Sonic drilling uses rotation along with axial vibration (up to 150 hertz) to facilitate high speed drilling through pretty much anything. CJGeo utilizes sonic drilling to install tubing for Tube-a-Manchette grouting, which is commonly called TAM grouting. Sonic drills will go through rock, sand, organics, cars, slurry walls gone wrong, concrete and just about anything.
Sonic drilling is generally more expensive than older drilling technologies. The advantage of utilizing sonic drilling is that if you hit boulder, you go through it. If you hit a piece of out-of-alignment sheet pile, you go through it. It’s incredibly versatile and predictable.
How Sonic Works
This type of drilling works by vibrating the drill rod at up to 150 cycles per second, while rotating. Originally, sonic drills would either rotate or sonic. New drills, CJGeo’s included, do both at the same time.
The vibration effectively liquefies soils around the casing, which significantly reduces friction, allowing for faster, straighter drilling.
What CJGeo Uses Sonic For
CJGeo uses sonic drilling to install two different types of grout tubing:
Tube-a-Manchettes are PVC pipes with cross-drilled, sleeved holes, used in conjunction with straddle packers to precisely deliver grouts as part of the permeation grouting process. Most permeation grouting is done in sands and highly permeable soils, which sonic excels in. Permeation grouting is fairly common around slurry walls, SOE, and other buried structures, so the compact nature of our drill (6′ wide, 10′ long, 15′ mast) is very helpful here.
CJGeo also uses sonic drilling to install sacrificial tubing used for polyurethane compaction grouting. This is particularly useful if grouting is required below dense layers that are too dense or stiff to drive grout tubing using percussion.
Speak With An Expert
Facing a challenge that could be solved with grouting and sonic drilling? Give us a shout or shoot us a text. Click the state marker for the location of the project for contact info for the appropriate rep.
