This paper compares the performance of drainage line elements available in PLAXIS 2D and 3D, which are finite element coded. The use of 3D eliminates the needs to compute the plane strain’s equivalent flow obtained from classical axisymmetric solution. Benchmark testing for a single drainage line element is presented using 2D and 3D against closed form analytical method for radial consolidation. The performance of these drainage line elements are further studied using a well-documented case history, full-scale trial embankment in Muar, West Malaysia, installed with prefabricated vertical drains in the consolidating marine clay deposits. Soft Soil model is applied to describe the highly non-linear behavior of the consolidating material. Predictions of the excess pore pressures dissipation, vertical and lateral displacements are computed and compared with field observation. The studies show that the 3D yields comparable accurate results as of 2D.