Sonic Drilling in the uk

Woking, Surrey, a picturesque city of 100,000 residents, has typically been best known as the former home of author H. G. Wells but, today, it’s also known for its innovative approach to sustainable development. In 2001, Woking won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for its energy services initiatives and, more recently, in January 2005, it took the revolutionary step of installing a geo-thermal system to heat and cool a new sports pavilion.

 

Due to the area’s distinctive geology, the job of drilling the geo-thermal loop holes fell to a Dutch company – the only company in Europe to own a Sonic drilling rig, purchased from the Sonic Drill Corporation. “There was a lot of water and mudstone and limestone in the drilling conditions,” says Jan Heldens, president of Sonic Drilling BV, of Horst, Holland. “For most drills, they would have got stuck.”

 

Despite the conditions, Heldens and his crew were able to drill 106 meters for each geo-thermal loop, at a rate of about 1½ loops per day. “The job went very smooth…there were no breakdowns or issues,” says Heldens. “The only consideration was that there was very little space to drill in.”

 

In addition to being able to drill in virtually all geological conditions, Sonic drills also offer a number of other advantages including:

 

• Significantly faster drilling progress than with conventional methods

• Undisturbed, high quality soil samples can be taken constantly (to a depth of 360m)

• In between, ground water samples can be taken at various depths

• Gravel filters can be accurately positioned and clay layers sealed

• Little or no foreign matter such as water or drilling slurry, etc., is added

• Easier application of personal protection devices

• Drilled material is not brought to the surface

• Drilling from any angle possible.

 

With the Woking project finished, Heldens and his team are back in the UK again, this time working for BP on a land reclamation project. Once that job is finished, the Sonic drill rig is on its way to Glasgow to provide a demonstration of its unique talents there for a highway project.

 

Developed by Ray Roussy, a professional engineer and president of the Sonic Drill Corporation, the Sonic drill head has a functional distinction in that it fluidizes surrounding soil particles.

 

At first glance, a Sonic drill rig looks very much like a conventional air or mud rotary drill rig but a big difference can be found in the drill head, which is slightly larger than a standard rotary head. The head contains a mechanism necessary for rotary motion, as well as an oscillator, which causes a high frequency force to be superimposed on the drill string. The drill bit physically vibrates up and down, in addition to being pushed down and rotated. These three combined forces allow rapid drilling through most geological formations.

 

It’s a significant advantage and one that is well-suited to many applications including:

 

• Geological and hydrological tests

• Sustainable energy projects

• Environmental tests

• Remediation projects

• Well drilling and drainage by well points

• Fitting anodes and earthing

• Reactivating ground water extraction wells

• Foundation drilling

• Deep soil drilling tests.

 

With its “faster, better, cheaper” advantage, Sonic drilling technology creates good vibrations no matter where it’s used.