New Advances in Rock Fractures and Landslide Forecasting
A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Civil Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 75
Special Issue Editors
Interests: rock joint mechanics and hydraulic properties; structure-controlled landslide prediction and early warning; deep learning technology and its applications
Interests: slope engineering; rock and soil deformation and control; refined modeling; dynamic load simulation and stability; large-scale in situ testing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: landslide susceptibility; slope stability; rock mechanics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Rock fractures play a fundamental role in the initiation, evolution, and failure of rock slopes and landslides by controlling mechanical strength, deformation behavior, and fluid transport within rock masses. Fracture development, connectivity, and damage evolution strongly influence seepage processes and permeability evolution, thereby governing hydro-mechanical responses and slope instability mechanisms. External drivers such as rainfall infiltration, groundwater fluctuations, reservoir water level changes, and seismic loading can significantly accelerate landslide initiation through coupled hydro-mechanical and dynamic effects.
Recent advances in monitoring technologies, numerical modeling, and data-driven methods have created new opportunities for landslide forecasting and early warning based on fracture-related precursory signals. Integrated approaches combining field and remote sensing observations, laboratory experiments, multi-physics simulations, and machine learning enable improved understanding of fracture–seepage–seismic interactions and their role in slope instability. This Special Issue aims to present new advances that link rock fracture processes with hydrological and seismic drivers to enhance landslide forecasting accuracy, early warning capability, and risk mitigation.
This Special Issue will publish high-quality, original research papers in the following overlapping fields:
- Rock fracture mechanics and fracture propagation in slopes;
- Damage evolution and instability mechanisms of fractured rock masses;
- Non-Darcian flow and fluid transport in fractured rock masses;
- Permeability evolution of fractured rocks under seismic loading;
- Hydro-mechanical coupling processes in slope failure;
- Rainfall-induced, groundwater-driven landslides;
- Seismic and dynamic loading effects on fractured rock slopes;
- Monitoring technologies for fracture and slope deformation;
- Physics-informed and AI-driven methods for landslide forecasting;
- Engineering applications and risk assessment for rock slope hazards.
Dr. Zihao Sun
Dr. Qinwen Tan
Dr. Luqi Wang
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- rock fractures
- landslide forecasting
- hydro-mechanical coupling
- non-darcian seepage
- permeability evolution
- seismic triggering
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