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DOWNHOLE BOREHOLE IMAGING FOR OPTIMIZING GEOTECHNICAL AND BLAST DESIGNS
Tyler Artz, Supervisor
tyler.artz@respec.com
Are you looking to improve your geological or structural model? Is drilling-oriented core too expensive? Do you want to optimize your engineering designs using reliable site-specific data?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then borehole imaging could be your solution. By creating borehole image logs, you can analyze the rock properties that are important to geologists, mine managers, explosives engineers, and others involved in exploration, development, and operations.
RESPEC uses Optical and Acoustic Televiewers to provide quantitative and qualitative rock-mass data, which includes lithology, stratigraphy and discontinuity orientation, spacing, density, and aperture. Our geotechnical and explosives engineers routinely use borehole imaging data to:
- Identify and reduce the risk of structurally controlled bench-scale and global instabilities.
- Determine unfavorable joint set and shear zone orientations for ground-support design.
- Optimize blast designs to account for the influence of structure and geology.
- Improve site-specific geological and structural models for mine planning.
The televiewer tools are easy to use and provide invaluable structural and geological data at a fraction of the cost of oriented core drilling. These televiewers can also be deployed in nearly any NQ-sized hole or larger, and even within holes where core is not collected (e.g., simple mud rotary). Deploying a televiewer is straightforward, and the modular deployment equipment makes logging holes possible in nearly any location, including underground. A live image is displayed during the logging process, which allows the operator to review the data in real-time and quickly summarize the conditions. The real-time feedback can also be used to adapt your drilling program instantaneously, maximizing efficiency. In the office, the data can be post-processed to produce a reliable log of geology and structure that can be compared to core or chip logs for an improved understanding of the subsurface.
If you would like to learn more about the capabilities of Optical and Acoustic Televiewers or discuss how the information can be important to your site, please connect with Tyler Artz.
Examples of collected information:
- Lithology and Stratigraphy
- Borehole Caliper and Structure Information
- Discontinuity Measurements
- Core Orientation
- Mineralogical Characterization
- Rock Strength
- Loss-of-Recovery Analysis
- Breakout Analysis or Void Detection
- Vein and Bed Mapping