What is Horizontal Directional Drilling?
The use of HDD was developed to install utility pipes and cables beneath or around a variety of surface obstacles including roads, rivers and railways. The technology was conceived in the 1970’s combining techniques used by road boring and oil and gas directional drilling. HDD’s are relatively compact and have a small footprint that allows the equipment to be set up in relatively tight spaces such as the boulevard of a roadway. Typically a small two-person crew is required including a drill operator and a tracker. The tracker directs the progress of the drill by using a hand held device that gathers data from a sonde located in the drill head just behind the bit. Adjustment to the drill line and level is made throughout the process achieving a very high degree of accuracy. After a pilot bore is complete, a reamer is pulled back thus increasing the diameter of the bore to enable the placement of a pipe or cable. Throughout the drilling and reaming process, drilling fluids and mud’s are
A. Horizontal Directional Drilling is a method of drilling and installing product on the horizontal plane (i.e., from left to right or front to back). The term “Directional” means that the drill operator has the unique ability to steer the drill head when it is underground. The operator can steer the drill head up, down, left, right. Horizontal Directional Drilling is a unique way to install pipes and cables underground while avoiding obstacles such as buried tanks, live electrical wires, building foundations, tree roots, etc.
