The soft soil problem is one of the problems that must be resolved before construction begins. One way to solve this problem is to use prefabricated vertical drains (PVD), which works by cutting the drainage path into shorter lengths, thereby speeding up the consolidation rate. In this research, an empirical analysis of the use of PVD will be calculated to determine the effective depth of PVD. The analysis will be calculated using Hansbo's theory and Terzaghi's one-dimensional consolidation. Depth variations are considered from 100%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, and 50% of the compressible soil depth. The analysis results show that in 180 days a consolidation degree of 90% has been achieved at variations of 90% and 100% of the depth of the compressible soil. Meanwhile, within 180 days, primary consolidation residue values <0.3 m occurred with variations of 70%-100%. It can be said that the depth of PVD installation can be reduced by 70% -90% of the depth of compressible soil.