Advantages of Sonic Drilling
- Commercially profitable and technically surpassing conventional rotary rigs
- Over 50 years in the industry
- Progress rates 4x faster than conventional rigs on some soils
- Less fluid used than conventional rotary rigs
- Higher recover rates (consistently >90%) in case cores are recovered
The performances of Sonic Drilling exceed by far those of conventional.
We think Sonic Drilling should be the norm. But there are reasons why it is not ....
Disadvantages of Sonic Drilling
- Higher CAPEX
- High Break-down Rates (10% of CAPEX p.a.)
- No Established Protocol for operating sonic rigs
- Scarcity of skilled Sonic Drillers, or
- Time and cost of training new ones
but we're not letting you in despair ...
The Science
of Sonic Drilling
“We did not commonly drill with sonic in granite so far, but with Sci-Ex we now feel more confident doing it.”
“We thought we had it right with the frequency and weight on bit, but with Sci-Ex we see a nice opportunity of further improvement.”
“Within a couple of hours I was able to operate the sonic rig and stick with the recommended parameters.”
“I don't see myself drilling sonic without Sci-Ex moving forward.”
The Sonic Drilling Institute and ConeTec have entered into a collaboration agreement whereby ConeTec will trial the new Sci-Ex system for Compute Aided Sonic Drilling from the Sonic Drilling Institute.
What we do
We helps sonic drillers with their challenges on the field:
- Optimize rig operation and reduce break-downs
- Speed-up training and solve scarcity of skilled sonic drillers
- Reduce use of fluids
- Optimize drilling
- Record drilling data
That's all we do, and we do it well.
Computer-Assisted Sonic Drilling
Sci-Ex system for Computer-Assisted Sonic Drilling encapsulates all the science of sonic drilling for optimal drilling at all times.
- Download Sci-Ex flyer
- Watch us in action
- Let's have a chat
- or contact us.
References
About Us
The Sonic Drilling Institute is advancing scientific research in the most concrete and practical terms for sonic drillers and sonic rig manufacturers.
Listening to drillers is at the core of who we are. Solving their problems is our mission.
We are developing the next generation of sonic drilling technology. Sci-Ex is powered by U-Sonic, a proprietary computer code that numerically models sonic drilling systems. We digest Science down to red and green zone gages.
We have more ambitious and more disruptive products in the pipeline. Stay tuned.
The Team
Peter Lucon, Scientific Director
PhD Mech. Eng, P.E
Peter Lucon is Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Montana Technological University in Butte, MT, USA.
He worked on various applications of resonant devices across a wide range of industries. In 2006 he was commissioned by the Department of Energy (DOE) to work on the sonic drilling technology where he established the wave equations governing the sonic drilling vibratory regimes and resolved them numerically, Final Report . He continued the modeling work for his PhD.
In 2019 he was hired on a development project for a deep-water seabed-based geotechnical sonic rig, where he delivered resonant frequencies, max achievable drill depth, fatigue assessment on critical components, and resulting guidance on drilling protocol. Peter holds a number of patents for various resonant devices.
Martin Hammann, Managing Director
MSc Civil, Exec-MBA
Martin is a seasoned executive in construction and consulting, primarily for the offshore oil & gas, and offshore wind industries.
His technical background is geotechnical drilling - both sonic and conventional - as well as pile driving, where he was looking at the soil-pile interface during driving. He was a visiting lecturer on pile driving and pile testing at ESITC-Caen University.
He co-founded and managed a number of successful companies. Before joining the Sonic Drilling Institute, he was Chief Geo at a company developing a deep-water seabed-based geotechnical sonic rig, where he was in particular looking after the quality of the collected geotechnical samples and data, the sonic drilling processes, as well as other aspects of the business such as strategy and digitalization.
Adam Schlecht, Intellectual Property Lawyer
J.D. Law, PhD Chem
Adam Schlecht joined the Sonic Drilling Institute at its inception as a partner, to look after the patents and Intellectual Property matters.
Dr. C. Adam Schlecht is a patent attorney and a consultant. He has prepared and prosecuted patents in a diverse range of technical fields including chemistry, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, nanotechnology, petrochemistry, material science, and mechanical engineering.
Additionally, Dr. Schlecht assists clients corporate formation and related business concerns, in
freedom-to-operate, patentability, and due diligence assessments. He assists foreign associates in prosecuting international patent applications. He also has experience in providing technical assistance in litigation support.
R.H.Controls Engineer
BSc Mech
R.H. joined the Sonic Drilling Institute to take
responsibility of the development of controls and
electronic systems.
R.H. has a broad experience ranging from project
management on a pipe laying project, welding and
manufacturing Aerospace parts, drilling for Oil & Gas, maintenance & repair for the US navy, and firefighting.
A.N
MSc Mech
A.N joined the Sonic Drilling Institute in its earliest days to progress and finalize U-Sonic, the in-house sonic drilling modeling software used to map out all sonic vibratory modes of any sonic drill rig.
Contact Us
Contact Details
UK Tel: +44 33 00 01 07 03
US Tel: +1 406 570 8134
Employment
To apply for a job with Sonic Drilling Institute, please send a cover letter together with your C.V. to: info@sonicdrilling.institute
Inquiries
Please fill out and submit our contact form, and a member of our team will follow up with you directly as soon as possible.