What is Sonic Drilling?
Sonic Drilling is well suited for a wide variety of applications. What sets this technique apart from conventional drilling techniques is the ability to easily adapt to a wide variety of soil and rock types with minimal tooling change. Sonic drilling can perform in the most difficult ground conditions much faster and with the lower vibration and noise disturbance than any other drilling method.
Sonic Drilling uses high-frequency, resonant energy generated inside an automated drilling head to advance a core barrel or casing into the subsurface. As the bit face drills, the resonant energy is transferred along the drill string at various Sonic frequencies. By rotating the drill string simultaneously, the bit face receives even amounts of energy and impact.
The Terra Sonic drilling rigs, we are using are the perfect choice for any urban environment or restricted access work. Due to their compact size and ability to utilize rubber tracks they can even be used indoors. Our fleet of machines installs Micropiles, Tie-Downs, Tie-Backs and Dewatering Wells on the regular basis. We recently added equipment to also offer geotechnical and environmental sampling to our clients. The techniques’ unique ability to provide continuous samples of almost all very difficult to sample soil types in combination with the speed of operation makes them superior to other drilling techniques. We can also perform SPT as well as ground water sampling or use our machines to core concrete with extreme speed to great depth.
Sonic Drilling Specification & Capabilities
- Continuous sampling in all ground conditions
- Diamond coring of HQ and PQ sizes
- Drilling depth of up to 800ft with borehole diameters of 6 to 12in
- Able to drill in angles up to 45°
- SPT and Ground Water sampling
- High verticality drilling tolerance (<1% at depths over 100ft)
- Very cost effective, due to low diesel consumption and no need for support equipment
- Outstanding flexibility due to compact footprint
