HDD design software

Plan an HDD crossing from the route on the map to the as-built survey

HDDSuite is a web application by Enginetric for designing horizontal directional drilling (HDD) crossings under rivers, roads, railways and built-up areas. It is used by HDD designers, site managers, drilling fluid engineers, owners and universities, and keeps the bore path, drilling fluid, pullback force and frac-out risk in one data model.

Try the demo Opens the HDDSuite app, account required

12 design steps in 3 phases
4 pullback force methods
5 ballasting options
21 data consistency rules

[ 01 ] In action

Screens from the working application

Version 3.1.1 on a demonstration project: a fictional DN500 gas pipeline crossing under the Vistula near Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, on real terrain from the GUGiK national elevation model with 16 boreholes.

HDDSuite longitudinal section: horizontal length 799.2 m, drilled length 803.7 m, entry angle 12.0°, exit angle 13.5°, curve radii 1137 m and 866 m, maximum depth 29.0 m, borehole logs BH-01 to BH-16 and soil layers (labels in Polish) — Longitudinal section (step 03): five-segment bore path with curve stationing, terrain from the elevation model, 16 borehole logs and interpolated soil layers, vertical exaggeration ×5.8.

HDDSuite 1:1 3D scene: terrain from the GUGiK elevation raster with the Vistula channel, planned bore path under the riverbed, deepest point 29.0 m (93.7 m above sea level) and borehole markers with elevation offsets against the terrain model — 1:1 3D scene: elevation-model terrain with the Vistula channel, the bore path under the riverbed and boreholes with elevation offsets against the terrain model.

Geotechnical profile (step 02): borehole lithology, non-parallel layers along the route and the bore path against the layers.

HDDSuite frac-out chart: annular pressure against the fracture pressure and the allowable pressure band per Annex G of ST-IGG-3301 over 799 m, phase switch for pilot hole, three reaming passes and pullback, smallest margin 79.4 kPa — Frac-out analysis (step 05): annular pressure against the allowable pressure along the route, control band per Annex G of ST-IGG-3301 and a phase switch.

HDDSuite pullback force screen: four selectable methods, PRCI MOP 108 74 kN, ASTM F1962 134 kN, ROE 317 kN and KWiG 602 kN, safety factor 1.5 and design force 110 kN for a 508 mm steel pipe — Pullback force (step 07): PRCI MOP 108, ASTM F1962, ROE and KWiG per ST-IGG-3301 cl. 5.9.2, side-by-side results and a design force with a safety factor.

HDDSuite as-built survey: 80 steering-tool stations compared with the plan, maximum horizontal deviation 1.03 m, maximum vertical deviation 0.25 m, compliance check per Annex J of ST-IGG-3301:2021 with all four criteria met, synthetic demo data — As-built survey (step 08): 80 steering-tool stations against the plan, horizontal and vertical deviations and an Annex J compliance check (synthetic demo data).

[ 02 ] Features

What HDDSuite calculates

Each part of an HDD design has its own step, and the output of one step is the input of the next.

Bore path

Five-segment model: entry tangent, curve, horizontal section, curve, exit tangent. Bend radius checks by pipe material and soil, and vertical clearance at every obstacle.

Geotechnical profile

Borehole logs imported from CSV, layer interpolation along the route, non-parallel layers and terrain from the GUGiK national elevation model.

Drilling fluid rheology

Bingham and Herschel-Bulkley models from Fann viscometer readings, including the Zamora-Power estimator, plus API RP 13B-1 indicators (PV, YP, LSYP).

Hydraulics

Every pass on its own: annular velocity, pressure loss, equivalent circulating density (ECD), bit nozzle pressure loss and an eccentricity correction.

Frac-out risk

Hydrofracture and inadvertent returns checked station by station for the pilot hole, reaming and pullback: Delft formula, Terzaghi effective stress and the Annex G control curve.

Pullback force

Four methods calculated in parallel, design force with a safety factor, rig class, pipe stresses and overbend at the entry side.

Ballasting

Five pipe fill options, including partial filling, the effect of fluid density and wall thickness (SDR), and the option with the lowest installation force.

As-built survey

Survey import from CSV and DigiTrak exports, minimum curvature method, deviation check per Annex J of ST-IGG-3301:2021 and comparison with the design.

[ 03 ] Views

One crossing, three views

The longitudinal section, the plan view and the 3D scene show the same project from the same data.

Longitudinal section

Profile sheet

Dual elevation axis, stationing of curve start and end points, radii, borehole logs from step 02 and vertical exaggeration from ×1 to ×20.

Plan view

Route plan

Entry and exit azimuth, horizontal bends and the obstacles crossing the route, in the same geometry as the section and the 3D scene.

3D scene

True-scale model

Terrain from the elevation model, soil layers, boreholes and obstacles in real metres. After a survey import, the drilled path appears next to the planned one.

[ 04 ] Workflow

Twelve steps in three phases

The steps follow the navigation rail of the application. The trajectory from step 03 feeds the hydraulics in step 05, and a PDF report closes the project.

Phase A Crossing design

01Project and product pipe
02Geotechnical profile
03Trajectory
04Rheology

Phase B Validation and engineering

05Hydraulics
06Drilling program
07Pullback
7bBallasting

Phase C Execution and verification

08Survey and telemetry
09Live execution
88Risk register
PDFReport

[ 05 ] Method

Explicit formulas, named sources

Every constant in the calculation engine has a source: a standard or a publication.

A value without a published source becomes an explicit designer setting, with a note in the interface and in the report. Safety verdicts are recalculated in the background by a second, independently written engine, and the PDF report includes the comparison table.

HDDSuite does not replace CAD software for construction drawings or setting out, and it does not perform site investigation. The designer enters the soil profile from field investigation data.

Pullback force: PRCI MOP 108 (capstan equation), ASTM F1962 (Maslin and Slavin method), ROE and KWiG per ST-IGG-3301 cl. 5.9.2. The design force includes a standstill multiplier and a safety factor.
Frac-out: Fracture pressure by the Delft formula (Luger and Hergarden, 1988) with a cohesion term and Terzaghi effective stress. Under a river, the water column cancels out.
ST-IGG-3301:2021 classification: The Polish gas industry standard for HDD: HDI index (bore length times diameter in inches), project category per Table A.1, difficulty grade per Table 4 and the recommended pullback safety factor.
Data consistency: 21 rules check the data set as a whole, not single fields, for example a reamed hole narrower than the pipe or a PVC pipe specified for a gas line at MOP 8.4 MPa. The program warns instead of blocking input.

[ 06 ] Data exchange

Formats your site crew already uses

The design trajectory leaves the application as a station table and comes back as the as-built survey.

MD Inc Az TVD N E

Station table

Design trajectory stations at a step set by the designer, exported to CSV for the steering operator.

CSV, DigiTrak

Survey import

A CSV file with automatic column detection or a DigiTrak export (DataLog, LWD). Missing coordinates are computed with the minimum curvature method.

Civil 3D, DXF, CSV

As-built export

A profile file for Create Profile From File in Civil 3D, a DXF R12 profile with an optional design layer, and CSV for the surveyor.

PDF

Report

A universal report in English or Polish, a report in your company colours and four specialist styles, from a short decision brief to a field version for the rig operator.

[ 07 ] Questions and answers

Frequently asked questions about HDDSuite

What is HDDSuite?

HDDSuite is web-based HDD design and bore planning software. It brings together in one data model the tasks that are usually spread over several tools: the bore path drawing, the rheology spreadsheet, the pullback calculator, the geological profile and the report.

Who is it for?

HDD designers (the full design workflow), site managers (reading the design and loading as-built data), drilling fluid engineers (rheology, ECD and frac-out risk), owners and clients (PDF report and read-only project view), and lecturers and students (teaching scenarios and demonstration projects).

Which standards and methods are used?

ST-IGG-3301:2021 of the Polish Chamber of the Gas Industry (HDI, Table 4, cl. 5.9.2, Annexes G and J), PRCI MOP 108, ASTM F1962, the Delft formula after Luger and Hergarden, API RP 13B-1, the Haciislamoglu and Langlinais eccentricity correction and ASME B31.4 for operating stresses in steel pipelines.

Where do terrain and geology data come from?

Terrain comes from the elevation model of GUGiK, the Polish national mapping agency, with GUGiK orthophotos and OpenStreetMap as base maps and a soil type hint from the CBDG geological map of the Polish Geological Institute. The designer builds the soil profile for the calculations from borehole logs imported from CSV or enters it manually.

Does HDDSuite help on site?

Yes. A printable operator card gives target parameters for every drill rod. Step 09 compares the plan with execution data coming from the site rod by rod, and the field app for phones keeps working without coverage and sends queued entries once the connection returns.

Which languages are supported?

The interface and the reports are available in English and Polish.

How do I get demo access?

The application requires an account, and accounts are created by the organisation administrator. To request access to the demonstration version, write to administrator@enginetric.com.

HDDNews.pl, a trenchless industry portal published by Enginetric, describes the application step by step: HDDSuite takes an HDD design from the map to the as-built survey.

Ready?

Design your next HDD crossing

Open HDDSuite and take a project through all twelve steps, from the route on the map to the as-built survey and the report.

Try the demo