What Is Core Drilling and How Does It Work?
Construction is an expensive and time-consuming business. Before you even lay the first brick on a designated site, you will first need to determine whether or not construction in that particular site is viable or tenable in the long term. That is why you need to conduct thorough site inspections and on-site surveys, which includes core drilling, photographic sample collecting, and even the use of radar to detect underground rock formations and anomalies. A proper site inspection can provide us with a lot of information on the area, such as water drainage, soil composition, the presence of sink holes, and any other kinds of hazards. An initial visual inspection may determine that a site is viable for a construction project, but further analysis (through the use of core drilling, for example) could establish the exact opposite. While construction is expensive, mistakes are even more so. This article is about the use of core drilling as a tool for site inspections and will provide information on the process involved, as well as an explanation of how the data that is collected is used.
The Process of Core Drilling
Core drilling uses specialised equipment. The drill itself is not the kind you could find in your local hardware store, although it does function in much the same way. Core drills are massive, as they need to reach a certain depth. The data collected from the specified depth (which may change based on a project’s requirements) will determine whether the project needs to be adjusted or whether it can continue at all. The drill bit itself is hollowed out to allow for a sample to be collected. These samples are called cores, and they are gradually collected as the drill bores through soil and rock.
The process of core drilling is outlined below. The actual process is far more complex and involves numerous elements not mentioned here – this is only a basic breakdown of the process for illustrative and educational purposes.
- The first step is to select a site for the collection of core samples. This is usually determined relatively early in a site inspection.
- The next step is to determine whether any special permissions are needed to drill at a particular site and to then obtain those permissions.
- With the right permissions obtained, the next step involves getting the equipment on-site. If a spot selected for sample collection cannot be easily reached by the machinery required, an optimal route must be devised, or the chosen site needs to be reassessed.
- With all the equipment in place, the only thing that remains is to collect the samples.
- The samples are then sent off to a laboratory for analysis.
What Core Drilling Is Used For
The samples we collect can tell us a lot about the physical composition of an area. These samples can give us insight into everything from the geography of an area to more minute and precise details such as mineral compositions, the presence (or absence) of rock formations deep underground, and soil composition. All these factors play a role in determining the viability of a construction project, so it is important to collect as much information as we can to ensure that no expensive mistakes are made.
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