories and has the value
between 0 and 100. The weights can be chosen differently according to site conditions.
With this classification method for the blasting rockmass, the distance between holes and charge density
of each hole in contour holes can be designed as described in chapter 4.1
3.2 N.D.C(New Deck Charge) Blasting method development
In most tunnel sites, smooth blasting, a kind of controlled blasting method, is applied to minimize the
overbreak, to maintain a neat excavation line neat and to maximize the controlled blasting effect. For
smooth blasting fine explosives are used in the contour holes instead of normal explosives. But fine
explosive s available in South Korea are wrapped by the plastic pipe, so they cant be shaped diversely.
So, it is not possib le to adequately make charge density adjustment suggested in this research.
Furthermore, the use of fine explosive may be resulted in the underbreak in hard rock due to its low
level detonation power. To solve these two problems, the New Deck Charge(N.D.C) blasting method
was devised.
(1) The principle of the N.D.C blasting method
Two principles are utilized in the N.D.C blasting method. The first principle is to control the charge
density by making the distance between holes different, utilizing the sympathetic detonation of
explosives in the hole. Generally, the coefficient of detonation transmission is determined by the Gap
test on sand. Usually the distance for the sympathetic detonation is known as 2 to 4 times of the
explosive s diameter. But in the hole drilled in normal rockmass, the distance for the sympathetic
detonation becomes 10 to 20 times larger than that on sand. The second principle is using air deck effect.
The air space between explosives acts as a deck and can produce fine explosive effect by using normal
explosives. In summary, the N.D.C blasting method utilizes the sympathetic detonation of explosives
and air deck effect.
(2) Manufacturing and characteristics of the separation tube for separating explosives
To maintain adequate charge density and make the charging progress easier, the separation tube is
manufactured. This separation tube for separating explosives is cheap as it is made of paper, and can be
utilized easily. The null space of the separation tube makes the pressure of the detonation directly
transmit to the explosive, the distance of the sympathetic detonation can be maintained. Figure 2 shows
the concept of the N.D.C blasting method using separation tubes.
(3) Tests for evaluating the separation tube
To evaluate the performance of the separation tubes and the state of the explosion, several tests were
done under beneficial cooperation of HANWHA in the INCHON factory. With regard to the testing
method, a steel pipe with one end closed of diameter 43mm and thickness 2mm was used to simulate the
hole in the rock. Inside the steel pipe, explosives and separation tubes were installed. Through tests,
optimized specification of separation tube was set as shown in Table 3 and it was proved that the
explosives were fully blasted even when the distance between explosives was 50cm.

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4. The application of the N.D.C Blasting method in a project site

4.1 The establishment of contour hole pattern based on the blasting rock classification
In the KyungChoon tunnel site, rockmass was classified by the blasting rock classification
method stated previously and the overbreak after blasting was measured. The target of the
rock classification was not the whole tunnel face, but the perimeter of the excavation line. The
rockmass of the tunnel face was divided into five sections. And overbreaks were measured at
each section. Figure 3 shows a mutual comparison of classification criteria(BI) and the
overbreak.
It was confirmed that the lower the ranking of the rock class, the lager the overbreak, and vice
versa. The main cause of this phenomenon is that the distance between holes and the charge
concentration in the contour holes remains uniform regardless of the class of the blasting rock.
Thus, the overcharging happens in low class of the blasting rock, and undercharging in the
high class.
In this research, we tried to control the overbreak by adjusting the distance between holes and
the charge concentration according to the blasting rock classification criteria and the blasting
test at the site. As a result, the optimized blasting pattern in contour holes was established as
shown in Table 4.
4.2 The application of the N.D.C Blasting method
RMR values of the rockmass for the application of the N.D.C blasting method was evaluated to 60 -70,
which would be classified as Pattern II. The drilling length was 3.0 m with full face excavation. The
classification for the blasting rock presented in this research classified the rock as 2 or 3 type. The
blasting patterns of the contour holes were designed on the basis of Table 4, and quite different from
those of the previous method as shown in the Table 5.
After installing a primer in a hole, the separation tubes and explosives were charged and then the
entrance of the hole was tamped with sand. The Figure 4 shows the progress of installing the separation
tubes and explosives.
After 10 tests applying the N.D.C method in the contour holes along tunnel excavation line, the
overbreak decreased significantly compared to that of the conventional method.
The overbreak in the conventional method was estimated as 40 cm on average, but the overbreak from
applying the newly designed blasting pattern according to the rockmass classification together with the
N.D.C blasting method showed 27.6 cm on average. Furthermore whereas the conventional method
resulted in the woven shape and wedge failure near the excavation line. The N.D.C blasting method was
confirmed to yield a clean face after blasting. Figure 5 shows one example of the excavation line
measurements by AMT Profiler after blasting.
5. Conclusion
Although the minimization of the overbreak is directly related the reduction of the construction cost and
period, and the increase of the rockmass stability, the reality is that there have been few efforts and
attentions. In this research, to minimize the overbreak, a new blasting pattern and method have been
developed based on the analysis of present phenomena and problems. By considering the characteristics
of rockmass near the excavation line, a new rockmass classification was established. According to this

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classification, the blasting patterns that are different in that the distance between holes and charge
density in contour holes are designed, thus realistic development of an applicable method was possible.
Also, the N.D.C blasting method utilizes the sympathetic detonation and the effect of Air Deck was
developed to enable precise adjustment of charge density by normal explosives instead of expensive fine
explosives. For the N.D.C method, separation tubes made of paper are used. In a real tunnel project, the
application of N.D.C reduced the overbreak by 30%, and the cost of contour holes by 30%.
This N.D.C method enabled the setting up of a reasonable blasting pattern and accomplished outstanding
efficiency in the hard rock blasting by the usage of normal explosives with high detonating power as the
fine explosives. Additionally it is possible to drill from inside of the excavation line by getting rid of the
fear of the underbreak. These improvements are expected to reduce not only the cost of explosives but
also the amount of shotcreting, lining, other reinforcements and mucking, and to definitely contribute in
reducing the overall construction cost and period.
6. Acknowledgment
Special thanks would be given to JongBong Kim, Senior Vice President of HANWHA Inchon
factory and SeungHoon Han, Head of Quality Assurance Team and other member in the team,
finally to ChaeSeok Oh, the Project Manager of KyongChoon Railroad Project and other staff
in the project.
7. Reference
1) Andrew Scott, 1996, "'Blastability' and blast design", Proc. 5th Inter. Symp. on Rock
Fragmentation by Blasting, Montreal, pp.27~ 36.
2) Korea Highway Corporation, 2000, Design Guide of the Optimum Blasting Patterns
forMinimizing Overbreak
3) Lewandowski, T., Luan Mai, V.K. and Danell, R., 1996, "Influence of discontinuities on
prespliting effectiveness", Proc. 5th Inter. Symp. o n Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, Montreal,
pp.217~ 225.
4) Lilly, P., 1986, "An empirical method of asessing rock mass blastability", Large Open Pit
Mining Conf., Newman, pp. 89~ 92.
5) Liqing Liu and P.D. Katsabanis, 1996, "Numerical modelling of the effects of air
decking/decoupling in production and controlled blasting", Proc. 5th Inter. Symp. on Rock
Fragmentation by Blasting, Montreal, pp.319~ 330.
6) S.Singh, 2000, "The influence of rock mass characteristics on overbreak control", Proc. of
26th annual Conf. on Explosives. and Blasting Technique, Anaheim, Vol. 2, pp.117~ 129.
7) Tariq, S.M., and Worsey, P.N., 1996, " An investigation into the effect of varying joint
aperture and nature of surface on pre spliting", Proc. of 12th Symp.. on Explosives. and
Blasting Research, Orlando, pp.186~ 195.
8) Worsey, P.N., and Qu, S., 1987, "Effect of joint separation and filling on pre split blasting",
Proc. 3rd Mini Symp.. on Explosives. and Blasting Research, Miami, pp.26~ 40.

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Table 1. the results of overbreak measurements in KyungChoon project

No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Measured area
(m2 )
97.2
95.36
95.98
94.90
96.53
97.05
96.61
93.85
98.04
97.33
96.01
98.17
97.25
98.46
98.72

Area of the
overbreak(m2 )
10.4
8.56
9.18
8.10
9.73
10.24
9.80
7.05
11.23
10.53
9.21
11.37
10.45
11.65
11.92

The average depth

of the overbreak(m)
41.2
34.1
36.5
32.3
38.6
40.6
38.9
28.2
44.4
41.7
36.6
44.9
41.2
46.0
47.0

RMR
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
III
III
III
III
III
III
III

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Table 2. Blasting Rockmass Classification for Overbreak

Table 3. the optimized specification of separation tube

Shape

Material

Outer diameter

Inner diameter

Water-resistance

Pipe-Shaped

Paper

20mm

19mm

Possible up to 5 hours

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Table 4. contour hole pattern according the blasting rockmass class(hole depth : 3.0m)
Blasting Rockmass Classification
I
Distance between holes
Charge concentration
Length of separation tube
Tamping length

II

III

IV

General
Method

0.8m

0.7m

0.6m

0.5m

0.4m

0.25kg/m

0.23kg/m

0.21kg/m

0.19kg/m

0.17kg/m

0.23kg/m

25cm
43cm

30cm
29cm

35cm
50cm

45cm
41cm

50cm
62cm

47cm

Table 5. contour hole charging pattern(hole depth : 3.0m)

Concentional blasting method
Charging method
The number and types of
used explosives
Charge weight
Separation tube

Consecutive charging
Megamite(32mm)1EA
Finex I(17mm)4EA
0.775kg

N.D.C blasting method

Partial charging using
sympathetic detonation
Megamite(25mm)5EA
0.625kg
35cm4EA

Figure 1. measured data by using AMT Profiler

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Separation tube
Megamite( 25mm)

Tamping

Blasting

Figure 2. the concept of the N.D.C blasting method

Figure 3. the comparison of blasting rock class and overbreak

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Inserting detonator

Inserting explosive
Into hole

Inserting
Separation tube

Inserting explosive

Tamping

Figure 4. N.D.C blasting method process

Underbreak

(a) before

(b) after

Figure 5. actually excavated line shape after application of N.D.C blasting method

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