Adding Planned Boreholes to a Borehole Group

This topic describes how to create and edit a single borehole as part of a borehole group. See Borehole Planning Groups for an overview of working with borehole groups in Leapfrog Works.

To start planning a borehole, add the data objects to the scene that you will use in defining the planned boreholes, such as any existing boreholes and surfaces that represent the collar and target locations. Open an existing borehole group or create a new one by right-clicking on the Planned Boreholes folder and selecting New Borehole Group.

Set the Prefix to be used for each borehole that will be added to the group, and update the drilling defaults, if necessary.

To add the first borehole, click the Single hole button (A). This opens the Single Hole window (B), with an initial borehole displayed in the scene (C).

The new borehole has a Name that uses the Prefix set in the Borehole Group window. You can add a Note about this borehole that will be visible in the scene details panel when the borehole is clicked on in the scene.

This initial borehole uses the default planning mode and the parameters set for the project in the Borehole Planning Options window.

As you work in this window, note that the changes you make to:

  • The planning mode
  • The Collar Surface
  • The Path settings

will be retained when you click Save & New Hole in order to create another borehole. This makes it easy to set up a series of planned boreholes. You can change the default values used for the first borehole in the Borehole Planning Options window.

There are two planning modes you can use in this window, specifying the Collar or specifying the Target.

The planning mode determines which parameters you can change in this window:

  • For Collar mode, you cannot edit the target’s settings, which are calculated from the collar and path settings.
  • For Target mode, you cannot edit the collar location as that will be calculated from the target and path information.

Whichever mode you are using, you can choose a Collar Surface that will be used in setting the collar elevation.

If the collar does not intersect the selected Collar Surface, an error message will be displayed. Either move the borehole so that it intersects the surface or switch to using no surface.

To specify the collar or target location you can:

  • Enter coordinates in the Single Hole window.
  • Click on the button for the collar/target and then click in the scene where you wish to add the collar/target.

Entering coordinates and clicking in the scene both set the collar or target location in the scene and display a path calculated using the parameters in the Single Hole window. In both cases, drawing a slice in the scene can help in adjusting the borehole and in defining subsequent boreholes. To do this, click the Slice along borehole button

You can also use the collar/target button to ‘draw’ the path of the borehole in the scene. To do this, click the button for the collar/target, then click in the scene without releasing the mouse button. Drag to define the Path and release the mouse button when you have reached the target.

Animation showing the collar pick button being clicked and then the drillhole path drawn by dragging in the scene from the collar to the target, with the collar location, dip, azimuth and length fields updating to match on release

Once you have finished defining the borehole, you can save the borehole and close the planning window or keep the planning window open and create a new borehole.

  • To keep adding boreholes to the borehole group, click Save & New Hole. The current borehole will be saved and the Single Hole window will open for a new borehole created at the Offset To Next Hole distance specified in the Borehole Planning Options window. The planning mode, Collar Surface and Path settings used will be those used for the previous hole.
  • To close the current borehole, click OK. The borehole will be saved to the group and its window closed, returning you to the Borehole Group window.

The illustrations that follow show planning a borehole by specifying the collar location, but the information also applies to planning using the target location.

Here the planning mode (D) is Collar and the initial Location values (E) create a borehole in the scene (F):

Note that the collar location is above the topography surface displayed in the scene. To make sure the location lies on the topography, select a surface from the Collar Surface list (G):

This moves the collar onto the selected surface.