Antarctic subglacial drilling rig: Part II. Ice and Bedrock Electromechanical Drill (IBED)
Abstract
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Ice-core drilling to depths of 200–300 m is an important part of research studies concerned with paleoclimate reconstruction and anthropogenic climate change. However, conventional drilling methods face difficulties due to firn permeability. We have developed an electromechanical ice-core drill with air reverse circulation at the hole bottom. We believe that the new drilling system will recover ice cores faster than shallow auger drills, with high efficiency and low energy consumption. The theor...
Abstracts Based on experience gained in the construction of frozen test wells, an ice drill testing facility was designed and constructed at the laboratories of the Polar Research Center at Jilin University. This facility allows for the testing of all kinds of mechanical and thermal ice drills throughout the year, including electromechanical cable-suspended drills, hot-water drills, rapid air drills, thermal sondes for subglacial lake exploration, and others. By changing the switching sequence o...
Drilling project at Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, East Antarctica: recent progress and plans for the future
Assessing the efficiency of carbide drill bits and factors influencing their application to debris-rich subglacial ice
Abstract When drilling into subglacial bedrock, drill operators commonly encounter basal ice containing high concentrations of rock debris and melt water. As such conditions can easily damage conventional ice drills, researchers have experimented with carbide, diamond, and polycrystalline diamond compact drill bits, with varying degrees of success. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between drilling speed and power consumption for a carbide drill bit penetrating debris-rich ice. We also...
Electromechanical cable-suspended drilling technology is considered one of the most feasible methods for subglacial bedrock drilling. The outstanding feature of this technology is that the bit load produced by the drill weight is usually within the range 1.5–4 kN while the recommended load for diamond drilling is 10–30 kN or even more. Therefore, searching for the diamond bits that can drill in extremely hard formations with minimal load and acceptable rates of penetration and torque is the nece...
Abstract The drilling of deep boreholes in ice sheets requires that the hole is filled by a liquid to compensate the ice-overburden pressure. Density is the most important drilling fluid property, so the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid column should be sufficient to prevent closure of the borehole. However, it is impossible to prevent borehole closure at all, because the upper part of glaciers contains a lot of air inclusions and the density of snow–firn zone is much less than the rest stratum...
ABSTRACT. To prevent spinning of the upper non-rotated part of the electromechanical drill, an ‘anti-torque system’ has to be included in the downhole unit. At the same time, the anti-torque must allowthe drill to move up and down the borehole during drilling and tripping operations. Usually the anti-torque system has a blade form of various designs that engages with the borehole wall and counteractsthe torque from the stator of the driving motor. This paper presents a review of the different an...