Vertek S4 Push System In Action

Extracting underground data to determine soil parameters in order to efficiently provide foundation requirements
Vertek customer Michael Cox has launched PalmettoINSITU, LLC, a geotechnical exploration firm specializing in extracting and presenting more exact data from coastal, southeastern, and southwestern soils prior to development and construction projects.

Geotechnical engineers will contract with PalmettoINSITU to extract underground data to determine soil parameters in order to efficiently provide foundation requirements for: Bridges, multi-story buildings, private residences, nuclear power plants, wind turbines, cellular communication towers, municipal water tanks, water treatment facilities, sinkholes, profiling top-of-rock, directional boring, and many other critical applications prior to development and construction.

About Michael Cox:

Michael Cox spent 13 years with S&ME, a global Top-100 engineering firm before launching PalmettoINSITU in June of 2014.

Michael Cox graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with an MS in Information Technology and a BS in Computer Information Systems. Cox also earned an AS in Civil Engineering Technology, including AutoCAD and Surveying certificates from Trident Technical College in Charleston.

Michael Cox is known as the “Indiana Jones” of capturing soil data in the geotechnical engineering space, due to his reputation and innovation for getting in and out of some of the most challenging site locations. Before beautiful residences, commercial buildings, or major facilities are built, their raw land is typically rough, wooded, wet, or otherwise a challenge to physically enter in order to begin testing the soil.

Vertek’s S4 Push System offers maximum flexibility to access these site locations due to application on a variety of equipment.

Michael Cox earned over a decade of geotechnical experience working on the following projects: Norfolk Naval Shipyard (Virginia), Andrews Air Force Base (Maryland), The Boeing Facility (South Carolina), The Bellefonte Nuclear Station (Alabama), Robinson Nuclear Power Plant (South Carolina), The Google Facility (South Carolina), The KIA Manufacturing Facility (Georgia), SCE&G Wateree Station (South Carolina), Vought Aircraft (South Carolina), SC Tuxpan Container Port (Mexico), Charleston International Airport (South Carolina), Continental Tire (South Carolina), Oregon Inlet Bridge (North Carolina), Nuclear Power Training Unit (South Carolina), Fort Bragg (North Carolina) Oakbridge National Laboratory (Tennessee), US Navy Weapons Station (South Carolina), and Hunter Army Airfield (Georgia), among others.

At-a-glance facts:

  • INSITU testing involves hydraulically pushing an electronic instrument into the soil using the weight of a CPT rig capable of 20 tons of reaction
  • PalmettoINSITU collects geotechnical and environmental data using modern digital probes
  • PalmettoINSITU is now able to capture soil data every 2 centimeters, extracting 300 feet of data per day
  • INSITU testing is most applicable to soils in coastal, well-weathered, and alluvial environment

Future footprints:

  • PalmettoINSITU plans to acquire up to four additional CPT rigs and other purpose-built rigs in the next 1-2 years, employing 4-6 experts, not including administrative staff.