Advances in Rock Mechanics for Underground Resources and Energy Infrastructures

A Special Issue of Infrastructures (ISSN 2412-3811).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2027 | Viewed by 450

Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK
Interests: rock dynamics; rock mechanics; underground engineering; energy storage
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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Western Mines and Hazard Prevention of Ministry of Education, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710054, China
Interests: instability analysis of deep caverns; coal/rock burst; underground mining; rock dynamics

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Guest Editor
1. School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an 710048, China
2. School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Interests: numerical modelling; thermal-mechanical coupling; rock mechanics; DEM

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Guest Editor
1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
2. School of Resources and Safety Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: multiscale fracture mechanics of rocks; rock mechanics in mining; prevention and control of dynamic hazards

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, the design and construction of underground infrastructures such as tunnels, mine caverns, hydropower stations, and nuclear waste repositories have been developed from shallow depth to deeper depth, from populated areas to polar regions, and from the mainland to deep sea. Moreover, with the emergence of new demand for exploiting underground spaces for renewable energy storage and future habitats, more complicated underground environments will be encountered, which poses new challenges to the underground infrastructures.

New advanced technologies, including rock blasting techniques, lining support techniques, site monitoring techniques, and advanced modelling techniques, are highly required for safer and more efficient design, construction, and operation of underground infrastructures, which are susceptible to the influence of temperatures, dynamic disturbances, high in situ stresses, and complicated rock mass structures. The complex engineering environment often leads to the instability of underground infrastructures. Hence, it’s necessary to exploit advanced technologies for safe and efficient engineering practices.

This Special Issue, titled "Advances in Rock Mechanics for Underground Resources and Energy Infrastructures", aims to provide a platform for researchers to present their latest advances in this rapidly evolving field. This Special Issue will cover a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Rock mechanics and rock behavior in complicated in situ stresses;
  • Advanced geotechnical monitoring and control technologies;
  • Rock fracture mechanics and dynamic fracturing behavior in underground mining activities;
  • Advanced lining support techniques for resilient and stable underground structures;
  • Developed numerical simulation methodology for predicting rock behavior and engineering design;
  • Rock blasting technique for more efficient rock fracturing and fragmentation;
  • New techniques for developing underground energy storage infrastructures;
  • Theoretical method and development for understanding rock mechanics and structural response of underground infrastructures.

We look forward to your contributions!

Dr. Huachuan Wang
Dr. Huicong Xu
Dr. Yike Dang
Dr. Leiming Zhang
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. Infrastructures is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 1800 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 mechanics
  • mining engineering
  • lining support technology
  • rock blasting technique
  • advanced monitoring technique
  • underground energy storage system
  • novel modelling technique
  • theoretical analysis
  • fracture mechanics
  • machine learning

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 8214 KB  
Article
Use of Acoustic Emissions to Validate Multistage Triaxial Tests—A Key to Characterizing the Subsurface
by Sabyasachi Prakash, Michael Myers, Lori Hathon and Gabriel Unomah
Infrastructures 2026, 11(9), 325; https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures11090325 - 11 Sep 2026
Abstract
Acoustic emission (AE) measurements have many uses to evaluate the integrity of materials. AE is often used to detect leakage in pipelines. It has also been used to monitor changes in strength properties of fiber-reinforced concrete. In the oil and gas industry, AE [...] Read more.
Acoustic emission (AE) measurements have many uses to evaluate the integrity of materials. AE is often used to detect leakage in pipelines. It has also been used to monitor changes in strength properties of fiber-reinforced concrete. In the oil and gas industry, AE is predominantly used to study fracture initiation and propagation. In particular, characterization of samples is key for evaluating subsurface formations for successful underground storage. Research has been performed to understand the behavior of AE in uniaxial compression and single-stage triaxial compression tests. However, the validity of this method has not been documented in a multistage triaxial test. This characterization is required to understand the stability of the host rock under the related stress changes and potential mineralogical changes that may occur. Typically, there is a shortage of geologic samples. A single multistage triaxial test eliminates the need for twin samples and provides an economic and time-saving protocol compared to conventional methods. A single multistage triaxial (MST) test allows a constitutive model to be developed for a host rock. This work establishes a protocol for performing these tests with minimal corrections to the measurements. Acoustic emissions were measured on five different samples undergoing multistage triaxial tests. Two different behaviors were observed. For the coarse grained samples, designated Group 1 (Miocene sandstone, Wilcox Formation, and Cambrian sandstone), the number of AE events did not show a strong dependence on confining stress. They did show an exponential increase in AE events with increasing deviatoric stress during each stage. In contrast, the Group 2 samples (Niobrara Marl and Niobrara Chalk) exhibited significantly different stress-dependent AE behaviors. The amplitude of the AE events is significantly smaller than in the quartz-dominated samples, indicating a more ductile and diffuse failure mechanism. The correlation between maximum compressive strength and the point of positive dilatancy is 1.2 for both groups of samples, even though a different pattern of AE events is observed. Full article
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