The present study has treated a theoretical consideration on the behavior of the loss of head in a vertical drain well and has made clear several factors affecting the rate of consolidation in the vertical drain method. Numerical solutions of this problem have been obtained with the aid of an electric lumped-parameter model and these results have shown fairly good agreement with those obtained from a large scale laboratory experiment. The quantitative data given in graph forms will be of great use in the three-dimensional analysis of the stabilization of soft soils by means of drain wells.