Engineering - NDRC Division

Thrust Boring &

Directional Drilling
 Hydrotech Engineering began its NDRC operation in 1986. The Company specializes in
non-disruptive road crossings utilizing the latest technology in Horizontal Directional
Drilling and Thrust Boring Techniques.

Horizontal Directional Drilling

The latest advanced technology in non disruptive road crossings. Ideal for water, Gas,
ROAD CROSSINGS(NDRC ) electric & fibre optic cables and telephone cables of single or multiple ducts. Drilling
HDPE pipes from 32mm diameter to 1000mm diameter, and lengths from 8m to 500m,
Under Roads, Railway tracks, Pavements, Lakes and rivers, Airport run ways, and solid
structures.

Horizontal Directional Drilling Method

NON-DISRUPTIVE

Horizontal Thrust Boring

From 4” inch to 54” inch diameter pipes, for all types of services and utilities. Ideal
for Water, gas, oil, electric, telephone and sewage lines, under Asphalt roads, Railway
tracks, and Airport Runways.

Horizontal Thrust Boring Method

Horizontal Thrust Boring or Directional Drilling offer customers many advantages over
traditional trenching methods and ultimately reduces construction time and costs.

They eliminate the need to cut roads, which are expensive to restore and provide traffc
diversions. They are ideal in environmentally sensitive areas for minimum disturbance to
the surrounding environment. They reduce disturbance to traffc and businesses, and are
much faster then conventional methods.

We have provided our services all over the U.A.E to all the Municipalities, Roads and
Transport departments, Electricity and Water Departments, Sewage and Water treatment
departments, Irrigation and Landscaping departments, Telephone and Communication
departments, Gas and Oil companies, Civil Aviation department and numerous
construction companies.
 Hydrotech Engineering are one of the pioneers of Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) in
the U.A.E.

As techniques and working methods have improved, the Horizontal Directional Drilling
operation has become a major contribution to the NDRC division. The process generally
includes fve distinct phases as follows:

1. Planning, Preliminary survey.

2. Selecting the drilling units and drilling tools.
3. Drilling a small pilot bore hole, using technology that allows the drill to be steered
DIRECTIONAL DRILLING
and tracked from the surface.
4. Enlarging the hole by pulling back increasingly large reamers.
(Backreaming or upsizing bore)
5. Pulling in the pipe.

A well planned HDD Operation includes preliminary survey of the bore path area,
concerning other existing lines and the soil condition. Locating all existing services and
plotting them on a Drawing, then Planning the best drilling path and plot that also on the
drawing, avoiding all existing services.
HORIZONTAL

Survey of existing services and planned directional drilling route

The Choice of the drilling unit depends upon the bore length, the diameter of the pipe to
be installed and the soil quality. It is important to choose the correct Drilling unit and tools
to suit the bore length, and conditions.

Site operation starts with Drilling of the pilot hole from the surface on one side of the
obstacle to be crossed. Drilling continuous along a designed profle below and beyond
the obstacle, to exit at the surface on the other side.

Drilling pilot bore hole

The pilot bore is launched from the surface at an angle between 6 and 15 degrees to the
horizontal, and transitions to horizontal as the required depth is reached. A bore path
of very gradual curvature or near straight alignment is normally followed to minimize
friction and to stay within the allowable joint defection and the allowable bend radius
for the pipe. This minimizes the chance of getting the pipe string “hung up” in the soil or
damaging the pipe string.

ENTRY PIT EXIT PIT

Fig.1
Drilling pilot bore hole

DRILL PIPE DRILL BIT DESIGNED DRILL PATH

PILOT HOLE
The fourth phase entails the reaming of the pilot hole to a diameter suffciently large
enough to accept the pipeline or conduit.

Enlarging pilot hole

The pilot hole is enlarged by pulling back increasingly larger reamers, or reaming heads,
from the pipe “Exit Point” to the rig side, conventionally defned as “Entry Point”. To
achieve the appropriate bore path size it may be necessary to perform several reaming
operations. Generally, all reaming procedures prior to the actual product pipe installation
are referred to as Pre Reaming, and the fnal ream to which the product pipe is connected
is referred to as the ‘Back Reaming’.

ENTRY PIT EXIT PIT

Fig.2
Enlarging pilot hole

DRILL PIPE REAMER DRILL PIPE

PILOT HOLE

Finally, the pipeline or conduits is pulled into a place within the

enlarged hole. These processes are discussed in greater details
in the method statement.

Pulling in the pipe(s)

After the pre reams procedures, the Pulling Head and connecting
product pipe are attached to the reamer using a Swivel, a device
that isolates the pipe string from the rotation of the HDD drill
pipe “Rod”.

The product pipe is then pulled behind the fnal reamer back
through the horizontal directional drill path to the exit pit on the
rig side.
ENTRY PIT EXIT PIT

Fig.3
Pulling in the pipe

DRILL PIPE HDPE PIPE

SWIVEL
PILOT HOLE
REAMER

There are numerous advantages of the directional drilling installation method over
alternative construction methods. Environmental issues are minimized as operations are
limited to relatively small areas at each end of, as opposed to the complete length of,
the installation.

Far Left:
Installing 6 ways 160mm
HDPE ducts - JAFZA
Container Terminal 1

Left:
Installing 500m HDPE
Irrigation line - Zabeel
PArk, Dubai
 Installation of a 315mm
HDPE gas pipe line - Gas
Project Phase 1, Sharjah

Far Left:
HDPE ducts being
prepared for installation
- Dubai Power Station,
DEWA ELECT. Cont.

Left:
6 way 200mm HDPE ducts
for 33kv - CE DEWA cont.

Below Far Left:

Installation of 355mm
HDPE water line - SEWA,
Sharjah

Normal activity for example river, highway, or airport runway

traffc, can continue unhindered during the installation as it is not
disrupted along the surface of the installation.

This factor is especially important when drilling in residential or

commercial areas. Optimum depth of cover in the design of the
crossing, yields maximum protection for the pipeline or conduits
and reduces long maintenance costs.

Safety concerns associated with trenching or open cutting in

rivers and other waterways, or when deeper installations are
required on land, are eliminated. In most cases this method is
less expensive than alternative methods, and much easier.

Far Left:
20 ways 160mm HDPE
ducts (for 132kv cable
ducts) - Dubai Power
Power Station, DEWA CE
Cont.

Left:
Locating the pilot hole
- night drilling on major
highways
 The Horizontal Thrust Boring Division has been very active since 1986, and we are proud
to say that we are the leading company in this feld today.

Horizontal Thrust Boring or Auger boring operation, involves lowering the Auger Boring
machine into a prepared level pit of suffcient size to provide ample working space for
the equipment, crew, Thrust block, and spoil removal. The augers of 3m sections are
installed inside the steel pipes and are then lowered into the pit by crane and connected
to the boring machine. Sections of 3m, 6m, 9m and 12m pipes can be installed. The
longer the pipe sections the better the accuracy. The Cutting head is installed at the front
of the pipe and the boring operation proceeds by rotating the augers and cutting head,
and simultaneously moving the boring machine forward via hydraulically operated Jacks.

Left:
Twin 42” Dia steel casing
for 600m DI restrained
water
line - ADWEA

Below1:
Pipe and cutter head
protruding from the
receiving pit.
THRUST BORING

Below2:
Securing the Reka
Coupling from movement
during the installation of
the 300mm AC pipe inside
the 24” Dia Steel Casing
& Pressure Grouting the
Annular
HORIZONTAL

The excavated spoil from the cutting face

is carried through the augers inside the
steel pipe and is extracted from the side of
the boring machine. The rotation speed of
the cutting augers and the speed at which
the jacks are pushing the pipes forward
depend on the type of soil encountered.
Once the frst section of steel pipe has
been installed, the next section of pipe
is lowered into the pit, leveled, aligned
with the frst pipe and welded securely
together.

The operation then begins again, boring

and pushing the steel pipe gently forward.
The operation continues until all sections
of pipes have been installed underground
and the pipe has fnally protruded from
the receiving pit at the other side of
the crossing. The cutting head is then
removed from the front of the pipe, and the
augers are continuously rotated clockwise
until all the spoil has been removed from
inside the pipes.
 Once the pipes are clean inside, the machine is put into reverse while the augers are
still rotating, thus cleaning the pipes further and fnally the augers are removed from the
pipes and disconnected from the machine section by section inside the thrust pit.

Our Thrust Boring Machines can thrust bore pipes from 4” inch to 54” inch diameter, and
from Single carriage-way roads of 8m to multiple carriage-way roads of 100m wide.

We have various sizes of Thrust Boring Machines to cater for different size pipes and
distances. The smaller machines handle pipes from 4” to 12” inch diameters usually for
single carriage way roads. The medium sized machines handle pipe sizes from 6” inch
diameter to 36” inch diameter for single, double and multi carriage-way r oads.

The Larger Boring Machines handle pipe Left:

sizes from 12” inch diameter to 54” inch 42” Dia steel casing for
600m AC drainage line
for single, double and multiple carriage-
- Sharjah
way roads of over 100m wide.

We have carried out Thrust Boring Works Below:

all over the U.A.E and have successfully Installing 20” Dia CI pipe
inside steel casing -
completed thousands of crossings for a FEWA, Ajman
variety of services for different industries,
using pipes of various diameters and in
different types of soil conditions. From the
rocky mountain conditions of Fujeirah to
Far left:
Installing 7 Nos. 6” UPVC
pipes inside 30” Dia steel
casing for 132 KV Cables -
DEWA, Dubai

Below left:
Installing 600mm DI
restrained pipe inside 42”
Dia steel casing

Left:
Installing 600mm AC
Drainage line inside a 42”
Dia steel casing - SEWA,
Sharjah

Bottom left:
30” Dia steel casing for
400m GRP Drainage Line
Shahama - Abu Dhabi

the runny dune desert sand conditions of Hatta. We are one of the
longest established operators in the U.A.E and our equipment is
as specialized as our work.

While new trench less technologies have been developed in

recent years, Horizontal Thrust Boring is still a tried and true
method for utility installation. We take pride in sending you our
experienced crews and well maintained machines to carry out
and successfully complete any Horizontal Thrust Boring project.
 ABU DHABI DUBAI SHARJAH AJMAN
TUV ISO 9001 : 2000 Tel 02-6446170 Tel 04-2853660 Tel 06-5345528 Tel 06-7436285
CERT
EN ISO 9001 : 2000 CERTIFIED
QA: 04100 30084 Fax 02-6448270 Fax 04-2855270 Fax 06-5345529 Fax 06-7436212
PO Box 53022 PO Box 20441 PO Box 33070 PO Box 614

Hydrotech Engineering - NDRC Division • www.ndrc.hydrotechuae.com • hydronet@emirates.net.ae / info@hydrotechuae.com