

Scheduling and people management are important considerations.” Selecting the Right Drill BitsĪfter investing in the major pieces, you’re pretty well restricted to the work your equipment will handle. Compliance is a big concern, from fluid disposal to site restoration. You need support equipment, including a fluid mix system and a vacuum truck. “Typically you need a truck, trailer and CDL driver. “For those outside the industry, there’s a general lack of knowledge of the scope of what’s required,” says Dan Vroom, industrial equipment and sales training manager, Vermeer. Conceptually these jobs are similar in detail they share nothing.īeyond the HDD equipment itself are many additional requirements, a fact not always fully appreciated by those considering entering the HDD market. One is drilling through rock to put 800 feet of 30-inch sewer line under a river. One is drilling through loamy soil to put 50 feet of 4-inch water pipe under a busy roadway. This proliferation is driven by two things: soil conditions and bore dimensions. Part of the maturation of HDD is the proliferation of HDD machines and hardware. Entry and exit locations are restored to their original condition to complete the process. Drilling fluids lubricate the parts, cool the cutting head, remove drilling spoils and stabilize the bore. Pipe or other product is pulled through the resulting bore.

When the string emerges at the predetermined exit point, a backreamer is pulled back through to enlarge the initial hole. This drill string consists of drill rods and a cutting head. Some method of tracking the string is used, either a stringline back to the surface or an employee with a locator walking over the bore path. A drill rig rotates a drill string and drives it through the subsurface.

Existing underground infrastructure is located. How Does Horizontal Directional Drilling Work?Īt its heart, HDD is easy to understand. Typical markets include water, sewer, electrical, fiber optic, and gas and oil. As costs have come down and equipment design has matured, HDD may be the preferred method of putting product in the ground regardless of environment because it is often more cost effective than open trenches. Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) was developed to solve the problem of installing underground products in areas with challenging conditions such as urban settings, river crossings, rail lines and busy highways.
