Geoprobe® Measurement While Drilling MWD Leads Industry Adoption

Working for Nebraska Department of Roads for 10 years, Alex Silvey is involved with drilling and sampling for geotechnical soil and subsurface investigations. Their geotech section is also involved on the design side of embankments, foundations, and retaining structures.

“There’s new technology coming available so we’re always exploring new technology and ways to do the job more efficiently,” Silvey said. “We’ve been talking to peers in states across the country and measurement while drilling (MWD) is used frequently in Europe.”

MWD takes advantage of data already available from the rig and makes it useable in other software or logging hardware for operators looking to utilize that data. MWD isn’t limited by hard formations which prohibit pushing CPT.

“Traditional geotechnical exploration would be to conduct SPT, which has been standardized to have correlations tied to the data collected. It’s a discrete method, only capturing data at 5-foot intervals,” Silvey said. “MWD fills in the picture between samples. By paying attention to rig feedback, we can detect finer changes in material properties and identify accurate changes in lithology versus relying on an experienced driller to notice it by feel or missing important property changes in between intervals.”

MWD technology integration debuted at the Geoprobe^® Open House as an option on new 31 series geotech rigs.

“It’s encouraging to see Geoprobe^® engineers on the manufacturer side staying current with industry interest and taking the lead in the industry implementing a system well integrated with the machine,” Silvey said. “It’s a drill rig manufacturer trying to eliminate headaches of improving technology and compatibility upfront, which makes progressing with MWD easier if you’re interested.”

Geoprobe^® MWD systems option calculates mud pump flow, torque, and head feed force using measurements of:

• position advancement rate
• rotation speed
• head feed, torque, mud pump pressure
• mud pump RPM

“It takes advantage of existing sensors on Geoprobe^® machines in a cost-effective, simple plug-and-play system to collect data already being output from the machine,” Silvey said. “Geoprobe^® MWD removes obstacles of investing and coming up-to-speed with MWD, ensuring it’s all working. If problems do come up, having Geoprobe^® engineers and service technicians who know the machines is a valuable support.”

Operator feedback directed Geoprobe^® engineering efforts to create an MWD technology option which eliminates barriers to utilizing MWD systems on a new rig. The Geoprobe^® Measurement While Drilling MWD option also comes with direct support from the manufacturer.

“I’ve enjoyed working with the Geoprobe^® engineering team and their interest in our feedback whether the development is meeting our needs and project use,” Silvey said. “I appreciate that they’ve used our feedback to refine the system.”

New Geoprobe^® MWD Technology

ALL new Geoprobe^® geotech drill rigs (3126GT, 3145GT, 3100GT) now come off the production line ready to add MWD systems components. The integration provides ability to leverage this emerging technology backed by support of expert technicians to diagnose problems with parts available to solve them. Should you opt to add the capabilities in the future, the machine harness, mounting points, and program are already set up to make it a straightforward install.

• Utilizes a data logger to record drilling and machine parameters with depth or time
• Follows ISO Standard 22476-15 
• Sensors and measurements implemented by Geoprobe^®
• Measurements and calculations output by CAN Bus J1939 to logging system

MWD technology data valuable to:

• Record drilling and operation parameters
• Identify course lithology changes
• Identify voids in soil or rock