Investigating the Interactions between Drilling Mud and Surrounding Soil in Horizontal Directional Drilling

Horizontal directional drilling is a technique that offers the ability to install pipes and cables without the need for open cut excavation. Drilling mud is used to maintain the annulus during drilling and pipe installation, cool the cutting bit, flush cuttings from pilot hole and back reaming operations as well as provide lubrication during pipe installation. However, the interaction between the drilling mud and the surrounding soil is poorly understood and can have a significant impact upon the performance of the installation, for example: hydrofracture, loss of drilling fluid into surrounding soil or differential pressure sticking, can jeopardise pipe installations using horizontal directional drilling. The proposed study would utilise an experimental investigation to determine how the drilling mud interacts with various soils under low pressure environments synonymous with shallow utility installations to better understand the behaviour of drilling mud.

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