Abstract：Changes in permeability due to stress variation in fractured porous rock media have important impacts on engineering design. Therefore，it is of vital importance to couple stress and fluid flow effects when dealing with practical engineering problems. For example，when mining near an aquifer，the mining-induced stress redistributions cause changes in the inherent permeability，which may result in water intrusion into the mining workings. In this paper a modified cubic law is adopted for a fractured media，and stress-aperture-permeability relationships are derived in a three-dimensional domain by using stresses and matrix-fracture interactive model. In the porous portion，permeability is to a great extent controlled by the pore geometry，which is a function of the applied stress. A model has been developed to determine the three-dimensional stress-permeability relationship, assuming that the solid grains in the porous medium are the cubical grain packing structure. Surface subsidence induced by mining and drainage in porous aquifers is also studied using poroelasticity. A finite element model incorporated with coupled stress and flow in fractured porous media is developed. The model is then applied to examine permeability changes，strata failure，and surface subsidence in a coal mine for different mining geometries. The results show that the permeability around the mining panel increases as the length of mining increases. Also surface subsidence depends not only upon the thickness of mining，but also upon the pore pressure withdrawal. The simulated results are in good agreement with the observed data.
