Test-Bed Performance of an Ice-Coring Drill Used with a Hot Water Drilling System

• Published in: Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
• Main Authors: An Liu, Rusheng Wang, Xiaopeng Fan, Yang Yang, Xingchen Li, Liang Wang, Pavel Talalay
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2019
• Subjects: drilling engineering; Chinese hot water drilling; ice-coring drill; drilling parameters; coring efficiency; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7070234

Ice cores from ice shelves contain abundant paleoclimatic information and provide essential information concerned with the prediction of future climatic change and global sea level variations. Efficient retrieval of ice cores is always an engineering challenge in polar ice and marine research. Here, we present design and other information of a new hot-water ice-coring drill used in combination with a hot-water drilling system that provides a rapid and environmentally friendly ice coring system. The coring system shares the surface equipment and hydraulic hose with the hot-water drilling system. Tests with the drill were carried out at an ice drill testing facility, and theoretical estimations were performed to predict the rate of penetration (ROP) and water flow rates. The results indicate the optimal water temperature for ice-coring to be 50 °C, and the most suitable water flow rate to be from 42 L/min to 55 L/min. With those drilling parameters, the maximum ROP is 27.8 m/h and the ice cores are 55–59 mm in diameter.