DRILL & BLAST
One of Fraste’s sonic drill rigs
drilling session to reduce impact on the surrounding area. In the construction environment, a sonic drill can be an incredibly powerful piece of equipment on projects such as bridges and dams to ensure the structural integrity of such important structures. By using the advanced casing system, once the investigation is complete the integrity of the site is still maintained as the casing
remains as a placeholder to prevent any collapses of the subsurface structures. It is even possible for the sonic drill to penetrate traditionally tough materials such as limestone and dolomite, which usually pose a threat to standard rotary drills due to their geological qualities.
Sonic drills can penetrate hard materials
VERSATILITY OF SONIC DRILLING Being flexible is something that is required when conducting site investigations as the situation can always be challenging, which is why sonic drilling rigs can be adapted to fit different circumstances. A number of rigs can be fitted with caterpillar tracks, allowing them to be moved into position by an operator without the need for more heavy vehicles to pollute the site. Tere are also smaller sonic drilling rigs that can be interchanged depending on site conditions, which can all be planned with a preliminary site inspection to ensure the right tools are being used to deliver the best results possible. Because sonic drilling can be done without fluid or air, it is often used for things such as earthen embankments where it is not possible to use traditional methods, giving it a wider range of uses outside of the commercial industry. When the sonic drilling equipment has been laid out on site and prepared for use, the core barrel penetrates first with the sonic head attached to begin drilling
into the subsurface material. Once you’ve reached the desired depth to retrieve a sample, the casing can then be inserted over the core barrel to capture the sample. It is best to complete this dry without the use of water to displace any materials so as to preserve the material as best as possible and prevent any contamination of the sample with the mistake of groundwater being present. Upon retrieving the core sample, it can be extracted from the sonic drilling rig to be placed in a dry and secure container for any geological examination that may be required by surveyors. If the circumstances require that just a borehole is needed, the samples can be extracted through the core barrel and disposed of appropriately with minimal waste, and the casing advanced over the core barrel can be left for the borehole installation. If challenged with harder materials such
as bedrock, sonic drilling can still penetrate these harder materials with excellent efficiency compared to the more traditional rivals, making it a truly more effective and worthwhile technology to deploy.
John Rodgman is managing director of Borehole Solutions.
www.boreholesolutions.co.uk
www.engineerlive.com 15
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