Failure Mechanisms in Rock and Soil Masses Research

Dear Colleagues,

The reliable prediction and control of failure in rock and soil masses remain central challenges in geotechnical engineering, spanning a vast range of scales—from microcrack initiation in laboratory specimens to massive landslides and collapses that threaten communities. Today, we are witnessing a surge in large‑scale human activities—such as high‑altitude railways, deep open‑pit mines, energy tunnels, and water diversion schemes—in environmentally fragile zones like the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, where complex geological histories, active tectonics, and extreme climates interact with engineering disturbances in unpredictable ways. As infrastructure projects become more complex and extend into increasingly diverse geological settings, the spectrum of failure mechanisms continues to broaden. These include time-dependent creep, brittle fracture, strain softening, liquefaction, progressive slope deterioration, and coupled thermal–hydro-mechanical–chemical instabilities, to name but a few. Advances in experimental techniques, field instrumentation, numerical modeling, and data science now offer unprecedented opportunities to observe, simulate, and understand these processes in greater depth than ever before.

This Special Issue invites original contributions that expand our fundamental knowledge of how rock and soil masses deform and fail under various loading and environmental conditions. We aim to create a comprehensive collection that bridges theoretical analyses, laboratory experiments, long-term field observations, and advanced computational methods. While all high-quality submissions on failure mechanisms are welcome, we particularly encourage studies that address topics including (but not limited to) the following broad themes:

• Fundamental mechanical behavior: constitutive modeling, strength and deformation characteristics, fracture toughness, damage evolution, and size effects in both rock and soil.
• Experimental techniques and characterization: novel laboratory testing (including true triaxial, dynamic, and ultra-low-temperature tests), advanced imaging (CT, SEM, DIC), and in situ geophysical methods.
• Multi-field coupling processes: hydro-mechanical, thermal–hydro-mechanical, and chemo-mechanical interactions; effects of pore pressure, freeze–thaw, wet–dry, and saline intrusion.
• Natural and climate-driven geohazards: landslides, debris flows, slope instability under extreme rainfall, permafrost degradation, coastal erosion, and ice-related hazards.
• Anthropogenic impacts and infrastructure: tunneling and excavation-induced ground movements, rock bursts and micro-seismicity, foundation instability, and large-scale mining or quarrying activities. This includes, as particular cases, projects in environmentally fragile regions (e.g., the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau), where high-altitude engineering, water diversion, and transport corridors impose unique stresses on sensitive geomaterials.
• Failure of problematic and special geomaterials: collapsible soils (loess), frozen soils, saline soils, expansive clays, and residual soils—with emphasis on their moisture- and temperature-dependent failure modes.
• Field monitoring and long-term observational studies: case histories, real-time sensor networks, fiber-optic sensing, InSAR, and automated warning systems that capture precursory deformation and enable the validation of predictive models.
• Multi-scale and multi-physics modeling: continuum and discontinuum numerical methods (FEM, DEM, XFEM, hybrid approaches), machine learning-enhanced simulations, digital twins, probabilistic reliability analysis, and uncertainty quantification.

We strongly encourage submissions that combine two or more of these perspectives—for instance, linking long-term monitoring data with advanced constitutive models, or integrating laboratory findings with field-scale hazard assessments. By presenting a diverse and inclusive view of failure mechanisms across different geomaterials, loading conditions, and environmental contexts, this Special Issue aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and translate fundamental insights into safer, more resilient engineering practices.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Shijie Liu
Dr. Pan 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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geotechnics is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1200 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.

• failure mechanisms
• rock and soil mechanics
• multi-field coupling (hydro-mechanical–thermal–chemical)
• natural and anthropogenic geohazards
• special geomaterials (frozen soil, loess, saline soil)
• long-term field monitoring and in situ observation
• large-scale engineering in fragile environments
• numerical and experimental modeling
• progressive failure and time-dependent behaviour
• risk assessment and early warning