Abstract: An efficient algorithm is presented to solve plane strain Biot's consolidation of a single soil layer with an arbitrary depth. Starting from the governing equations of Biot's consolidation, an exactly symmetric stiffness matrix, i.e. the analytical layer-element, is deduced in Laplace-Fourier transformed domain by using the eigenvalue approach. According to the relationship between generalized displacements and stresses of a single layer in the transformed domain described by the matrix, and the boundary conditions of the soil layer, the solutions of any point can be obtained. The actual solutions in the physical domain can further be acquired by inverting the Laplace-Fourier transform. Finally, numerical examples are presented to verify the theory and study the influence of the soil properties and time history on the consolidation behavior.