Abstract: In order to study the effect of the random field on Biot consolidation,the local average theory is used.The analytic results show the significant effect of k among all the parameters of Duncan–Chang model for consolidatation settlement of the random field of geotechnical engineering parameters.The mean,standard deviation,and auto-correlation distance are used to describe their random features.The calculated results of the random field are compared with those of the traditional methods.The results show that the effect of the variability and auto-correlation distance of the parameter k is minor on the mean of the consolidation settlement,in contrast on the standard deviation.Inaddition,the standard deviation of the consolidation settlement will increase as the variability and auto-correlation distance of the parameter k increase,and the standard deviation of the consolidation settlement will be the ultimate when the auto-correlation distance tends infinity.