Thermal Management and Ventilation Optimization for Underground Mining
A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Civil Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 114
Special Issue Editor
Interests: ventilation and air conditioning; heat hazard control; geothermal resource utilization; fire prevention and control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Underground mining operations face escalating thermal challenges due to increasing depth, high-power equipment usage, and geothermal gradients, compounded by confined spaces where heat dissipation is critically constrained. Effective ventilation and thermal management are paramount to ensuring worker safety, equipment reliability, and operational efficiency in these extreme environments. In such settings, heat accumulation from machinery, rock strata, and human activity can rapidly degrade working conditions, risking heat stress, equipment failure, and reduced productivity. Traditional ventilation methods often struggle to balance energy efficiency with adequate cooling, especially in deep or complex mine layouts. Innovations in airflow design, cooling technologies, heat recovery systems, and predictive modeling are urgently needed to address these multidimensional challenges.
This Special Issue seeks cutting-edge research on integrated strategies for thermal control and ventilation optimization in underground mines. We invite contributions on novel system designs, advanced simulations (CFD, AI-driven models), sustainable cooling technologies, heat mitigation materials, case studies, and regulatory frameworks. Submissions may also address synergistic solutions for air quality control, energy recovery, and automation-enhanced ventilation. While it is focused on mining applications, this issue welcomes interdisciplinary insights from fields such as tunnel engineering, geothermal energy, and restricted-space environmental control.
Dr. Yu Xu
Guest Editor
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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
- underground space
- thermal environment management
- ventilation and air conditioning
- ventilation and heat transfer
- energy saving
- mine geothermal
- heat hazard control
- mine ventilation
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
