19 JULY 2026 WorldWide Drilling Resource® www.starironworks.com 257 Caroline Street Punxsutawney, PA 15767 800-927-0560 • 814-427-2555 Fax: 814-427-5164 Serving the Construction Industry Booth 1712 Using the DeWaal Pile System Adapted from Information by Morris-Shea Morris-Shea successfully completed the Ford Motor Company’s new electric vehicle facility in Stanton, Tennessee. Working together with the Ford engineers and using Morris-Shea’s patented DeWaal pile system allowed the project to minimize disposal concerns brought on by drilled shaft installation methods. Installing the deep foundation was done in a single pass as the system is a drilled, cast-in-place concrete pile. This installation required powerful, fixed-mast drill rigs that use high rotational torque and crowd forces specific to DeWaal. They built three pits fitted with mud slabs, having concrete slabs placed afterward. Two of the three pits began as sheet pile cofferdams while the third was a wood lagging retention shoring pit. Testing this method required two extra pits of sheet piles, both locations were on the Ford Memphis jobsite. The method used an interlocking driven sheet pile to make the perimeter of the cofferdams. A heavy whaler was placed ten feet belowground to brace the walls of the tryout pit until the concrete base was poured; after that, installation of a concrete slab began. Boom pumps were used to move concrete into the pit where the crew finished the mix over a prepared slab. Once concrete is poured over the slab, lagging walls are put into place to help ensure the concrete stays in place. These walls can be either temporary or permanent for both deep and shallow excavations. The Ford pit used wood lagging walls and vertical driven H-pile soldier beams while the stamping pit shoring followed a cantilever design, bypassing the need for horizontal anchoring. These cofferdams are used as temporary watertight enclosures for the construction of permanent pits and bridge piers. Bracing these structures can be done a couple of ways depending on the need. They can be braced internally or horizontally anchored. Completion of the project will see the temporary structures and support systems removed. Most cofferdams require the use of heavy equipment and are implemented under challenging circumstances. Some installations make use of barges as necessary to complete the project. Completing this specific project meant the company drilled nearly 10,000 piles at different locations inside the Ford manufacturing complex. The end of the project showed the engineers at Morris-Shea had improved production performance and still maintained their load. CONST
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