SOME ASPECTS OF THE RELIABILITY OF DRILLING EQUIPMENT

Yu. M. Butorin and V. A. Gavrilenko UDC 622.233.6.004.62

The reliability of mining machines is defined by various indices. One of these is the
'~ork to breakdown" or the mean time between failures. It is calculated as the expected
value of the time after which breakdown occurs:

To=ETJrt,.

To determine the mean time between failures we must have a series of times between suc-
cessive breakdowns.
There can be no doubt that a reliability criterion based on the time factor can he used
when the service conditions of the equipment do not change in time and the random varlates
are perfectly equivalent from the viewpoint of the physical essence of the phenomenon. This
approach is justified when we have no clear ideas on the character of the variation of the
operating conditions with time. All this applies to a large extent to stationary equipment
for which the operating conditions can be regarded as steady during the whole service llfe.
When we come to consider nonstationary equipment, these random varlates are noncompar-
able. This applies most particularly to drilling equipment used to make deep boreholes, for
which the loads on the drill rod and rig depend on the depth of drilling and breakdowns are
more likely in making deep boreholes.
To determine the reliability of drilling equipment it is necessary to change to estl-
mates based on random variates which are associated with a factor which changes with time
and which has the greatest influence on the conditions of operation (the length of the bore-
hole).
To illustrate this, let us consider the results of operation of drilling equipment. A
specific feature of the drilling process is that it is accompanied both by correctible and
uncorrectible breakdowns. Correctible breakdowns are those for which drilling continues
after the fault is corrected. The cost of correcting such faults is usually lower than that
of drilling another borehole of length equal to that in which the fault occurred. Uncorrec-
tible breakdowns are those which cause the drilling operation to be aborted. The cost of
correcting these breakdowns is greater than the cost of trouble-free drilling of the hole.
Uncorrectible breakdowns lead to waste of resources -- we get so-called reject boreholes which
are unsuitable for industrial use.
On this basis, and remembering that the reliability indices must enable us to estimate
the cost of making a good borehole, we must take the criteria for estimation of the reliabil-
ity to be the probability of getting reject boreholes, both in general and for each type of
fault, the probable lengths of these boreholes, the probabilities of getting correctible
breakdowns, and their probable costs of correction.
It is desirable to calculate these indices from the minimum amount of information. But
since it is not possible to gather information on the drilling of boreholes of a strictly
determined length, even under approximately the same conditions, it is natural to try to get
series of distributions based on the results of drilling holes of various planned lengths.

Donetsk Scientiflc-Research Coal Institute. Translated from Piziko-Tekhnicheskie Prob-

lemy Razrabotki Poleznykh Iskopaemykh, No. I, pp. 64-68, January-February, 1976. Original
article submitted December 31, 1973.

9 1976 Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, N e w York, N.Y. 10011. No part o f this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording
or otherwise, without written permission o f the publisher. A copy o f this article is available from the publisher for $15.00.

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TABLE i Below we propose a method of calculating distri-
butions of the lengths of lost (reject) boreholes,
'~ No. of reject
d I,4 J .-
~
.., I boreholes which enables us to process information on the re-
Z
Limits of interval, sults of drilling boreholes of various planned
meters lengths.
[c~^ "" I ,. ,..,.c: ~
_=. Suppose that we have drilled n boreholes, of
these the number lost for reasons of interest to us
1 0--I nl ni t rl o l is ni, and the number for which drilling is terminated
2 1--2l n: t; i~ n 02 for other reasons is n o . If we divide the whole length
.o. . . . . . . o.. of a borehole into equal intervals of length l, then
k (k--l)t--kt "k nik nok all the available information on the results of drill-
ing can be represented as in Table i.

Using Table I, we can calculate the interval-wise probabilities of loss, which ar~ a
characteristic of the equipment under given conditions (for a given borehole length):

r k = nik/~ k

Then the probability of loss of a borehole over a length equal to kl for the reasons
of interest to us will take the following form for each interval:

Vkl = i -- (i -- r,)(l -- r,) ... (i -- rk).

The probability distribution density over the intervals is as follows:

~, (l - ,~_, ) (t - ~J-2i - 99 0 - ~ (I - ~,)

~kt = l

Knowing the distribution of lengths of lost boreholes, we can calculate the reliability
estimates of interest to us -- the probability of loss of a borehole, Vkl , and tbe probable
length of the lost boreholes, which takes the form

L ~- ~llq-Y122I q- . . . q-~,lkl.

Using this method, we processed information on the results of drilling of boreholes

using a KA-2m-300 rig. The planned borehole lengths were between 30 and 200 m. We calcu-
lated the probability of occurrence of lost boreholes as a whole and, in particular, as a
result of digression into the surrounding rock for various reasons.
Figures i and 2 show the characteristics of loss of boreholes -- the probability of loss
of a borehole and the probable lengths of lost boreholes; we see that all these quantities
depend on the length of the boreholes.
As we have mentioned, to estimate the reliability of the drilling process we must also
have other indices: the probability of occurrence of correctible breakdowns, and the prob-
able time taken to repair a fault.
Since correctlble breakdowns depend, from the viewpoint of their probability of occur-
rence, on the length of the borehole, it is desirable to estimate the probability of occur-
rence of accidents as the expected value of the borehole length for which a breakdown occurs,
i.e., before we calculate the estimate, we must have a distribution of breakdowns over the
length of the borehole. If it is necessary to elucidate the character of the distribution
of breakdowns among types and borehole lengths, we must have the distributions of the cor-
responding breakdowns. These can be calculated as particular cases of a series reflecting
the distribution of breakdowns of all types over length, or independently.
As before, to construct the distribution we must divide the entire length of the bore-
holes into intervals (the length of an interval is determined from the amount of available

63
 v~ L.m

~8
i ,10

J I----'-"

20

V 80 " r2o *z:m 3~ 60 90 t20 kZ,m

Fig. i Fig. 2

L ,m

Fk ,:,.~ 400
i 't
I i
k

200

1o0

30 60 ~ f20 P, m 0 80 "-'-2 P,m

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Fig. I. Probability of loss of a borehole in general (i) and by di-

gression into surrounding rocks (2).
Fig. 2. Probable lengths of lost boreholes, in general (i) and by
digression into surrounding rocks (2).
Fig. 3. Distribution of breakdowns of all types (i) and due to bit
seizure (2).
Fig. 4. Probable borehole lengths drilled wlthout breakdowns of all
kinds (I) and without bit seizure (2).

information). Again we calculate the number of boreholes containing the interval and the
number of breakdowns occurring over the length of this interval. We calculate the condi-
tional frequenciesof occurrence of breakdowns, i.e., the breakdown frequencies which would
occur in the interval on condition that it is contained in I00 boreholes. From the condi-
tional frequencies we construct a distribution of breakdowns with respect to length. Know-
ing the numbers of breakdowns in the intervals, we can calculate the probable length of
breakdown-free drilling of a borehole of given length.
Below we give a calculation of the distributions of breakdowns and the probable length
of breakdown-free drilling of a borehole of given length by a BSh-2m rig in the conditions
of the central region of the Donbass. The inltial data on which the calculations are based
are listed in Table 2.
We analyzed the data in Table 2 in the light of an estimate of the occurrence of break-
downs in general and in the light of an estimate of the occurrence of cases of bit seizure.
The conditional frequencies of breakdown were calculated as follows:

Fk = B k / ~ ' 1 0 0 ,

64
TABLE 2 where Bk is the frequency of breakdown in the interval, and R k
o. of "~ I is the number of boreholes containing the interval.
Dnmng ~reholes[~ ~ ~ [
The probability density of breakdowns is
i-tem, al, m [ i n g t n - ] . ~ ~o

= Fk/EF k.
0-- 15 69 4 2
15-- 30 68 4 3
30-- 45 68 8 7 The probable length of breakdown-free drilling for a bore-
45-- 60 67 [4 9 hole of given length is
60--75 62 18 13
75-- 90 60 15 12
90--105 56 18 14 L = EF/ZFk,
105--120 49 13 I0
120--135 46 lO 7
13.5--150 2~ 7 4 where P is the planned length of the borehole in meters.
Figure 3 shows the distribution of breakdowns of all types
(i) and of those due to bit seizure (2). We see from Fig. 3
that the frequency of breakdowns is a maximum at borehole lengths
of 50-100 m. The probability of seizures decreases in shorter and longer boreholes. This
is evidently because the coal is degassed in development workings and dynamic phenomena as-
sociated with an extra large yield of fines are rarer.
Figure 4 is a plot of the probable length of breakdown-free drilling vs planned length.
This graph also confirms that reduction in the probability of breakdowns due to seizure is
due to degassing of the coal.
Thus the type of distribution of various undesirable phenomena along the borehole is
related in some way to the changes in the conditions of exploitation and is peculiar to their
characteristic. Analysis of these distributions enables us to be discriminating in avoiding
undesirable phenomena, to find a more accurate value for the rational ranges of application
of equipment, and to find ways of improving the design of equipment, i.e., to take combined
measures to improve and rationalize the technique.

CONCLUSIONS
i. Existing criteria for estimating the reliability of mining equipment (time to break-
down, coefficient of operational readiness, etc.) based on the time factor cannot be used to
estimate the operational reliability of drill rigs without involving the borehole length,
because the latter influences their operational conditions.
2. The reliability of drill rigs must be estimated by means of indices functionally
related to the borehole length (the probability of occurrence of reject boreholes and of
correctible and uncorrectible breakdowns, and the probable length of breakdown-free drilling).
In some cases it is possible to elucidate the physical nature of a breakdown and to determine
the suitability of the equipment for particular conditions.

65