Although the process of soil mixing originated in the United States in the 1950’s, its major development has occurred over the last twenty years in Japan. To date, while there have been thousands of projects performed in Japan using some form of soil mixing, it is only recently that it has found a wide application on sites in the United States. Significantly, it was in the United States that its potential use for remediation of hazardous waste sites was first recognized and implemented. In North America to date, it has been used for foundation block stabilization, retaining walls, cutoff wall systems and the fixation/solidification of contaminated soils, with over forty contracts completed.
Soil mixing is divided into two categories, Shallow Soil Mixing (SSM) and Deep Soil Mixing (DSM) with, as the names imply, different depth capabilities.