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Analysis of institutional authors

Sanchidrian, JaCorresponding AuthorSegarra, PAuthorGomez, SAuthor

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April 25, 2022
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Hybrid Gold

The Influential Role of Powder Factor vs. Delay in Full-Scale Blasting: A Perspective Through the Fragment Size-Energy Fan

Publicated to: Rock Mechanics And Rock Engineering. 55 (7): 4209-4236 - 2022-04-12 55(7), DOI: 10.1007/s00603-022-02856-1

Authors:

Sanchidrian, Jose A; Segarra, Pablo; Ouchterlony, Finn; Gomez, Santiago
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Affiliations

Univ Leoben, Dept Mineral Resources Engn, Leoben, Austria - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, ETSI Minas & Energia, Madrid, Spain - Author

Abstract

The fragmentation of 12 full-scale one-row blasts has been measured by sieving a large portion of the muckpiles. The procedure followed, the difficulties encountered and the solutions adopted to construct the fragment size distribution curves are described in detail; 11 curves were finally constructed as production constraints prevented the required measurements on one of the blasts. The blasts covered a powder factor range between 0.42 and 0.88 kg/m(3), and were initiated with two significantly different delays, 4 and 23 ms between holes, to assess the influence of both powder factor and delay on fragmentation. The size distributions are well represented by the Swebrec function, which strongly suggests that the dependence of fragmentation with the powder factor can be analyzed by the fragmentation-energy fan. The result is excellent, and the frag-energy fan model in its simplest form (a four-parameter function) is able to predict sizes between percentage passings 92 to 8% with a mean error of 14.4% and a determination coefficient R-2 as high as 0.976. The powder factor above grade has been used, in its energy form obtained as the product of the mass powder factor by the explosive energy per unit mass. The incorporation of six more fragment size distributions, also obtained by sieving in a previous blasting project in the same rock mass, but with different layouts, explosives, delay and blast direction, only reduces R-2 to 0.968 and increases the mean error to 15.3%. A strength dependence with the size of the blasted block (burden, bench height, etc.) has been tested for inclusion in the fan formulation, with minor improvement compared with the powder factor alone, as the variation in size of the blasts was very limited. Some size descriptors as in-situ block size and fracture intensity have also been tested, though variations were also limited as all blasts were carried out in the same quarry site, not improving the prediction errors when other blast dimensions (e.g., burden) are used. Incorporating the effect of delay in the fragmentation-energy fan model has been attempted with a cooperation function modifying the powder factor, increasing from instantaneous to an optimum delay value, then decreasing as the delay further increases. The effect of such a function is noticeable in terms of improved prediction; the data analyzed, however, do not allow for a definitive statement on an optimum delay value as calculations with different fan characteristics and data result in different optimum values. The effect of the delay on the fragment size varies with the percentile, from about 10-15% for the high percentiles to somewhat more than 30% for the lower percentiles.
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Keywords

DelayImage analysisRockRock blastingRock fragmentationSievingSwebrec

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Rock Mechanics And Rock Engineering due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2022, it was in position 17/202, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Geosciences, Multidisciplinary. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.62. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 2.76 (source consulted: FECYT Mar 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-12-21, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 15
  • Scopus: 21
  • Google Scholar: 26
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-12-21:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 32 (PlumX).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/80392/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 137
  • Downloads: 66
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Austria.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (SANCHIDRIAN BLANCO, JOSE ANGEL) and Last Author (GOMEZ MATEOS, SANTIAGO).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been SANCHIDRIAN BLANCO, JOSE ANGEL.

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Awards linked to the item

Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This research in this article was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant agreement no. 730294.
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