- SHOTPlus™ Variant:
- Surface
- Version:
- >6.0.0.0 and above
- KBA Summary:
- This Knowledge Base Article (KBA) provides an in-depth understanding of Type 2 Rules, their intended usage, and their behaviour in both SHOTPlus™ and the BlastIQ™ ecosystem.
A Loading Design is the deck and initiation structure applied to a hole. The Loading Design can be generated by the application of a Loading Rule or manually defined by a user in SHOTPlus™. For more information on manually defined loading and its behaviour in SHOTPlus™ and BlastIQ™, read more here.
Loading Rules are conditional rules that enable users to the Loading Design for a hole, or a group of holes, on their properties and conditions. BlastIQ™ enables two types of Loading Rules:
- Charging Rules - Used to define the decking design, including deck types (bulk explosives, packaged explosives, inert materials), number of decks, and position of decks.
- Initiation Rules - Used to define the initiation design, including detonator types, booster types (when combined, a detonator and a booster are considered to be a 'primer'), number of primers, and primer positions.
The conditions for each rule are set by the user when the rule is created. When a Loading Rule is applied to a hole, a Loading Design is generated. As the properties of the hole change, or the condition of the hole is updated with field measurements, loading rules are re-applied1 based on the conditions defined by the user, and the Loading Design is updated.
Information
- In BlastIQ™ Mobile and LOADPlus™ the re-application of rules is automated, but can be turned off in BlastIQ™ Mobile, see KBA here. In SHOTPlus™, the re-application of rules can be automated; or can be triggered by the user using the loading tool.
Type 1 Charging Rules are charging rules which are supported by BlastIQ™ and will apply to holes in BlastIQ™ Mobile and LOADPlus™ based on updated hole conditions.
Type 2 Charging Rules are charging rules which are supported by BlastIQ™ but will not apply to holes in BlastIQ™ Mobile or LOADPlus™ based on updated hole conditions.
Common Type 2 Rules include, but are not limited to:
- Charging rules based on Strata Intercepts.
- Charging rules based on Measure While Drilling (MWD) profile data.
- Charging rules with conditions based on Temperature.
- Charging rules containing packaged explosives.
When applying Loading Rules in SHOTPlus™, Type 2 Charging Rules are applied the same as Type 1 Charging Rules, with the Loading Design being updated based on the hole's design conditions or measurements.
Loading Rules
When exporting a plan to BlastIQ™ and opting to export Loading Rules, any Type 2 Charging Rules defined in the plan will not be exported to BlastIQ™.
SHOTPlus™ will notify the user that the plan contains Type 2 Charging Rules and that these will not be exported when opening the export plan dialog.
Loading Design
When exporting a plan to BlastIQ™, any holes with a Loading Design based on a Type 2 Charging Rule will be flagged as Loading Rules Disabled and Truncation Enabled. This ensures that the Loading Design is not replaced with Loading Design based on a Type 1 Charging Rule when exported to BlastIQ™.
When importing a plan from BlastIQ™, if any holes in the plans have a Loading Design based on a Type 2 rule and new measurements for the hole have been recorded, the user will be prompted if they would like to re-apply loading rules to their holes or maintain the existing loading, which will match what is in BlastIQ™.
Where loading rules are present, normal behaviour for plans in BlastIQ is for loading rules to be re-applied:
- When the plan is exported.
- When the condition for a hole is updated.
This behaviour ensures that the loading design for a hole is based on the latest condition of the hole.
Holes that have been tagged as Loading Rules Disabled will be excluded from rule re-application in both cases, ensuring the loading design is not replaced.
Where the condition for a hole tagged as Loading Rules Disabled is updated, Loading Rules are not re-applied, as described above. However, the Loading Design will be updated based on changes to Hole Length (drilled or measured) or Hole Diameter (drilled or measured).
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If the hole is recorded as being shorter than designed, the design decks will be truncated from the toe of the hole, with the bottom deck being consumed first.
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If the hole is recorded as longer than designed, the bottom deck will be elongated until the difference between the actual length and the design length exceeds the backfill tolerance. Once the difference between the actual length and the design length exceeds the backfill tolerance, a backfill deck will be added to the toe of the hole. It will be equal in length to the difference between the actual length and the design length that exceeds the backfill tolerance. If no backfill tolerance has been defined for the hole type, no backfill deck will be added.
When using Type 2 rules, the following workflow is recommended to ensure that the Loading Design for a hole aligns with the conditions for that hole prior to loading.
- Apply Loading Rules in SHOTPlus™ to design holes.
- Export plan to BlastIQ™.
- Record drilling QA/QC in BlastIQ™.
- Import the latest measurements into SHOTPlus™.
- Reapply loading rules to ensure that Type 2 Charging Rules are applied to the appropriate holes.
- Export plan to BlastIQ™ to ensure the most accurate loading design is exported to the field.