Patent ID: 6526818
Filing Date: 2003-03-04
Classification: E21B

Abstract:
A method of deploying test equipment from a floating vessel comprising the steps of:a) lowering a soil testing apparatus at an end of a length of coiled tubing from a floating vessel until said apparatus reaches a seabed; b) driving a powered soil penetrator with a power source on said vessel and by power transmission through said length of coiled tubing, thereby causing said apparatus to penetrate through the soil on said seabed to form an exploratory hole; c) maintaining at least a portion of said length of said coiled tubing straight and vertical from said seabed to a location above said seabed; d) testing a geotechnical, geophysical, geochemical or geological characteristic of said soil in said hole with at least one sensor of said apparatus and transmitting a sampling of said characteristic from said sensor through said coiled tubing to said vessel; and e) maintaining a distance between said location and said seabed constant while a distance from said location to said vessel varies with heaving of said vessel by heave compensation.