Designing horizontal well screens is not only a science but an art. Years of experience in designing and installing horizontal remediation wells has lead us to eliminate certain preconceived idea that were brought over from the vertical well industry.
Of course, like vertical wells, designing horizontal wells screens will involve a number of variables, including (but not limited to):
- Soil permeability – the ability of water to flow through a soil;
- Soil porosity – that part of a soil volume that is not occupied by soil particles or organic matter;
- Soil grain size distribution – the relative amounts of soil particles present, sorted according to size; and
- Soil bulk density – the mass of many particles of a soil divided by the total volume they occupy; and
- Total organic carbon (TOC) – the amount of carbon stored in soil organic matter (SOM).
Designing horizontal well screens also involves another key element that does not typically concern designers of vertical remediation wells: screen length. Directional Technologies is regularly designing horizontal wells with screens hundreds of feet long. Screen length is affected by:
- Drill rig size (for example, does the site have property boundary constraints and needs a small rig or can a larger directional drilling rig be used)
- Riser and screen material – typically, screens exceeding 200 feet in length are constructed of fiberglass or stainless steel; plastic materials such as polyvinyl chloride and high density polyethylene are not robust enough to withstand some installation process; and
- Friction loss – that portion of pressure lost by fluids/air while moving through a pipe; the longer the well, the greater the friction loss. Designing horizontal wells must account for friction loss, as this affects surface remediation equipment sizing and cost.
Directional Technologies, Inc. has 20 years of experience in designing horizontal well screens and installing horizontal remediation systems. Our projects range from a small dry cleaner site with a single 35’ horizontal well to major industrial sites with thousands of feet of horizontal remediation wells.
Call us at 1-877-788-4HRW or email drilling@directioanltech.com to discuss your possible horizontal well project.