Development of a mobile application software capable of regional blast design and analysis

Developments in drilling and blasting techniques have led to widespread use of blasting in various fields such as mining and construction. Successful blasting is the one that achieves the desired fragmentation rate at the lowest cost with minimal environmental impacts such as ground vibration, air blast, and flyrock. The efficiency of the blasting process depends on a good understanding of the rock properties and the design tailored accordingly. In some cases, the blasting design may need to be revised based on various factors. Blast planners may not always have the time to make on-site adjustments to the design as needed. With advancing technology, smartphone technology is also rapidly evolving. Smartphones are being used as accessible pocket computers by everyone. This makes smartphones a good option for quickly designing blasting plans, predicting environmental impacts based on these designs, and revising the design accordingly if necessary. In this study, a mobile application software capable of primary blasting design, regional environmental impact assessment based on this design, and prediction of fragment size distribution was developed. The application, named iRockBlast, was built using the Dart programming language with Flutter framework. This mobile application can operate on iOS and Android operating systems. This application will facilitate blasting planners during blasting design and analysis calculations and will guide them to obtain the desired results from the blasting.