Horizontal Directional Drilling or HDD, is a method of installing steel or polyethylene pipe, conduit, or cables in a designed bore path, by using a drilling rig, with a minimal footprint to the environment. HDD process represents a significant improvement over traditional open cut and disturbance methods for installing pipelines beneath obstructions, such as rivers or roads, which require specialized construction attention. To take full advantage of the benefits offered by horizontal directional drilling and produce designs which can be efficiently executed in the field, design engineers need a working knowledge of the process with the appropriate HDD software.
The following questions were recently asked about the capabilities of the HDD Power Tool.
- Does HDDPT allow the user to input soil properties that are unique to each individual point along the bore profile?
Yes, the user inputs the soil data for each location being analyzed. The soil data can come from geotechnical reports or notional data from tables based on generic soil type. User can use soil properties in the vicinity of the pipe or use weighted averages from pipe depth to surface.
- How does is create the bore profile and based on the bore profile will the program recommend the type of pipe required or does the user have to input the pipe data beforehand?
The user must design the bore path and bore profile based on the obstacles being crossed. This is done outside of the software. The user inputs the bore profile into the program for the analysis.
- How much is license and how is it good for?
A single user named license (1 unlock code) of the HDD Toolbox desktop version is $4,995.00/year and a 3-year agreement are required. A single user HDD PowerTool cloud license is $20,000.00/year.
- Is there an IT support contact to help with software issues?
Yes. The TT team has SMEs and software engineers who can answer technical questions within 1 day. Quick Guide, User’s Manual and Help icon (?) are provided within the software.
- Does HDDPT have the capability to analyze the pilot, reaming and pull back phases?
Includes pilot hole, pre-reaming, pulling back, and total fluids consumed.
In addition, high level functionality includes data validation, output visualization, import/export ability for GIS shape files, Goggle Earth KMZ and coordinate date for preliminary design and completion with graphs and reports.