In recent years, the demand for soil improvement has risen significantly to enhance the bearing capacity and shear strength of soft cohesive soils, particularly in preparation for diverse construction projects on sites characterized by such soil conditions. Among the array of ground improvement techniques, the combination of preloading or pre-compression with vertical drains stands out as one of the oldest and most extensively employed methods to preconsolidate and fortify weak, compressible soils in situ. The current research aims to investigate the impact of various shapes of prefabricated vertical drains (PVD) filled with sawdust on the settlement behavior of the soil. The study focuses on assessing how different PVD shapes; utilizing sawdust as a drainage material, influence the settlement characteristics of the soil. A modified Rowe type Oedometer is used in the present Experimental work. This investigation contributes to the understanding of the effectiveness of PVD shapes (circular and cross) filled with sawdust in mitigating settlement issues in soft cohesive soils. In circular shape drain, the rate of dissipation is faster at all degree of consolidation and under all loading and Cvr value for any % of consolidation for Circular SD is higher than cross. The rate of dissipation of Pore water pressure shows that the rate of dissipation of pore water pressure at any radial distance is faster for circular shape drain in comparison to cross shape drain at same pressure.