Abstract: An analytical solution of Fredlund's one-dimensional consolidation equation in unsaturated soil with a finite thickness under vertical loading and confinements in the lateral directions was presented.The boundary contains the top surface permeable to water and air and the bottom impermeable to water and air.The transfer relations between the state vectors at top surface and any depth was gained by using the Laplace transform and Cayley-Hamilton mathematical methods to the governing equations of water and air,Darcy's law and Fick's law.The excess pore-air and pore-water pressures and settlement in the Laplace-transformed domain were obtained by using the Laplace transform with the initial and boundary conditions;by performing the inverse Laplace transforms the analytical solutions were obtained in the time domain.Finally,comparisons between the analytical solutions and the results of the finite difference method indicate that the analytical solution was correct.