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ResonantSonic Drilling

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AR #370
AR #459
AR #1547
AR #2119
AR #2229

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Tech ID: 55
Project Overview
ResonantSonic drilling is an innovative technique developed to access difficult soils such as cobbles and gravels to facilitate sampling and remediation. The ResonantSonic (TM) drilling system uses a combination of mechanically generated vibrations and rotary power to efficiently penetrate the soil. The oscillator or drill head operates at frequencies close to the natural frequency of the steel drill column (up to 150 cycles per second) and consists of two counter-rotating rollers that generate sinusoidal wave forces. The vibration of the drill pipe, coupled with the weight of the drill pipe, and the downward thrust of the drill head, commonly result in rapid penetration. The ResonantSonic SM method uses no circulation media, and thus produces very little secondary waste. The ability to predict failures in the sonic system or drill string promises to reduce downtime and provide additional savings for environmental drilling throughout the DOE complex.

Technology Description
 ResonantSonic drilling has been demonstrated and deployed as an innovative tool to access the subsurface for installation of monitoring and/or remediation wells and for collection of subsurface materials for environmental restoration applications. The technology has been developed by industry with assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Development to ensure it meets the needs of the environmental restoration market.

The ResonantSonic drilling technology: can provide excellent quality, relatively undisturbed, continuous core samples that can be used for contaminated site characterization and for subsurface engineering design; uses no drilling fluids and minimizes generation of waste associated with the drilling operations (no cuttings); provides an alternative drilling method that at some locations is more cost effective than the baseline technology (e.g., at Hanford it can augment or replace cable tool drilling); can be used to drill slant holes; can be safer because worker exposure is minimized, because drilling is faster and waste generated is minimized; and can be used for retrieving core materials from the subsurface (i.e., sample collection), for installation of monitoring wells, and for providing subsurface access for collection of ground water samples.

The ResonantSonic drilling system consists of two components: the drill head and the resonator (i.e., the drill pipe or rod). Three different mechanisms allow the bit to penetrate the formation: displacement, shearing, and fracturing. At any particular site, the mechanism is dependent upon the soil medium being drilled. ResonantSonic drilling has been used at many geologically different sites ranging from unconsolidated gravel-rich material to sandstone/shale sequences to clay-rich glacial till sites. Continuous cores have been obtained at depths as great as 550 feet. Drilling rates range up to 260 feet per day. Costs range from $70 to $300 per foot depending upon the drilling system used, the drilling approach, the site geology, etc.

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