This post was removed at the request of the victim’s family. Please see a subsequent apology.
Miscellaneous
Tight Pipe Supplies Pinch Drillers
According to Reuters, there is a shortage of steel pipe that the drilling industry uses to drill and case wells. I presume the shortage also applies to geotechnical and well drilling as well. The run on the pipe has been spurred by the increased surge in the U.S. onshore oil and natural gas drilling market. The situation is not helped by record high steel prices as well. (Photo by yak23flora)
I talked to our local geotechnical/geoenvironmental drilling contractor to see if he has been affected by this shortage, and he said that he had, but that the supply shortages on all manner of drilling equipment and parts has been even more challenging. He cited the booming mining sector and their desire for exploration holes as a major source of his problem. He said one of his rigs had a broken overshot for an NQ coring system, that’s the device that attaches to the wireline and retrieves the inner tube from the drill stem while coring. He said there wasn’t a single overshot in North America that he could buy!
Available Resources
Continuous-flight Auger Piles
National Driller Magazine has a nice overview article of Continuous-Flight Auger Piles that was featured in their Foundation Drilling Newsletter. It’s a decent overview for those unfamiliar with CFA Piles. This type of deep foundation […]
Failures
Man swallowed by a Sinkhole in Shenzhen city, China
A frightening moment was captured on video when a security guard in Shenzhen city, China was swallowed by a sinkhole. The video indicated that residents complained of vibrations or tremors from a nearby construction site […]