Large Mobile Drilling Rigs Used Along the Alaska Pipeline.
Abstract
The requirement for installing more than 70,000 vertical support members along elevated sections of the Alaska Pipeline resulted in an extremely large drilling program. Several large drilling units, some specially designed, including rotary (auger), percussive, and combination rotary-percussive units, were selected for this job. This selection of equipment and techniques provided the potential to drill in all conceivable material types. An examination of these drills in the field, together with product literature, provided some insight into the characteristics of these drills compared with other commercially available drilling units. The pipeline drilling program provided a major impetus for design and development of new equipment in the area of large rotary-percussive, and percussive drilling units. The pipeline drills in general showed sound design characteristics in weight, power, thrust, torque, and speed. Many of the auger boring heads could benefit from improvements in shape, angles, cutter position, and in consideration of the center of the hole problem. Need for work in this area was indicated by drilling rates, as well as by noticeable improvements in some augers following contractors' field modifications. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA053436
Entities
People
- Malcolm Mellor
- Paul V. Sellmann
Organizations
- Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory