System for water driven down-hole hammer drilling

Abstract: Drilling with water driven down-hole hammers is a recently developed method for competitive production of boreholes. The technology requires large flow rates of preferably high quality fluid to drive the hammer tool. One method to reduce the consumption is to process and recycle the used drilling fluid. Studies have been performed to find cost-effective suitable cleaning methods and a mobile prototype unit has been developed. This unit includes components for both pressurising and cleaning drilling fluid to enable recycling and thereby efficient drilling. A process simulation model was also developed within this project. The model determines particle size distributions, concentrations and flows at strategic locations, whereby the system configuration can be optimised. This simulation tool will be used in designing next generation of the drilling system.