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NRRA Geotechnical Team

MnROAD | NRRA | Structure & Teams | Geotechnical Team

Instrumentation and Data Management/Analyses for Measurement While Drilling (MWD) Technology

Status: Contracted
MnDOT Contract #: 1036337 WO6

Project overview

Instrumentation, organizing, and interpreting the MWD data is of huge importance and urgency to DOTs as it can benefit the organization in several ways.

First, the lack of information about the substrata in a project may result in construction change orders requested by contractors. These change orders are not only costly but also time-consuming and usually end up altering the completion dates. The FHWA has hypothesized that collecting and interpreting MWD data could help to reduce the number of such requests significantly.

Second, the information obtained through the MWD process could increase the drilling efficiency by guiding the drillers in choosing the optimum drilling rate, flow rate, injection pressure, etc. This will help to ensure efficient drilling techniques and proper tooling are used.

Third, research has shown that the MWD process will not only provide education but also increase the excitement and engagement of drillers. With the implementation of new technology, hiring and keeping qualified drillers becomes easier.

Finally, the interpreted data can be used in determining the index and engineering properties of the subsurface layers in a more consistent and continuous manner. MWD has the potential to provide a continuous detailed and accurate record of geotechnical subsurface characteristics (strength versus depth, CPT-like index graphs, presence of subsurface voids, fissures, and other anomalies). This could improve the project's design recommendations and potentially even reduce the number of subsurface exploration locations required for a project.

Tasks

Task 1: Instrumenting NDOT’s Geoprobe 3230DT drill rig and literature review

Purchasing and installing sensors to measure drilling depth, penetration rate, rotation speed, down pressure, hold-back pressure, drill shaft (and/or drill rod) torque, mast vibration, flow rate, and fluid pressure. The sensors will all be connected to a data acquisition system so that they can be shown live during the drilling (to guide the driller) and all the data can also be saved for future analyses and interpretations.

A comprehensive literature review will be conducted at this stage as well to determine the best practice, recent developments in the technology, and practice both in geotechnical/transportation industries and other industries that use MWD, e.g., mining and oil/gas industries.

  • Deliverable: A comprehensive report on the instrumentation of the drill rig and the literature review

Task 2: Initial MWD data and sample collection/testing at NDOT project sites

The research team will train the drillers to collect the MWD data and they will collect the data at their new project sites. At each site, soil/rock samples at different depths of interest will also be collected and tested for index and engineering properties (e.g., UCS of rocks, undrained and drained shear strength of soils, etc.). Depending on the project, other data from in-situ/lab tests such as Cone Penetration Test (CPT), Standard Penetration Test (SPT), Pressuremeter Test (PMT), Vane Shear Test, and Rock Quality Designation (RQD) might also be collected. Data collection, sampling, and lab testing will continue after the end of this stage till two months before the end of this project.

  • Deliverable: A comprehensive report including all the MWD and in-situ/lab test data.

Task 3: Development of a GIS-based web map for organizing and visualizing the collected data

A GIS-based web map with the location of all the boreholes will be developed at this stage. As the project continues and more boreholes are drilled, the locations of the new boreholes will be added to the map. The MWD data along with the in-situ/lab test results will be uploaded and organized in the database so that they can be viewed/downloaded directly from the web map. On the website, users can find their projects of interest on the web map and view/download the available data as shown in Figure 1 (shown on the last page of the proposal).

  • Deliverable: Publicly accessible GIS-based web map. A comprehensive report will also be prepared.

Task 4: Preprocess the data to create the spatial database and upload it to the GIS-based website

Organize the NDOT’s collected MWD data, as well as the in-situ and laboratory-obtained soil and rock testing data, and If available other data such as CPT, VST, SPT, geophysics, natural moisture, soil/rock type, geologic formation, unit weight into the database to assist in developing the correlation with the subsurface soil and rock strength data. The data will be preprocessed and then uploaded to a spatial database that can be accessed for viewing/downloading on the GIS-based web map.

  • Deliverable: The collected data for all the project sites. These data can be viewed/downloaded on the GIS-based web map. A comprehensive report will also be prepared including all the data.

Task 5: Analyses and interpretation of the collected data

The MWD data will be analyzed and correlated to the desirable properties of the sublayers (e.g., tip resistance and sleeve friction of CPT, SPT N-value, type of soil/rock layer, UCS of rocks, undrained shear strength of soils, etc). Usually, the mechanical torque, down pressure, and rotation speed are used to calculate specific energy. The specific energy is then correlated to in-situ subsurface soil and rock strength. In this project, Machine Learning methods will also be used where the drilling data can be used directly as inputs (without calculating the specific energy) to find additional correlations between the drilling data and other soil and rock properties.

  • Deliverable: A comprehensive report including the developed correlations.

Task 6: Final report

A Final report along with a project summary report and an implementation report will be prepared and submitted to the NRRA and NDOT.

  • Deliverable: Final report and final presentation will be provided. A training session for NDOT staff will also be provided by the researchers to train them on how to use the prediction models.

Project team

Email the Project Team
Principal Investigator(s): Mohammadhossein Sadeghiamirshahidi, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering, Michigan Tech University, msadeghi@mtu.edu
Technical Liaison: Nikolas Glennie, Nebraska DOT, nikolas.glennie@nebraska.gov
Project Technical Advisory Panel (TAP): Contact us to join this TAP

  • Tim Anderson, MnDOT
  • Ceren Aydin, MnDOT
  • Emil Bautista, MnDOT
  • Nikolas Glennie, Nebraska DOT (TL)
  • Paul Hilchen, Montana DOT
  • Nick Jaynes, Montana DOT
  • Eddie Johnson, MnDOT
  • Scott Kassel, Illinois DOT
  • Cameron Kloberdanz, Montana DOT
  • Ramesh Neupane, Virginia DOT
  • Joe Nietfeld, MnDOT
  • Supraja Reddy, Illinois Tollway
  • Ben Rivers, FHWA
  • Heather Shoup, Illinois DOT
  • Alex Silvey, Nebraska DOT
  • Ryan Snook, Michigan DOT

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