The safe and efficient drilling of overburden (fills and natural soils) and rock is
integral to many specialty geotechnical construction techniques. The state of practice
for overburden drilling techniques was most recently described by Bruce in 2012, and
the history of Down-the-Hole (DTH) drilling for rock was provided by the authors in 2013
(Bruce et al., 2013). Thereafter, development and innovation have continued, principally
to satisfy specialty contractors’ goals for systems providing faster production, lower
costs, more consistent and reliable performances, and easier operation and
maintenance. This paper describes more recent developments in overburden drilling,
and reviews innovations in DTH methods operated by air, and by water.
Subjects: overburden drilling, fills and natural soils, Down-the-Hole drilling, DTH
Author: Donald A. Bruce and Rudy Lyon
Publisher: ISM, DFI, ADSC