In the investigation of waterway engineering，the consolidation test is commonly used in laboratories to test the deformation characteristics of soil，and it is also an important means to study the relationship between strength and structure of soil.A consolidation instrument is the main equipment for laboratory geotechnical consolidation tests.Upon the analysis of the performance of existing equipment both at home and abroad，this paper develops a new intelligent shipboard consolidation instrument，which has obtained the utility model patent.This instrument aims to solve the problems of existing consolidation instruments，such as large volume，loud noise，poor sloshing resistance，low intelligence，and inapplicability for laboratory shipboard use in waterway engineering.Experiments verify that the instrument has stable performance and high measuring accuracy and features a simple structure，simple operation，high intelligence，and superior shipboard performance.The new intelligent shipboard consolidation instrument for waterway engineering has a broad market application prospect，especially for use in mobile geotechnical laboratories.