Deadline Date: 31 January 2027
Engineering disturbances, such as excavation unloading, blast-induced stress waves, hydraulic fracturing, and mechanical rock breaking, are common in deep underground engineering, mining, tunneling, and slope stability projects. These disturbances trigger complex mechanical responses in rock and geo-materials, including damage evolution, fracture propagation, dynamic failure, and coupled multi-field effects (e.g., stress, seepage, damage interactions). A thorough understanding of these responses is essential for the safe and efficient design of engineering structures in challenging geological conditions.
This Special Issue aims to collect high-quality original research and review articles that advance the understanding of rock/geo-material behavior under various engineering disturbances through numerical modeling and experimental investigations.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
Numerical simulation of excavation-induced unloading responses in deep rock masses
Dynamic mechanical behavior under blast or impact loading
Hydraulic fracturing mechanisms and coupled hydro-mechanical processes
Constitutive models for rock damage, fracture, andfailure
Experimental investigation (e.g., cyclic loading, unloading, chemical erosion) for characterizing rock/geo-materials damage
Multi-field coupling (thermal–hydraulic–mechanical–chemical) in deep rock engineering
Cutter-rock interaction and numerical simulation of mechanical tunneling
Case studies involving validation of numerical models against laboratory or field data
Contributions that integrate numerical simulations with laboratory or field experiments are particularly encouraged.
The ultimate goal is to provide a platform for sharing methodologies and insights that can guide engineering practice in rock mechanics and geotechnical engineering.
Editorial board
