Abstract
Engineering blasting is considered the most economical means of rock fragmentation. The explosive energy utilization is limited to 7% to 22% for fracturing and fragmentation though. The rest of energy components manifests itself into deleterious effects of engineering blasting, namely - noise, air overpressure, ground vibrations, etc. It has been established that proper application of air-decking and stemming plugs may enhance explosive energy utilization to a good extent. This paper substantiates this fact wherein distinct explosive energy utilization enhancement has been achieved with the combination of air-decking and stemming plug. The stemming plug used has acronym as, SPARSH (Stemming Plug Augmenting Resistance to Stemming in Holes) and it is perhaps the only available device which can effectively be used with air-decking. Further, SPARSH doesn't restrict the type of stemming material and stemming length. This is a significant advancement in the engineering blasting. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.