Study of the Effect of Hydrostatic Pressure on the Stability of the Operating Properties of Seismic Emulsion Explosives

Explosives are mainly used in mining to break rocks, but they are also a good and cheap source of seismic energy used in seismic exploration to detect geological conditions underground.They are characterized by high vibration energy in a very wide frequency band and therefore allow for recording of secondary vibrations.The most commonly used explosives in geological exploration are pentolite charges and dynamites.Given that seismic works are most often carried out in deep and water-filled boreholes, and that the explosive charges themselves remain equipped with detonators for a long time, which may cause the release of toxic substances, such as nitroglycerin, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene or dinitrotoluene into the natural environment, efforts are being made to find alternative explosives for seismic exploration puproses.In this case, emulsion explosives seem to be a reasonable option, since they are a safer and more ecological alternative to classic explosives, such as dynamites.Their advantage is a high level of safety from manufacturing, through transport until the use on site, but also the absence of any explosive particles in their composition.All components are emulsified in a stable water-in-oil emulsion, so they cannot migrate into groundwater, even after long term exposure in water-filled boreholes during seismic engineering works.This paper presents the methodology for testing emulsion explosive charges, in which conditions of high hydrostatic pressures present in boreholes at great depths were simulated in field trials.An analysis confirmed that high hydrostatic pressure does not affect the operating properties of the tested emulsion explosive, which can be used under critical conditions, such as under water and hydrostatic pressure conditions, and in cases where environmental protection is particularly important.