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Drilling and compacting

Vibratory pile driver

Orange long-reach excavator, a yellow vibratory driver on the end of the boom holding a sheet pile; plates on the ground and buildings behind.
Vibratory driver on the end of a long-reach excavator, pulling the sheet piles of a temporary wall.
It does not strike:
it vibrates the section, which goes down or comes up.
Photo:
Joost J. Bakker, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, resized, company names and number plate removed.

It does not strike, it vibrates.
The ground fluidises around the pile, which goes down on its own — and comes back up the same way when it has to be pulled out.

Other names for this tool: vibratory driver, vibrating hammer, sheet-pile driver, hydraulic pile driver, driving vibrator, driving head.

The essentials
Family
Drilling and compacting
Classes (t)
0.5 to 13 t
Coupler
We calculate it with you for your machine
Power source
Hydraulic — flow and pressure: we calculate it with you for your machine
Principle
Vibration, without percussion
Indicative version
Dedicated photovoltaic

Compare with the auger →

01 Use

What it is for

On the left, the vibrating clamp drives the pile down without ever striking it. On the right, the same tool extracts a temporary pile, with its head intact and the ground undisturbed. Computer-generated image.
the vibrating clamp drives the pile down without ever striking it the same tool extracts a temporary pile, with its head intact and the ground undisturbed
Left: the vibrating clamp drives the pile down without ever striking it.
Right: the same tool extracts a temporary pile, with its head intact and the ground undisturbed.
What sets it apart:
it does not strike, it vibrates — the friction collapses and the pile goes down on its own.
Computer-generated image.
The housing vibrates without striking, the pile goes down in a single movement to the height of the row.
Synthetic video.
Orange long-reach excavator lifting a long sheet pile vertically, held by a vibratory driver, on a sandy site in town.
The sheet pile comes out of the ground, held by the vibratory driver's clamp.
This is how a temporary wall is recovered at the end of a job.
Photo:
Joost J. Bakker, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, resized, company names removed.

A clamp grips the head of the pile, and eccentric weights set it vibrating at high frequency.
The friction between the pile and the ground collapses:
the pile goes down under its own weight and that of the machine.

Fence post, retaining sheet pile, pontoon pile, and above all solar-structure pile — a dedicated version has been recorded for this use, where hundreds of identical piles are driven one after another.

What it does one way, it does the other. A vibro-driven pile is withdrawn by the same process, without breaking the head and without destroying the ground.
For a temporary installation — shoring, pontoon, site fencing —, it is this reversibility you are buying.

02 Key technical data

On which machine?

They exist for machines from 0,5 to 13 t.
For example, on a 5 to 10 t excavator, the weight is generally from 220 to 500 kg.
It attaches to all quick couplers via a mounting plate, or directly on the pins.
It is available with a Klac, Lehnhoff or S coupler, to be checked with you.

What the tool does

It drives piles by vibration, without percussion.
For example, on a 5 to 10 t excavator: impact energy from 810 to 2 400 J, blow rate from 400 to 1 400 blows/min.
There is a version dedicated to photovoltaics.

What is needed on the hydraulic side

It connects to an auxiliary hydraulic circuit.
It generally needs from 14 to 145 l/min, at a pressure from 110 to 300 bar, depending on the size of the machine.

Figures taken from 10 models on the market.
Your study sets the exact value for your machine.

All the measurements found for this equipment →

How to read these values →

03 Your study

Have your machine checked.

Give us your excavator model, the section and the length of the piles, and what you know about the ground.
If it is a solar farm, say so:
the number of piles per day changes the choice completely.

What we need to answer you
  • Your machine Its make and its tonnage.
  • The auxiliary circuit Its flow in l/min, its pressure in bar, single- or double-acting.
  • The coupler in place Its system and its class.
  • The work The use, and the material.

Without these details, the study still begins: we will ask you for them.

Send my photos

or describe your need

Book an appointment with the specialist

Or call 01 84 16 55 49 · our lines are open 7 days a week, from 7h to 22h.

Written study within 3 working days, once the file is complete.

Not to be confused
  • Driving hammer Principle — it strikes with repeated blows instead of vibrating the ground.
    Use — it gets through compact or stony ground where vibration fails, and what it drives in, it does not extract.
  • Sheet-pile vibratory driver Principle — the same vibration, with a clamp that grips a sheet-pile section instead of a stake.
    Use — it builds a retaining wall step by step, on medium and heavy machines.
Vibratory pile driver driving a vertical pile, a row of piles already driven behind
No blow:
the ground fluidises around the pile, which goes down on its own. And what it does one way, it does the other — the pile is withdrawn in the same way.
Synthetic image.
04 Choice

What determines the choice

  • 01 — The nature of the ground, which decides everything Vibration excels in sands, graded aggregates and silts.
    It is ineffective in a compact clay or rocky ground, where pre-drilling is then needed.
    A trial is worth more than an assumption.
  • 02 — The section and the length of the pile They govern the vibration force needed.
    A fence post and a three-metre sheet pile do not call for the same machine.
  • 03 — The head clamping system It is what has to accept the real shape of the pile:
    tube, H section, sheet-pile U, finned pile.
    A poorly matched clamp damages the head and makes it unusable.
  • 04 — Verticality On a solar structure, all the piles have to be in line and plumb.
    Some models include a guide; without it, accuracy depends entirely on the operator.
05 Check

What is checked before ordering

  • The auxiliary line, its flow and its pressure See the 7 criteria.
  • What is around, and how far the vibration goes A vibration travels through the ground.
    Near an old building, a buried structure or a railway, this question is asked before the job, not during it.
  • The weight at the end of the arm and the headroom The pile is presented vertically:
    height is needed above it, and the whole tool plus pile weighs far from the chassis.
  • The interface Coupler type and size, or pin dimensions.
    The tool is supplied with the matching plate — see the couplers.
In the same family
Around the worksite
On the interface
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