Abstract
The fracturing of rocks in mines and quarries may be regarded as the first stage of comminution. The use of commercially available expansive materials in the dimension stone quarries is on the increase due to their effectiveness in controlled fracturing. However, these expansive cements are very costly and any means of economizing on their use is highly desirable. An attempt is made to study the deformation behavior and fracture of granite by pouring expansive cement in a set of holes at variable spacing as against the usual practice of using holes at same spacing. It was found that the fracture through holes of variable spacing, starring from holes with smaller spacing, initiated sooner and propagated faster than through the line of holes with consistent spacing.