Research on drilling parameters of engine-powered auger ice drill

Drilling operations in polar regions and mountainous areas are complicated by nature of the extreme environment. Yet conventional rotary drilling technologies can be used to drill ice for scientific samples and other research. Due to such reasons as power consumption and weight complications,it is hard to apply a conventional rotary drilling rig for glacial exploration. Use of small,relatively lightweight,portable engine-powered drilling systems in which the drill lifting from the borehole is carried by the winch. It is reasonable enough for near-surface shallow ice-drilling down to 50 m. Such systems can be used for near-surface ablation-stakes installation,also temperature measurements at the bottom of active strata layer,revealing of anthropogenic pollution,etc. The specified used in this research is an auger ice drill powered by a gasoline engine. At this stage,it is crucial to choose effective drilling parameters such as weight on bit( WOB) and drill bit rotation rate. Sensors equipped on the rig have measured the main parameters of the drilling process,such as drill speed,WOB,drill rotation speed,torque and temperature. This paper addresses research on drilling parameters of engine powered auger ice drill and supplies some recommendations for optimization of any ice-core drilling process.

Optimization of ice cuttings transportation by cable-suspended core auger drills

Ice cores contain an abundance of information about the Earth's climate in the past,and recovered from shallow drilling down to 300--350 m give sufficient information for reconstructing of the last climatic changes and for monitoring of pollution from human being. Cable-suspended core auger drills use an armored cable with a winch to provide power to the down-hole motor system and to retrieve the down-hole unit. Because of their lightweight,convenient transportation and installation,high penetration rates and low power consumption,core auger drills are widely used for shallow drilling in ice. Nowadays at least 14 types of auger electromechanical drills were designed and tested in different foreign and national glaciological laboratories. However,auger options were usually determined by experience,and the main parameters( helix angle of the fights and rotational speed) are varied in a wide range from drill to drill. If parameters of auger are not chosen properly,poorly engineered drills had troubles with low efficiency of cuttings transportation,jam of ice cuttings,repeated fragmentation,cutters icing and stop penetration,abnormal power consumption,high rotation torques,and so on.Thus,this paper presents the method of optimization of ice cuttings transportation of cable-suspended core auger drill on the base of the theory of rotary auger. As the result,the optimal helix angle was determined corresponding to the rotational speed from the transportation efficiency point of view.

Improvements of drilling fluid processing for cable-suspended electromechanical drills

Deep ice drilling in Polar Regions plays a key role in paleo-climate, microbiological and glaciological researches. For deep ice and subglacial coring the special purpose-built electromechanical cable-suspended drills with bottom-hole circulation are designed and explored. Used at present drilling fluid circulation systems are specified by very high fluid wastes during processing. Measurements in deep drilling projects in Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets showed that 25%-40% of the drilling fluid, pumped into the hole, is retrieved to the surface with cable and drill, and up to 45% of retrieved fluid goes to waste. This leads not only to increasing of the fluid consumption and cost of the project in general but also to severe contamination of air, surface and near-surface snow-firn layers at the drilling site. In order to reduce wastes and environmental impact, it is proposed to modify drilling fluid processing system by avoiding of evaporation and leakages of fluid as far as practicable. Drilling fluid is prepared and pumped into the hole according to predetermined program on semiautomatic mode, and volume and density of blended and pumped into the hole drilling fluid are measured continuously. Components of the drilling fluid are stored and mixed in the special closed containers equipped by pressure relief valves. Separation of drilling fluid from ice cuttings is carried out by two steps: firstly, fluid is separated with hydro extractor and then with thermal separator. To reduce the amount of removed drilling fluid with cable special squeezing collar is installed on the borehole mouth. All these arrangements are able to decrease drilling fluid wastes in many times.