Vibro driving is a technology whereby a pile is moved up and down (amplitude) in a vertical direction which causes a temporary reduction in soil resistance of the soil immediately underneath and along the shaft of the pile. Due to this temporary reduction in soil resistance, the pile is lowered by gravity due to the weight of the pile and the vibro tool on top.

As long at the pile is moving more than the surrounding soil, further penetration will be the result. As cohesive soils like clay have a higher more damping factor than a granular soil like sand, the performance in the granular soils is generally more efficient. Once the vibro is turned off, the soil is regaining most of its strength immediately. The rest of the setup of the soil will be regained over time. In order to be able to vibrate the pile in a vertical motion, it is paramount that the vibro tool has a fixed connection to the pile. This is normally achieved by hydraulic clamps. This fixed connection brings a number of added advantages to this installation method, like the ability to extract piles, prevent pile run, controlled installation without requiring a gripper system or piling frame.

The two controls the operator can manipulate during pile driving to control the penetration are frequency and line pull. The operating frequency is between 900 and 1,400 RPM or between 15 and 23 Hz. The line pull determines the rate of penetration and the amount of static weight that is pushing down on the pile. This later can also work in the opposite way, i.e. with more line pull the pile can also be lifted which can help the installation or verticality corrections or be used for extraction.