REVERSE CIRCULATION DRILLING

USING ROTARY TRICONE BIT OR

DOWN THE HOLE HAMMER

Drilling techniques can be distinguished by :

the type of the tool cutting the ground : Tricone bit or DTH ;
the type of the flushing fluid (mud, water, air) which carries the cuttings from the bottom of the hole
to the surface ;
the way the flushing fluid circulates :
direct circulation, where the fluid is injected by the drilling rods and removes the cuttings to the
surface through the annulus between the walls of the drill hole and the rods,
reverse circulation, where the fluid circulates downwards and carries the cuttings upwards inside
the drilling rods.

Classical drilling techniques are :

rotary drilling with tricone bit, using mud and direct circulation (generally the case of oil drilling
techniques) ;
drilling using air and DTH, with direct circulation (generally the case of water well drillings in
igneous rock, Brittany, and West-Africa ).

The Boniface company from Lunel (France) has developed a drilling technique using reverse
circulation, either for rotary or DTH hammer tools.

The development comprises a patented new type of double walled drilling rod and a special air
distributor.

Double Walled Drilling

Rod and Air Distributor
The Principle :

Compressed air is injected inside the annulus of the double walled rod (1),
arriving inside the special air distributor (2) to feed the drilling device (3) and
allow the removal of the cuttings through the internal hole of the rods. A
climbing fluid speed of about 1 000 m per minute is maintained in the central
hole of the rods. This speed is independent of the ratio between the drill hole
diameter and the rod diameter.

Equipment :

The use of the robustly manufactured double walled rods is simple as well as
fast. The external tube has a diameter of 7"5/8 and the internal tube has a
diameter of 5"1/2, with conical thread API type (5"1/2 IF). Screwing and
unscrewing operations are similar to those with conventional rods. The inner
tube diameter is 4"3/4, and is sufficiently large to minimise head losses.

The special distributor (2) has several functions :

it allows the air flow to feed the air lifting for rotary or the DTH, from the
double walled rods,

it allows, with a special crossing joint tool, the removal of the air and the
cuttings through the inner tube of the double walled rods,

it ensures good verticality of the hole (stabilizer),

it isolates the toe of the drill hole from its upper section, located above the
distributor/stabilize, which has the same diameter as the drilling tool and forms
a key part of this reverse circulation drilling method.

The classical drilling device (3) is equipped with a rock bit that has a cutting
part containing tungsten carbide buttons inserted in the rock bit head (photo 2).
The average rock bit diameter comprises between 6 and 30 (152,4 up to 763
mm).
A better geological investigation tool :

The advantages of this reverse circulation drilling method, using Rotary or DTH, are as follows :

Geological information is accurate and instantaneous. The cuttings arrive at the drilling head at a
high speed from the bottom of the hole. Their dimensions are of centimetre order and in addition
there is no mixing of these "bottom of the hole" cuttings with others, which can be the result of
erosion of the wall of the hole.

The geological information is continuous (100 % recovery). When using a conventional drilling
technique (direct circulation), drilling through fissured or fractured ground, or through cavernous
rock is hindered by partial or total fluid loss. On the contrary, removing the cuttings by the rods
(reverse circulation) cancels possible fluid and cutting losses and their associated risks (plugging,
jamming, pollution of water table).

The successive fluid arrivals are individualized. This allows us to identify the respective physical-
chemical characteristics and their relative importance contrary to the direct circulation method who
only provides general information on the aquifers.

Financial Savings :

The air output to remove the cuttings is significantly reduced when using the reverse circulation
method. For example, to drill a 17"1/2 (444.5 mm) diameter hole, the air consumption is in the range of
25 m3/minute when using reverse circulation and 5 to 6 times more with direct circulation. In other
words, the reverse circulation method allows economical large diameter drilling (smaller air
compressors).

Drilling with no turbulence above the distributor/stabilizer allows much greater hole stability, thus
increasing the durability of the rods, which do not suffer from external erosion. The flush surface of the
internal pipes of the rod leads to less turbulence than when removing the cuttings through the hole.

Drilling with the reverse circulation method is generally linked with the use of Rotary or DTH
hammers. The technique leads to cost savings which increase with rock hardness. The savings are due
to faster progress, increased durability of the tools and lighter equipment than direct circulation.
All ground conditions

Reverse circulation techniques can be used in all geological formations, from silty grounds to rock. This
technique is an important step in solving problems in large diameter drilling in hard rock (Limestone,
granite, etc...) and in fractured or karstic rocks, where total drilling fluid losses are encountered with
direct circulation.

Some examples of its applications are given below :

n Underground water

deepening of existing wells in order to increase production ;

large diameter water wells in igneous rock (Africa).

n Oil drilling techniques :

large diameter drillings in hard rock conditions. As an example

the Boniface company has performed in Saint Hippolyte du Fort
(Gard, France) a pre-boring 400 meter deep in 17"1/2 (444.5
mm) diameter in Karstic limestones (Kimmeridgien period) with
an average commercial output of 8 m/hour. This work has been
done for Total Oil Company.

n Ground investigations for mining with accurate full cutting

recovery giving a continuous geological information.

n Civil works : Piling - Bored pile construction.