The purpose of this study was to present an analysis for predicting the magnitude and rate of settlement and the magnitude of the pore water pressure during consolidation of linear elastic soils by using the finite element method. The formulation of the method is based on a variational principle. The numerical characteristics of the method for one- and two-dimensional problems in plane strain were examined and the results were presented in graphical form to illustrate the effect of mesh refinement. Other factors examined in 2-D problems were the effect on the results of Poisson's ratio v, the relative distance to the boundary, and the time increment. For multilayered soil systems a parametric study was made. The effects of wide variations in material properties on the consolidation process and general criteria for reliable results using the FE formulation were derived o A three-layered system was used for the parametric study on the material parameters. The method was applied to four layer field problem and the results were found to be reasonable. Permeability and strength anisotropy and their effect on the rate of consolidation were examined for a homogeneous soil under a strip footing. / Master of Science