WATER AND ELECTRICITY ARE BEING COMBINED IN A NOVEL ROCK-BREAKING METHOD?

THE U. S. BUREAU OF MINES REPORTS EXPERIMENTS IN JUMPING A SPARK BETWEEN TWO ELECTRODES SUBMERGED IN WATER THAT GENERATES HIGH PRESSURE WHICH COULD BE USED FOR BREAKING ROCK IN MINING AND UNDERGROUND EXCAVATIONS. A HIGH-INTENSITY PRESSURE PULSE--CALLED THE "ELECTROHYDRAULIC EFFECT"--IS GENERATED WHEN THE WATER BETWEEN SUBMERSED ELECTRODES IS VAPORIZED BY A SPARK. THE GASIFIED WATER FORMS A RAPIDLY EXPANDING VAPOR CHANNEL THAT TRANSMITS EXPLOSIVE PRESSURES TO THE SURROUNDING WATER. IN TURN, THE WATER HITS SURROUNDING ROCK WITH A FORCE COMPARABLE TO THAT GENERATED BY A CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVE. THE BUREAU SUGGESTED SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS IN DRILLING, IN ORE PROCESSING, AND IN BLASTING RESEARCH AS AN ENERGY SOURCE. /ARTICLE/

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  • Accession Number: 00215334
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Oct 19 1970 12:00AM