47 NOVEMBER 2024 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Moving Power Lines Underground Adapted from Information by Virginia Tech Over a decade ago, an intense windstorm blew through the eastern part of the United States, including southwest Virginia. The storm killed 22 people across seven states, created widespread destruction to homes and businesses, and left more than four million people without electricity. In all, the storm caused nearly $3 billion in damages. Assistant professor in the Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, Joe Vantassel thinks he, a few of his colleagues, and several other collaborators have a way of keeping the power on while significantly reducing damages when violent storms occur. The team was selected to receive a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy to test more efficient ways of burying power lines underground in a safe, cost-effective manner. Many cities and towns already require some electric wires to be buried. It alleviates the issue of storms tearing down poles and lines, creating extensive power outages. Installation often means using a horizontal directional drilling (HDD) machine which bores through the soil more than three feet deep. HDD does present challenges, such as when machine operators hit unseen existing power, water, and sewer lines. “It’s not uncommon, unfortunately, to hit things,” Vantassel said. “These things can be other utilities like water mains or gas pipelines or things like that . . . When contractors go to install these cables underground and do this horizontal drilling, they oftentimes hit those things. This is, of course, dangerous for the drilling crew, and it can also cause disruptions to other utility services.” Hitting an existing line means stopping a project to make repairs, which adds to the cost of the project. Then it requires further investigation to determine if other lines exist in the area, thus delaying a project - which also adds to the cost. Vantassel’s plan consists of putting sensors on the drill head of the HDD machine and at the ground surface. These sensors would capture data and, when combined with an artificial intelligence predictive modeling, deliver a 3D view to the operator to see what the drill head sees. His hope is to advance civil engineering and projects the way medical imaging has advanced medical science. Rather than spend money on equipment to test out theories, Vantassel and his team approached the leadership within the Virginia Tech Electric Service which provides electricity to the campus and to certain parts of Blacksburg, and owns an HDD machine. It gets plenty of use since more than 90% of campus power lines are underground. “With their technology, they were talking about having a virtual view of the area to let the operator see ahead of time and quickly manipulate around obstacles and objects versus having to have two-way communication with someone else or another instrument,” said Matt Salmon, engineering manager for Virginia Tech Electric Service. “It’ll make things more efficient for us to operate the machine.” He explained how HDD gets worse as the years go on due to increasing numbers of obstacles in the ground, which makes it something else to avoid when boring underground. Vantassel expects the project to last three years. At the conclusion, the group plans to conduct lab-scale testing at the Center for Autonomous Mining on campus. Photo by Noah Alderman for Virginia Tech. HDD Booth 633
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