Motivated by the success of the spherical model in predicting the volumetric compaction behavior of both porous rocks and metals to a hydrostatic pressure, we consider the applicability of the spherical model to nonhydrostatic loading conditions. Specifically, the spherical model is used to examine the influence of the presence of a shear stress on the volumetric compression of a porous solid. We first obtain the linear, elastic solution for a hollow sphere subject to homogeneous tractions on the outer boundary. Then, assuming that the matrix material is governed by the Drucker-Prager yield criterion, we use the elastic solution to derive an analytic expression for the onset of yield in the hollow sphere. The expression for the initial yield surface shows that the presence of a shear stress hastens the onset of yield in the sphere in comparison to a hydrostatic loading condition. This result agrees well with experimental data which shows that, for porous solids, permanent crush-up begins at a lower mean stress under a nonhydrostatic loading than when the applied loading is a hydrostatic pressure. At this point, due to difficulty in obtaining an analytic solution, we turn to a numerical scheme (finite element method) to extend the analys of the hollow sphere problem into the elasto-plastic range. The spherical model results clearly exhibit the experimental finding that the presence of shear stress tends to enhance the volumetric compaction of porous solids in comparison to a hydrostatic loading condition. For both a porous rock and metal sample, agreement between the spherical model an experimental results in excellent.