How to create a well construction log in Strater

Strater is a retired.
Strater is officially retired, but you can still purchase additional licenses. Strater is sold as-is and will not receive updates, fixes, or new features.
We will continue to provide limited email-only support for as long as possible. Please contact stratersupport@goldensoftware.com with any questions.

 

A well construction log is a visual representation of the well. It replicates a well construction diagram and is generally used in the environmental industry. The well construction log shows how the monitoring well or piezometer was created, and displays items such as screen, packing material, end caps, and covers. The data for each part of the well are listed in the data table with specific information. The well construction can show one or more wells. If more than one well is used, populate the Offset column to place wells off of the center of the diagram. 

 

To begin, you need to have a clear idea of how you want the well diagram to look like, and what parts of the well need to be included. In this example we will walk through creating a well construction log that looks like this:

Example of a Well Construction log created in Strater

This well construction log can be created by following the steps in this article.

 

  1. Determine the Well Construction Items
    The first step is determining what items need to be included in the well construction log. You can determine this by looking at an existing diagram (one that is hand drawn, included in another report, or drawn by another program such as a CAD program) or by envisioning the diagram and noting the components you will need. We will use the well construction image above as a reference. You can see from the legend in the image that there are 8 items that need to be included: concrete, bentonite, sand, gravel, filter sand, cap, pvc casing and screen.

  2. Create the Data Table
    The next step is creating a data table from which the well construction log will be drawn. Data for each of the well items need to be included in the data table. Well construction logs in Strater can be created from a Well Construction table or an Interval table. The columns of data that need to be present in the data table are: Hole ID, From, To, Outer Diameter, Inner Diameter, Offset, and Item.

 

Before we create the data table, let’s go over what these columns mean:

  • The Hole ID column tells Strater which well/borehole the data refers to. In the data table, you can enter the well construction items for multiple wells. You can select which Hole ID to display in the log properties.
  • The From and To columns specifies the vertical depth interval to display the item.


The item filled with the diagonal cross hatch has data
From = 25 and To = 40.

  • The Outer Diameter and Inner Diameter columns tell Strater the width of the item. If you can imagine a line running down the center of the diagram, this is the “0” line. You can tell Strater how thick to draw the item on both sides of this 0 line. So, if you enter an inner diameter of 2 and an outer diameter of 4, Strater will display the item from 2 units to the left of the center line to 4 units to the left of the center line, and again from 2 units to the right of the center line to 4 units to the right of the center line.

    You can specify a solid item centered in the log (i.e. a pipe or casing in the center of the diagram, Inner Diameter = 0 and Outer Diameter is however thick you want it), or you can start the item some distance from the center 0 line so that it has a hole in the center (i.e. sand or filters, Inner Diameter > 0, and Outer Diameter > Inner Diameter).
  • The Offset value specifies the horizontal offset for a particular item. It shifts the center line for that item from 0 to whatever value is entered. A positive Offset value shifts the item to the right. A negative Offset value shifts the item to the left. The example we are working with does not have an offset to any of the items. If you do not have an offset, you still need to enter 0 for this column, since it is a required column.
 
  • The Item gives Strater a keyword for that particular log item. This could be a simple name of what the item is, such as “sand”, “gravel” or “end cap”. This item keyword is used in the well construction scheme to apply fill and line properties to that item when the well construction log is drawn.

 

Now let’s create the data table and enter the data:

  1. Open Strater and click Home | New | Table.
  2. Enter a name in the Table Name box (i.e. Well Construction), select Well Construction Table from the Base Table Type list, and click Create. The new data table is displayed.
  3. It’s time to enter data. Fill in the Hole ID for 8 rows of data since there are 8 items in the well construction diagram.
  4. Fill in the Item column next. Strater will draw the items on the well construction log in the order they are listed in the data table, from top down (the items at the bottom of the list are drawn last, so they will display over top of all the previous items). As such, entering the Item data sooner rather than later makes it easier to organize the items in the right order before filling in the rest of the data.
    The background items first so they are not drawn on top of all the other items and cover them up. Looking at the image at the top of this article as a guide, the concrete, bentonite, sand, gravel and filter sand are all in the “background” behind the other items, and the cap, casing and screen are drawn “on top”. So, the cap, casing, and screen items should be entered last in the data table. Fill in the Item column with the items in that order.
  5. Enter data in the From and To columns for each item. You can use the depth values displayed on the image at the top of this article as a guide.
  6. Since the items are not offset in this diagram, enter 0 for all rows in the Offset column.
  7. Now it is time to enter the diameter information for each item. First, define a maximum “width” for the log. This can be any number, since you will base your inner and outer diameters on this value. Since the concrete is the widest item, we can choose an arbitrary number for it (15).
    1. The concrete (dark grey at top) Outer Diameter = 15. Let’s define the Inner Diameter (which will be the same as the Outer Diameter for the cap) as 4.
    2. The cap and casing have the same width, and they are solid and centered. So the Inner Diameter = 0, and the Outer Diameter = 4.
    3. The bentonite (medium gray) and sand (diagonal slash) also have the same width. They are on the outside of the casing, so the Inner Diameter for these items is going to be the same as the Outer Diameter of the casing (4). Since they are not quite as wide as the concrete, the Outer Diameter needs to be less than 15 (let’s use 10).
    4. The filter sand (green) has the same Outer Diameter as the sand and bentonite (10), but it is about half as wide as those items, so let's use an Inner Diameter of 7.5.
    5. The gravel has the Outer Diameter value as the filter sand’s Inner Diameter (7.5). The Inner Diameter is the same as the Outer Diameter for the casing (4).
    6. The screen (horizontal lines) is also centered in the middle, so the Inner Diameter is 0. The Outer Diameter is just slightly more than that for the casing and cap. Since the casing and cap has an Outer Diameter of 4, we can make the Outer Diameter for the screen 5.
 


Enter the data for each well item into the data table.

8. Once the data table is complete, save the project with the File | Save command.

3. Create the Log
Now that the data table is created and the data has been entered, we can create the log.

  1. Click on borehole view or cross section tab at the top of the project window.
  2. Click on the Log | Create Log | Well Construction.
  3. Click in the log or cross section pane where you want the log to be placed.
  4. In the Open dialog, select the Well Construction table in the Use Open Table list.


    In the Open dialog, select to use the existing Well Construction data table.

  5. Click Open and the log is created using the existing data table and the default settings.
  6. The default settings may not be correct in all cases. In the Property Manager, select the Item log and then:
    1. Check to be sure that column definitions are correct.
    2. Check to be sure the Well size is correct. By default, Strater makes the well size 10. However, in this case we set our largest Outer Diameter value to 15. In order to fully see the item with this width, change the Well size to 15. Now the entire log is displayed.

Set the Well size to include the maximum Outer Diameter entered in the data table to fully see all items.

4. Edit Line and Fill Properties
The well construction log is created, but the log items are not filled with any color or patterns. The line and fill properties are controlled by the well construction scheme. This scheme was automatically created when we created the log, so all you have to do is specify the line and fill properties for each item in the scheme. To edit the properties of the scheme items:

  1. Click on the Home | Display | Scheme Editor.
  2. Open the Well Construction: Well Construction scheme by clicking on the + button to the left of the name.
  3. When you open the scheme, you will see each of the scheme items. When you select one of the items, the properties for that item will be displayed on the right side of the dialog. For example, select concrete. On the right side, change the Style in the Fill | Fill Properties section to Solid and then set the Color for Layer 1 (Solid) to 70% Black.
  4. Repeat setting the line and fill properties for all items in the scheme.


Specify the line and fill properties for scheme items in the Scheme Editor.

  1. When you are finished editing the properties for the scheme items, click OK and the properties are applied to the log.

Specify line and fill properties for the log with the scheme.

5. Put the Finishing Touches on the Log
The well construction log is created and custom color and patterns are applied. You can now add other logs or customize your log design in other ways. In this example, we will add a depth log and a legend.

  1. Click Log | Create Log | Depth.
  2. Click in the log pane where you want the log to be placed.
  3. You can make adjustments to the depth log properties in the Property Manager. For example, you can select the DepthLog and then:
    1. Change the starting and ending depths for the ticks and the tick interval on the Ticks page.
    2. Decrease the number of decimal digits shown and increase the font size on the Label page.
  4. You can also create a legend of the scheme items to help clarify the log. Click Logs | Add | Legend.
  5. Click anywhere in the borehole view where you want the legend to be placed. You can place it in the header, footer or log panes.
  6. Press ESC on your keyboard to exit add-legend mode.
  7. You can make adjustments to the legend in the Property Manager. For example, you can select the Legend and then:
    1. Change the number of columns used to display the legend items on the Legend page.
    2. Change the legend title on the Label page.


Add a depth log and legend to help clarify the well construction log items.

There are some more examples of well construction logs in the Samples folder in the Strater installation directory (by default C:\Program Files\Golden Software\Strater 5\Samples):

  • For a simple well construction log example, you can see the examples in either the Soil Boring Log-1.sdg file or the Environmental Log-1.sdg. Open one of those files and select the Well Construction (for Soil Boring Log-1) or the Well Const (for Environmental Log-1) data table tab to see how the information is entered and organized.
  • For a more detailed example, open the sample file Well Construction-1.sdg. Click on the Well Construct data table tab to see how the data table is organized.

 

Updated April 17, 2019

Was this article helpful?
18 out of 22 found this helpful

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.