An experimental study of Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) in sand in a large flexible calibration chamber

Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a trenchless technique for underground infrastructure installation that uses pressurized drilling fluid. Excessive loss of fluid to the formation can cause problems not only for the execution of HDD but also to nearby structures and must, therefore, be avoided. Hydraulic fracture is one of the possible causes and theories to predict the ultimate pressure have been developed, mostly for clays. Luger and Hergarden (1988, apud Keulen, 2001) developed a hydraulic fracture model particularly for HDD. The present study presents an experimental program carried out on a large flexible calibration chamber in sand using drilling fluid and confining pressures compatible with HDD field conditions. Results show that while local fracturing may occur, causing injection pressure to decrease for a while, permeability is still the dominating factor.

Automated summary

Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a trenchless technique that uses pressurized drilling fluid for underground infrastructure installation. This study finds that hydraulic fracture and permeability are important factors in the execution of HDD.