Accuracy of Pull Force Estimation for Steel Pipe Installations Using Horizontal Directional Drilling: Review of 200 Case Studies
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Volume 13, Issue 3
Abstract
Pull force estimation in horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is an essential step during the planning phases. Pull force calculation can be relatively complicated when considering variations during the HDD construction process compared with the design phases. Simplifications and assumptions need to be made as part of current design practice to approximate the pull forces expected in HDD pullback operations. However, a comprehensive assessment of pull force prediction accuracy has not been completed to date. A brief review of the current design practice and industry accepted engineering assumptions for pull force calculation for steel pipe is presented in this work. Data from 200 recent commercial HDD projects were studied to compare actual and predicted pull forces. The accuracy of the predictions was investigated based on different project categories such as pipe size, crossing length, geotechnical conditions, and equipment sizes. This study suggests that assumptions for pull force estimations need to be selected based on project-specific scopes and construction execution to increase the accuracy of pull force predictions.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, including general information of the case studies summarized in this work.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge CCI Inc. for technical and financial contributions, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for financial support. Thanks also are given to Lana Gutwin of the Consortium of Trenchless Technologies for her assistance in the preparation of this paper.
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Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 13 • Issue 3 • August 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 26, 2021
Accepted: Mar 24, 2022
Published online: May 19, 2022
Published in print: Aug 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Oct 19, 2022
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