This technique was developed in Germany in the 1930s and has been used successfully worldwide to densify loose sands and hydraulic fill deposits or other man-made deposits with controlled materials, thus increasing their bearing capacity and contributing to liquefaction mitigation.

Vibro compaction is suitable for densifying deep deposits of cohesionless geomaterials with up to 15% fines that include clay content less than 2%. After treatment, the soils will exhibit lower void ratio and compressibility as well as higher angles of shearing resistance.