DRILL & BLAST
LEFT: New research is informing real-world drill & blast projects
T
he Centre for Applied Dynamics Research (CADR) at the University of Aberdeen is about to take advantage of original research
started in 1999. A new spin-out company, iVDrill, has been created to commercialise the resonance enhanced drilling (RED) technology.
RED, a transformational drilling technology, applies a controllable high- frequency dynamic stress to a drilled formation, which is induced by axial oscillations of a drill-bit at the resonance frequency. T e resonance is maintained for varying drilling conditions by adjusting the frequency and amplitude of the dynamic load to produce a steadily propagating fracture zone. T is leads to a considerable drilling cost reduction and a smaller environmental footprint. T e RED technology is particularly well suited for hard rocks. Professor Marian Wiercigroch, the
RED inventor from the university, explains: “T e most important diff erence between RED and percussive drilling is that RED generates dynamic loading of low amplitude and high frequency, which is contrary to percussive drilling operating with high amplitude and low frequency. RED has been developed and tested extensively in the CADR laboratories and now we are aiming to commercialise it. T is technology can be used in many areas, such as downhole drilling, drilling interventions, mining, drilling in geothermal wells, coring and others. We have developed and tested two diff erent types of RED modules: a fully controllable but expensive magnetostrictive and a simple but cost-eff ective mechanical exciter.” Recently the CADR tested the RED technology for coring applications in collaboration with Volcanic Basin Petroleum Research (VBPR) and the
Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC). Dr John Millett, VBPR director says: “T e results are very positive and form a strong foundation from which to make potentially major steps forward in future coring capabilities, reducing costs and improving recovery. T e project has special relevance for hard-rock coring scenarios such as through volcanic sequences and may help answer questions resulting from limited or poor core recovery in such scenarios.” In addition to this, there are other
ongoing research projects including a collaboration with Varel International, which aims to gain a better understanding of the mechanics of force generation and its relationship with the drilling parameters. In addition, the team is developing and testing the new hybrid polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit with cutting elements combining shearing and gouging actions. During
Cat Tricone drill bit
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