Skip to main content

Autonomous Trenchless Horizontal Directional Drilling

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control ((SSDC,volume 270))

Abstract

Over the past 25 years trenchless technology has flourished in many pipeline installation applications as water industry, sanitary sewer, and natural gas pipeline industry. Trenchless technology gained more popularity than open trench due to its economic and environmental factors, it facilitates the installation, replacement, or rehabilitation of underground utility systems with minimum disruption of the surface. Different trenchless installation techniques have been developed over the years but Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) technique is commonly used for pipelines installation beneath buildings, forests, or lakes without excavation or at least minimum digging due to its steering capability. HDD reduces environmental impact to accomplish the installation process and minimizes the drilling time and cost. Quad Motor Drilling Heads (QMDH) were recently proposed to achieve smooth and intuitive directional drilling. A QMDH uses four drilling bits, independently controlled by 4 downhole motors. In this work a real-time control and optimization of the QMDH is simulated and extensively evaluated under various drilling scenarios. The control commands include the angular velocity and torque of each of the 4 motors. The real-time control is updated at regular distance intervals. The proposed control algorithm selects the drilling parameters in order to minimize the time of the drilling process and the deviation from the target trajectory.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Ariaratnam, S.T., Lueke, J.S., Allouche, E.N.: Utilization of trenchless construction methods by canadian municipalities. J. Constr. Eng. Manag. 125, 76–86 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Baker, R.: A Primer of Oil-Well Drilling. Petroleum extension Service at Austin, Texas, USA (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bourgoyne Jr A.T., Millheim, K.K., Chenevert, M., Young Jr, F.S.: Applied Drilling Engineering. Society of Petroleum Engineers, USA (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bueno, S.M.: Horizontal Directional Drilling Guide. Technical report, Trenchless Technology Magazine (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bugbee, K.P., Patton, B.D., Jubin, R.T. Robinson, S.M., Sullivan, N.M.: Evaluation of trenchless technologies for installation of pipelines in radioactive environments. In: Waste Management Conference (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  6. CAPP: Planning Horizontal Directional Drilling for Pipeline Construction. Technical report, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Chen, C., Yanshun, Z., Chunyu, L.: Surveying method of measurement while drilling based on the inertial sensor. In: First International Conference on Pervasive Computing Signal Processing and Applications, pp. 1192–1195 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Chen, Y., Lorentzen, R.J., Vefring, E.H.: Optimization of well trajectory under uncertainty for proactive geosteering. SPE J. 20, 1–16 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Eren, T., Ozbayoglu, M.E.E.: Real time optimization of drilling parameters during drilling operations. In: SPE Oil and Gas India Conference and Exhibition, pp. 1–14 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Eustes, A.W.: The evolution of automation in drilling. In: SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, pp. 1–5 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hashash, Y., Javier, J., Petersen, T., Osborne, E.: Evaluation of Horizontal Directional Drilling. Technical Report ICT-R27-SP16, Illinois Center for Transportation (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Hydrotech, E.C.: Thrust boring and horizontal directional drilling. http://hydrotechndrc.com (2015)

  13. Iseley, T., Gokhale, S.B.: Trenchless Installation of Conduits Beneath Roadways. National Academy Press, Washington (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Joshi, S., Ding, W.: The cost benefits of horizontal drilling. In: Proceedings of the American Gas Association, pp. 679–684 (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Jung, Y.J., Sinha, S.K.: Evaluation of trenchless technology methods for municipal infrastructure system. J. Infrastruct. Syst. 13, 144–156 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Koederitz, W.L., Johnson, W.E.: Real-time optimization of drilling parameters by autonomous empirical methods. In: SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  17. MDOT: Overview and Introduction of Trenchless Installation within MDOT ROW . Technical Report 3701, Michigan Department of Transportation (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Spanos, P.D., Sengupta, A.K., Cunningham, R.A., Paslay, P.R.: Modeling of roller cone bit lift-off dynamics in rotary drilling. J. Energy Resour. Technol. 117, 197–207 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Talib, M., Elshafei, M., Khoukhi, A., Saif, A.W.A., Abdulazeez, A.: Modeling and control of quad-rotor directional steering system. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Innovations in Intelligent Systems and Application, pp. 76–83 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Tanwani, R., Iseley, T.: Tracking and steering systems in trenchless construction. J. Constr. Eng. Manag. 120, 65–76 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Tucker, W.R., Wang, C.: An integrated model for drill-string dynamics. J. Sound Vib. 224, 123–165 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Warren, T.M., Houtchens, B.D., Madell, G.: Directional drilling with casing. SPE Drill. Complet. 20, 1–7 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by Saudi Arabia National Science, technology, and Innovation Projects under contract number NSTIP 12-OIL3033-04.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mahmoud A. K. Gomaa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Gomaa, M.A.K., Elshafei, M., Saif, AW.A., Al-Majed, A.A. (2020). Autonomous Trenchless Horizontal Directional Drilling. In: Ghommam, J., Derbel, N., Zhu, Q. (eds) New Trends in Robot Control. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 270. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1819-5_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics