Unsaturated Soils and Soil-Structure Interaction: Advances in Testing, Analysis and Engineering Practice
A Special Issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417) belonging to the section "Civil Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2027 | Viewed by 10
Editors
Interests: soil-structure interaction problems such as tunnels, deep excavation, piles, energy piles; slope stability; ground improvement and behaviour of unsaturated soils
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
2. Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Coastal Urban Resilient Infrastructures (Shenzhen University), Shenzhen, China
3. College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
Interests: development of geotechnical testing apparatus and optical fibre sensors; unsaturated soil mechanics; multi-field and multi-phase coupling theory of geotechnical materials; mechanisms of excavation-induced responses of engineering structures; resilient and sustainable geotechnics
Interests: soil-structure interaction; soil dynamics; subway tunnels
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Unsaturated soils are widely encountered in natural and engineered environments, where their hydraulic, mechanical, and coupled hydro-mechanical behavior plays a critical role in the performance and safety of geotechnical infrastructure. Their behavior is strongly influenced by changes in suction, water content, rainfall, groundwater conditions, and environmental loading, making the characterization and prediction of unsaturated soil response particularly challenging. Furthermore, the interaction between unsaturated ground and geotechnical structures, including foundations, retaining walls, slopes, embankments, tunnels, and buried infrastructure, requires advanced experimental and analytical approaches.
This Special Issue aims to provide a platform for recent advances in the characterization, modelling, and engineering application of unsaturated soils and soil–structure interaction. Contributions addressing laboratory and field testing, suction-controlled experiments, constitutive modelling, numerical simulation, coupled hydro-mechanical analysis, soil–water interaction, and climate/environmental effects are particularly encouraged. Studies involving advanced computational methods, monitoring and sensing technologies, data-driven approaches, and innovative experimental techniques are also welcome. Emphasis will be placed on research demonstrating practical implications for the design, assessment, and resilience of geotechnical infrastructure under changing environmental and loading conditions.
We look forward to receiving high-quality contributions from researchers and practitioners in this field.
Prof. Dr. Mukhtiar Ali Soomro
Prof. Dr. Kai Liu
Prof. Dr. Zhen-Dong Cui
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-anonymized 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
- unsaturated soils
- soil–structure interaction
- unsaturated soil testing
- suction
- hydro-mechanical coupling
- constitutive modelling
- numerical analysis
- geotechnical infrastructure
- environmental loading
- geotechnical engineering
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.
