TY - JOUR N2 - A simple empirical study on the orientation, diameter, and extent of radial fractures (long and short) at the vicinity of the face-perpendicular preconditioned boreholes is described. Homogenous and heterogeneous mining faces were considered when studying the orientation of radial fractures, four and five face-perpendicular preconditioning practices were used to investigate the outspread and diameter of radial fractures from one blasted drill hole to another. Long radial fractures were observed to be developed along the direction of the maximum principal stress and short radial fractures were observed to be developed along the direction of the intermediate principal stress in a homogenous mining face. On the other hand, long radial fractures were observed to be developed along the direction of the intermediate principal stress, while short radial fractures were observed to be developed along the direction of the maximum principal stress when the mining faces subjected to heterogeneous rock mass. The diameters of the radial fractures observed were inconsistent and were not nine times the diameter of the original borehole. Furthermore, the extent of radial fractures from one borehole to another was noted to be gradually improved when the additional of preconditioned borehole was in place. This study maintained that the orientation of radial fractures is mostly controlled by the rock properties, however, extend and the diameters of the radial fractures are controlled by rock properties, the effectiveness of the stress wave and gas pressure and brittleness of the rock mass. L1 - http://czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/117233/PDF/Archiwum-65-4-04-Sengani.pdf L2 - http://czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/117233 PY - 2020 IS - No 4 EP - 786 DO - 10.24425/ams.2020.134146 KW - Radial fractures KW - Face-perpendicular preconditioning KW - Heterogeneous rock mass KW - Homogenous rock mass KW - Orientation of radial fractures A1 - Sengani, Fhatuwani PB - Committee of Mining PAS VL - vol. 65 DA - 2020.12.16 T1 - Fundamental Principles of Rock Fracturing at the Vicinity of Preconditioned Blast hole SP - 769 UR - http://czasopisma.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/117233 T2 - Archives of Mining Sciences ER -