Abstract: In engineering practice, when using the vacuum preloading technique to improve the hydraulic filled slurry, the consolidation degree usually cannot reach the expected value calculated by the current design code in China within the construction period. In the current design code, the consolidation behavior of the slurry is considered by discounting the consolidation coefficient. The observed data show that the consolidation procedure is influenced by several factors, such as the void ratio, permeability and compressibility. Practical engineering problems are discussed combined with the results of model tests by using the finite difference method. The test data agree well with the numerical calculation, indicating that the proposed numerical method is reasonable and can be used to guide the practical design.