Elsevier, International Journal of Solids and Structures, 11-12(43), p. 3324-3336, 2006
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2005.06.090
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A key issue in poromechanical modeling, e.g. for predicting anthropogenic land subsidence due to fluid withdrawal, is the evaluation and use of representative mechanical properties for the deforming porous medium at a regional scale. One such property is the vertical uniaxial rock compressibility c M which can be obtained through either laboratory oedometer tests or in situ measurements, and typically exhibits quite a marked scattering. This paper addresses the influence of the c M uncertainty on the predicted land settlement using a stochastic simulation approach where c M is regarded as a random variable and a large number of equally likely c M realizations are generated and implemented into a poroelastic finite element model. A compressibility law, characterized by a log-normal distribution with depth-depen-dent mean, constant variance and exponential covariance, is assumed. The Monte Carlo simulation provides a set of responses which can be analyzed statistically. The results from a number of numerical experiments show how the c M variance and covariance affect the reliability of the simulated land subsidence and provide a quantitative evaluation of the intrinsic uncertainty of the model prediction.