Abstract

SUMMARY There is a strong need to develop real-time imaging technologies to enable the driller to ‘see’ the subsurface structures ahead of the drill-bit and around the borehole during borehole drilling. One of the ways to realise such imaging while drilling is to use borehole radar (BHR) techniques. In this paper, a conventional non-directional mono-static BHR will be evaluated for its forwardlooking capability by using the data collected at an abandoned mine site at Brukunga, South Australia. Here we demonstrate that the conventional BHR can be electrically coupled on to a conductive wire or drill-rod whilst a guided wave is induced along the axial wire or drill string making it possible for imaging ahead of the drill-bit by integrating the BHR with the steel drill string. The drill-rod ahead of the BHR acts as a forward-looking antenna. When the guided wave travels to the end of the drill-bit, part of the energy is reflected by the drill-bit and the remaining energy radiates in front of the drill-bit, and is reflected by the geological/electrical discontinuities, recorded by the BHR. The forward-looking capability of the BHR is about 2-6m in the tested borehole section.

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