Directional Drilling
DDL have varying sizes of directional drills for any job.
Directional drilling minimises reinstatement requirements and is generally used where the install is too long to thrust.
We can directionally drill under rivers or sensitive areas, trees, car parks, through effluent pond bunds, established areas, roadways, etc.
The technology behind this has come a long way in the past 20 or so years making this a very affordable and often preferred option these days. Short, medium or long lenghts of pipe can be installed withiout the intermediate pits. Pipes can be installed either straight or curved to steer clear of obstacles.
By boring underground the working area is confined to points of entry and exit only. No disruption to road, river or rail traffic and no scarring of the landscape. Equipment works from the surface with no need for deep excavations.
HDD (Horizontal Drilling) is quick and in many cases has lower overall costs. HDD is unaffected by surface obstacles. Can be used to install pipes in changeable ground conditions.
Technical: Directional drilling is the science of installing undergound utilities / services without the need to trench. The Direction drill uses a method of horizontal drilling, using semi flexible drill rods, where the drill head contains a beacon enabling the drill operator to track and steer the drill head. This enables the drill to steer around sweeping corners and or over existing services. etc.
The actual installation process consists of drilling a pilot hole, at whatever the required depth is and generally up to approximately 100m long (this is the common size of most rolls of pipe though longer shots can easily be done) and either pulling the duct back in the cavity if size allows, or for larger pipes, pulling a reamer back through until the hole is of sufficient size for the duct to be pulled back through.
We have 4 directional drills and generally install 25mm - 250mm diameter piples using theis method through larger pipe size installs are achievable, 50mm - 100mm is the most common.