The method of reinforcing the soft clays with stone columns is a most commonly adopted technique to enhance its load carrying capacity and to reduce settlements. Their performance with respect to bearing capacity is well researched, but the understanding of settlement characteristics still requires extensive studies. This paper presents the results obtained from physical small scale model tests conducted on soft clays reinforced by stone columns, conceptualized on the basis of idealized unit cell. The stone columns were constructed in soft clay bed using minimal compactive effort and using high compactive effort. The diameter of stone columns varied, which corresponds to low to high replacements ratios (ie 3.09%-36.08%) and with two different compactive efforts (ie 20-220 kN/m3). The plain and reinforced soft clay beds were subjected to a consolidation pressure of 150 kPa and the settlements were observed for twenty four hours. Based on the results it is concluded that settlement reduces significantly for the reinforced soft clay bed. The settlement decreases for the same diameter of constructed stone column with higher compactive effort.