'>Geotechnical Drilling Semmes What's Considered When Selecting a Drill Bit for Geotechnical Drilling?

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Semmes, Alabama geotechnical drilling projects vary dramatically when it comes to the goals and objective for the drilling project. When a drilling crew arrives on-site, you may notice that they have lots of equipment, including lots of different drill bits. So how do the technicians select the proper bit for your project?

When it comes to geotechnical drilling, Semmes technicians may consider several different key factors when evaluating which drill bit (and drilling rig, for that matter) is most suitable for the job.  Let’s examine what factors are considered as your technician prepares to start drilling.

How Does a Technician Choose the Right Bit for Geotechnical Drilling?

Semmes, Alabama geotechnical drilling technicians may choose from a variety of different rigs and drill bits. Drilling bits can be made from a variety of different metals and metal alloys. The bits may be impregnated with diamond bits to increase the overall strength, while others may have a special, treated tip made of carbide or diamond.

Drill bit tips tend to take a majority of the abuse during a drilling operation. When drilling through rock and dense ground conditions, the friction causes the drill bit to deteriorate over time. Lubricants and cooling fluids are used to prevent high heat which can cause bending, melting and warping.

Each drill bit has a different shape, diameter and usage. So your drilling technician will need to choose the right bit depending upon factors such as:

  • Variability of the ground. Some areas have several soft layers of soil above very dense layers, while others are more uniform throughout.
  • Density and hardness of the ground. Using the Moh’s Hardness Scale which gives a value of 1 to 10 to various rocks and minerals, the drilling technician can evaluate the location and choose the proper drill bit for the hardest, densest material you’re apt to encounter.
  • Drilling rig style and RPMs. Different drilling rigs require different drill bits. The bits used for a percussive drilling rig (which works like a jackhammer) is very different from the bits used from a rotary drilling rig, which has a bit that rotates. The type and size of drilling rig varies, as does the maximum RPM. The faster the RPM, the more potential for friction and the greater the stress on the drill bit.
  • Drilling objective. There are different drill bits for different projects. For example, if you’re extracting core samples, you would use a hollow cylindrical drill bit with a hard leading edge, while a different type of drill bit would be used for a different type of drilling operation.

The technician’s overall knowledge of the site’s geology is also a key factor because if you are uncertain of what lies beneath the earth’s surface and there’s a chance he may encounter dense stone or soil that’s going to be hard to penetrate, they may choose a more heavy duty drill bit.

*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*

Geotechnical Drilling Saraland How Does Ground Composition and Density Impact Geotechnical Drilling?

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Saraland, Alabama geotechnical drilling projects can vary in terms of the timeframe, cost and complexity based upon a number of different factors. Ground composition and ground density are two factors that have a significant impact on drilling technique, the type of drilling rig that’s utilized and the cost and timeframe of a project that involves geotechnical drilling.

Saraland clients often wonder about which ground conditions are most favorable and which conditions tend to be most common in this region of the southeastern United States.

How Does Alabama’s Soil Density and Composition Affect Geotechnical Drilling?

Saraland, Alabama geotechnical drilling projects are in a region of Alabama that’s known as a coastal plain, which is dominated by soils that are comprised of marine and fluvial sediments. This area has dense clay subsoil, under a loose, sandy surface layer.

This can make for rather challenging drilling conditions because sandy soil lacks stability, while clay soil can be extremely dense. The denser the stone or soil, the longer it takes to complete the drilling project and the more limited your choice in drilling equipment.

On the other hand, some very sandy or wet soils can be equally challenging to work with because the ground lacks stability. This means that you cannot perform certain types of drilling with ease because the walls of the hole are prone to collapse.

In other areas of Alabama, such as the Piedmont Plateau, geotechnical drilling projects can be even more costly and time consuming due to the prevalence of granite, which is one of the hardest, densest stones on the planet. The soils include red clay subsoil, with a high content of granite, mica schists and hornblende.

When drilling into dense stone, you need extremely hard, dense drill bits – usually with diamond or carbide tip – and the speed with which you can proceed is very limited. You also need to utilize plenty of lubricants to keep the drill bit cool and to prevent damage such as melting, warping or dulling. The rate at which you must replace drill bits is increased too, as the dense stone and ground composition wears them out much faster. This can result in increased overhead costs which are relayed to the client to some degree.

Conversely, the Appalachian Plateau region of Alabama is dominated by areas of loamy top soil and subsoil, with lots of sandstone and shale which are relatively soft stones that are easy to drill through.

*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*
 

Geotechnical Drilling Prichard How Does Bedrock Affect a Project Involving Geotechnical Drilling?

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Prichard, Alabama geotechnical drilling projects often involve drilling down into the bedrock, which is a solid layer of stone that underlies the soil and other softer material, also known as regolith. While many geotechnical drilling projects are relatively shallow, others involve deeper drilling projects that extend into the bedrock.

The nature, composition and depth of the bedrock can have a significant impact on your drilling project, including the total timeframe, the complexity of the drilling effort, and the types of drilling rig and drill bits that can be utilized and the cost of the drilling project. So let’s explore exactly how bedrock comes into play when drilling into the earth.

What’s Bedrock and How Does it Impact Geotechnical Drilling?

Prichard, Alabama geotechnical drilling projects may involve the bedrock, depending upon the depth of the drilling venture and even the precise location, as there are some regions where the bedrock is buried beneath 10 to 20 feet or more of soil and loose rock layers, while in other areas – particularly in mountainous regions – the bedrock may be exposed at the surface.

The depth of the bedrock is a major consideration because the complexity and the duration of the drilling operation will increase once you hit bedrock. It’s far faster and easier to drill through surface soil and regolith than it is to drill through solid stone.

In Prichard, which is located in Southern Alabama near Mobile, you’ll encounter lots of sandy soil with a high water content due to the many rivers running through the area, combined with the low elevation of this coastal region. For this reason, your geotechnical drilling operation may be intended to determine the depth of the bedrock at a particular location as large structures may need to anchor directly into the bedrock to ensure stability atop water-saturated, sandy soil.

Southern Alabama is dominated by sandstone and limestone bedrock. Limestone is relatively soft, while sandstone is a sedimentary rock that tends to have variable hardness that can range from fairly soft to quite hard.

Compare to other regions which have granite bedrock, which is one of the hardest stones on the planet. So this is a benefit if your project involves drilling into the bedrock, as progress will be faster than what you might see in the more mountainous northern regions of the state.

The composition, density, overall integrity and the depth of the bedrock will have a major impact on your geotechnical drilling project, affecting the type of drill rig and drill bits that can be utilized, along with the cost, complexity and timeframe of your project.

*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*

Geotechnical Drilling Montgomery What Unique Considerations are required in Montgomery County for Geotechnical Drilling?

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Geotechnical drilling efforts in Montgomery, Alabama  may be undertaken to evaluate a possible building site, to look for contamination, to evaluate the integrity of a levee or to perform some other sort of geological investigation.

The state capital, Montgomery has some very unique conditions as there are three different geological zones in the immediate area. This means you need an experienced expert technician for your geotechnical drilling to ensure that your project is completed in a timely and cost effective manner.

Montgomery, Alabama is situated in Montgomery County, which is home to two geological zones: Blackland Prairie and coastal plain. The latter is heavily dominated by marine and fluvial sediments that are intermingled with a clay and loam-rich subsoil and surface layer which makes for some moderately challenging drilling projects.

On the other hand, Alabama’s Blackland Prairie region has dark topsoil that contains acid marine clay and Selma chalk, atop a yellow colored subsoil layer. This area is known for its poor drainage, its acidic soil and high clay content, which tends to crack and shrink during the dry winter season, while expanding and softening in the wet summer months.

On the northern border of Montgomery County is a major flood plain and terrace area, with lands that have been impacted and transformed by the streams and rivers that cross through this region. The streams bring alluvium deposits and generally speaking, a high ground water content.

Due to the differences in soil types and terrain, you need a geotechnical drilling company with lots of experience in performing drilling operations in a vast range of different environments. At Amdrill, we have a wide variety of different drilling rigs and vehicles that allow us to access even the most difficult to access locations, from wetlands and marine drilling environments, to steep hillsides, remote forested regions and beyond.

It’s important to trust your project to a company that has knowledge of the local region and has the right equipment to drill in that region, while extracting the samples or obtaining the data and insight that you require. We work with clients who need help with a variety of different projects, including core sample extraction, evaluating the underlying bedrock for stability and integrity, evaluating the ground composition, density and water composition.

*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*

Geotechnical Drilling Mobile What Kinds of Drilling Rigs Are Used for Geotechnical Drilling?

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Mobile, Alabama geotechnical drilling clients probably envision a traditional oil drilling rig such as those found out Texas and other areas of the American west when they hear the term “drilling rig.” But these iconic oil drilling rigs are only used for oil wells. We use some very different rigs for geotechnical drilling.

Mobile natives may see a number of vehicle-mounted mobile drilling rigs. These portable drilling rigs are most commonly used for geotechnical drilling projects, which are often short-term projects that can take anywhere from a matter of hours to a few days, depending upon the nature of the drilling project, the objective, the depth that you’re drilling to and the density of the material that you’re drilling through. Therefore, it’s time-effective and cost-effective to use a vehicle-mounted drill instead of a semi-permanent structure that must be assembled and disassembled.  Let’s look at some of the different rigs that are used in this type of project.

What Types of Drilling Rig Do You Use in Geotechnical Drilling?

Mobile, Alabama geotechnical drilling projects may see a number of different drilling rigs in utilization, from percussive drills that work a bit like a jackhammer, to rotary drills which rotate to dig into the rock and soil. The latter is more commonly utilized.

Mobile drilling rigs are often mounted on trucks of varying sizes, ranging from a heavy duty pickup truck to a large truck similar to those used as utility company vehicles.

Of course not every drilling site is located alongside a paved, well-maintained roadway. In fact, some drilling sites are extremely difficult to access. For these projects, we may use a mobile drilling rig mounted atop an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) or even a go-track rig, which is a large vehicle with a track system that’s similar to an army tank or snowmobile. Amdrill also has a few small remote-controlled geo-probe rigs for tight, hard to access areas. These rigs ride on tank-like tracks.

Since the city is situated on the banks of a Gulf of Mexico inlet known as Mobile Bay, geotechnical drilling clients may even encounter boat-mounted drilling rigs for drilling in a wetlands area or a marine drilling project.

In addition to boat-mounted drilling rigs, Amdrill also has amphibious vehicles and barges. This wide variety of rigs gives our company the ability to extract samples and perform other drilling projects in virtually any location, no matter how inhospitable that location may be!

*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*

Geotechnical Drilling Kushla Drilling in Wetlands – The Basics of Geotechnical Drilling

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Geotechnical drilling technicians Kushla, Alabama  routinely get dispatched to areas on the shore of rivers, Mobile Bay and other waterways that wind through this region of the Gulf Coast. In fact, this area is home to lots of wetlands, which are challenging environments for any sort of drilling, excavation or building because the ground is soft and waterlogged. Even standing in wetlands is virtually impossible as the ground is often comprised of many feet of soft mud and plant material.

So why would you want to perform geotechnical drilling in wetlands? And how is it possible to drill in these areas? Well, that’s exactly what we’ll explore in today’s article from Amdrill.

Why Would You Go to the Wetlands to Perform Geotechnical Drilling?

Geotechnical drilling technicians Kushla may be dispatched to a wetlands area to perform a drilling operation as part of one of any number of different projects. Wetlands ecosystems are very unique and sensitive, but due to inaccessibility, many of these wetlands are in remote, hard to access areas. This remoteness makes wetlands prime locations for dumping of illegal materials and even chemicals, which can result in contamination that may have a catastrophic effect on the plants and animals in the area.

What’s more, contaminants tend to travel quickly through water and waterlogged soil, so any contamination in an adjacent area can quickly spread. For this reason, some geotechnical drilling efforts involve evaluating an area to determine the extent and severity of the contamination in order to plan for remediation and clean-up efforts.

Understanding the depth of the water table – the level where the ground water is situated – is important too, particularly when it comes to building structures near wetlands. So the area may be evaluated to determine the depth and location of the water table.

It’s also not uncommon to see flooding in wetlands and in the areas surrounding rivers and even the shoreline. So to prevent flooding, many property owners and even entire municipalities will build levees and other man made structures that serve to contain flooding and limit damage to nearby areas. In the case of an existing levee or earthen structure, you may need to perform geotechnical drilling to determine how its standing up to the elements. If the soil is saturated beyond a certain point, it can begin to fail.

There are a number of geotechnical drilling projects that may be performed in wetlands, or near other bodies of water such as rivers and Mobile Bay. Amdrill’s team has a variety of vehicles used to transport and carry our drilling rigs, including amphibious vehicles, boats and barges. So we are well-prepared to take on any environment, no matter how challenging!

*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*

Geotechnical Drilling Chickasaw Why and How Do You Investigate Contamination With Geotechnical Drilling?

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Chickasaw, Alabama geotechnical drilling crews may be called out for a range of different project types, ranging from evaluating soil composition, to determining the integrity of the bedrock, to identifying whether a particular site is suitable for a specific type of structure. Some calls may involve the evaluation of a site that has been contaminated with chemicals, pollutants or another potentially harmful or dangerous contaminant. Fortunately, you can investigate site contamination with geotechnical drilling.

Chickasaw geotechnical drilling crews can extract a wide range of data from the ground beneath your feet, from the extent, nature and depth of contamination, and even the precise type of contamination impacting the site.

What’s the Advantage of Investigating Contamination Through Geotechnical Drilling?

Chickasaw, Alabama geotechnical drilling crews can extract key rock, soil and groundwater samples from a site, with minimal cost and in a relatively short period of time. Drilling crews can help you save tens of thousands of dollar on contamination remediation efforts, since you can identify the exact area that’s impacted and address only that area.

Contaminants can be very pervasive, soaking down through many layers of soil and even soaking into some of the more porous types of rock. What’s more, contaminants can even reach underground water flows. This groundwater contamination can spread the contaminants throughout a wider region, even contaminating wells and drinking water.

As part of a contamination remediation effort, the first step is to evaluate the site and determine the depth and extent of the contamination. Geotechnical drilling crews will drill into the ground and bedrock to extract samples which are then analyzed in a laboratory.

Based upon the analysis of samples from multiple locations, you can create a map of the contaminated area. The remediation efforts will vary depending upon the precise nature of the contamination. In many instances, the contaminated rock and soil is removed and replaced with “clean fill.” There are also other techniques that can be utilized to prevent the spread of contaminants.

In some cases, impenetrable membranes may be placed in the earth to serve as a barrier that prevents the contamination from spreading beyond a certain region. It may also be possible to render harmful chemicals inert using other chemicals that neutralize and alter the chemical composition, limiting harm.

Geotechnical drilling can save a lot of time, work and money since you won’t need to excavate and treat a larger area than necessary to address contamination.

*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*

Geotechnical Drilling Birmingham What’s the Difference between Percussive and Rotary Drilling in Geotechnical Drilling?

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Birmingham, Alabama geotechnical drilling crews may have a number of different drilling rigs available for use, but the type of drilling technique used will vary depending upon factors such as the drilling depth and the objectives of your drilling project.

Two of the most common types of drilling are known as percussive drilling and rotary drilling. When scheduling project involving geotechnical drilling, Birmingham clients may hear one or both of these techniques references. So what’s the difference between these two types of drilling and how are they used? Well that’s precisely what we’ll explore in today’s article.

What’s Rotary and Percussive Geotechnical Drilling?

Birmingham natives will typically see percussive drilling in cases where the geotechnical drilling crew is seeking to drill small, relatively shallow holes into the earth. Most often, percussive drilling is used in other types of drilling projects such as a project that involves drilling holes for blasting projects or mining, whereby holes are drilled into rock which is then blown apart with explosives.

Percussive drilling may also be used for drilling into rock or concrete to create anchor points as part of some sort of construction project.

Percussion drilling involves a drill that’s more similar in nature to a jack hammer. So, there is a carbide of other super strong drill bit that repeatedly strikes the rock to create a hole. Percussive drilling is fairly uncommon in geotechnical drilling, as it’s not commonly used in soil or to collect soil samples.

The other common drilling method, which is more commonly used for geotechnical drilling is rotary drilling. As the name implies, rotary drilling involves a drill bit that rotates in a circular motion. Rotary drilling is more effective for deeper drilling efforts, including some of the deepest drilling projects such as those that involve deep oil wells or water wells.

Equipped with carbide or diamond tips, the drill bit rotates to create the hole. This technique is also used for extracting core samples, which are commonly dealt with in geotechnical drilling. For these projects, the drilling bit is in the shape of a round, hollow cylinder which has teeth on the leading edge. The cylinder rotates, cutting down into the earth. This allows our geotechnical drilling team to extract a vertical column of earth with the distinctive layers intact. The core samples can be examined, evaluated and tested for water saturation, density, composition and other qualities.

*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*