Innovative drilling methods and the influence on condition and geometry of drill holes
Innovative drilling methods in structural concrete are getting more and more important. Regarding the installation of anchors, current standard assessment procedures permit hammer drilled bore holes for fasteners only. Recently, technical innovations and altered conditions have led to new challenges as well as an increased demand for alternative drilling methods, i. e. diamond drilling and hollow drill bits.
For this reason, the current study aims to examine to what extent different drilling methods as well as cleaning approaches have an impact on the geometry and the surface structure of a drill hole.
The first part includes a comprehensive comparison of boreholes with four methods: drill bit with two cutting edges, drill bit with four cutting edges, hollow drill bit and diamond drill bit, applying varying cleaning stages on these drilled holes. By means of an optical non‐contact laser‐measuring instrument the roughness of the borehole surfaces is investigated. The data obtained was used to compare the impact of drilling methods and cleaning stages on the surface structure of the drill holes.
Secondly, in order to have an optical comparison of their geometry, boreholes made by hammer drilling and diamond drilling were filled with cast resin. From the negative a three‐dimensional model was made, which shows that for hammer drilled boreholes there is a visible waviness along the drilling axis, as well as an out‐of‐roundness of the shape regarding cross sections of the bore hole, which is different to diamond drilling. As a result, the measured outside cutting diameter does not create the same geometry inside the drilled holes for the compared drilling methods.