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Process Safety and Prevention Technologies for Underground Engineering Under Extreme...
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Process Safety and Prevention Technologies for Underground Engineering Under Extreme Environments

A Special Issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) belonging to the section "Process Safety and Risk Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2027 | Viewed by 903

Editors

Dr. Yunpeng Hu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
Interests: tunnel and underground engineering; high geothermal temperature tunnels; disaster prevention and control; support materials; concrete durability; thermal-mechanical coupling; intelligent monitoring
Prof. Dr. Junfu Lu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
Interests: tunnel and underground engineering design; new materials for underground engineering
Dr. Chao Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, China
Interests: tunnel and underground engineering; multi-field coupling damage theory of geotechnical materials; strength criteria; constitutive model; mechanism and prevention technology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on process safety, disaster mechanisms, and prevention technologies for tunnels and underground engineering under extreme and complex environmental conditions. It welcomes studies related to tunnels, underground spaces, underground infrastructure, and geotechnical structures subjected to high geothermal temperature, high in situ stress, water-rich and corrosive environments, freeze–thaw cycles, complex construction disturbances, service degradation, and multi-field coupling actions.

This Special Issue aims to provide new insights into the safety, durability, and resilience enhancement of underground structures in severe environments. Topics of interest include the stability and failure mechanisms of surrounding rock masses, deterioration mechanisms of lining concrete and reinforcement materials, thermal–hydraulic–mechanical–chemical coupling processes, structural safety assessment, disaster risk evaluation, intelligent monitoring and early warning, as well as numerical or experimental methods for underground engineering disaster prevention. Contributions addressing the safe construction, operation, maintenance, and resilience of tunnels and underground spaces are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Yunpeng Hu
Prof. Dr. Junfu Lu
Dr. Chao 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. Processes 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 engineering
  • extreme environments
  • disaster mechanisms
  • multi-field coupling
  • high geothermal temperature
  • high in situ stress
  • structural safety
  • support materials
  • intelligent monitoring
  • risk assessment

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 19944 KB  
Article
Numerical Study on the Influence of Cavity Geometry on Rock Materials Under Uniaxial Compression
by Hao Wang, Chuanfeng Fang, Genshui Wu, Shunkai Liu and Zongtang Zhang
Processes 2026, 14(18), 2927; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14182927 - 15 Sep 2026
Viewed by 246
Abstract
Roadway cross-sectional geometry dominates surrounding rock deformation and failure, yet most existing numerical studies adopt oversimplified ideal cavities rather than practical coal mine roadway profiles, lacking systematic comparisons of real engineering section shapes. This work aims to reveal how practical cavity geometries alter [...] Read more.
Roadway cross-sectional geometry dominates surrounding rock deformation and failure, yet most existing numerical studies adopt oversimplified ideal cavities rather than practical coal mine roadway profiles, lacking systematic comparisons of real engineering section shapes. This work aims to reveal how practical cavity geometries alter rock mechanical behaviors and fracture mechanisms under uniaxial compression. Twelve equal-area cavity models corresponding to four common underground coal mine roadway types (circular, arched, rectangular, trapezoidal) were constructed, and two-dimensional discrete element method (DEM) uniaxial compression simulations were performed. The results indicate that uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus continuously decrease as cavity shapes shift from smooth circular arcs to angular asymmetric profiles, with degradation aggravated by increasing sharp corners; cavity geometry exerts limited influence on Poisson’s ratio but enlarges surrounding rock radial displacement at sharp edges. Angular cavities trigger severe coupled tensile–compressive–shear stress concentration, advance microcrack nucleation and expansion, and generate broader X-type conjugate shear bands, significantly weakening rock bearing capacity. This study clarifies the mesoscopic stress evolution law of rock around roadways, offering theoretical support for roadway section optimization and surrounding rock disaster prevention in underground engineering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Process Safety and Prevention Technologies for Underground Engineering Under Extreme Environments)
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22 pages, 1084 KB  
Article
Life-Cycle Assessment of Underground Lining Concrete Incorporating Recycled Aggregates: Key Factors for Green Building Materials from Dispersed Waste
by Fang Liu, Lizhi Chen, Houqing Huang and Binhui Ma
Processes 2026, 14(17), 2768; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14172768 - 28 Aug 2026
Viewed by 409
Abstract
The incorporation of recycled coarse aggregates (RCAs) derived from dispersed waste concrete into lining concrete for underground engineering presents a potential strategy to reduce primary resource depletion. However, the actual environmental benefits of this approach are highly contingent upon logistical factors, such as [...] Read more.
The incorporation of recycled coarse aggregates (RCAs) derived from dispersed waste concrete into lining concrete for underground engineering presents a potential strategy to reduce primary resource depletion. However, the actual environmental benefits of this approach are highly contingent upon logistical factors, such as transport distances, and the mix design adjustments necessary to compensate for RCA quality variations. In this study, a cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted for C30/37 underground lining concrete to evaluate the combined effects of the RCA replacement ratio, waste-concrete transport distance, and cement compensation assumptions. Four cement-compensation sensitivity scenarios (0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%) were evaluated at a fixed 30% RCA replacement rate. The results reveal that cement production accounts for over 80% of the total global warming potential (GWP). Under an equal cement content scenario, each 10% substitution of natural coarse aggregate with RCA reduces aggregate-related GWP by approximately 0.233 kg CO2 eq/m3. However, under the equal-cement, zero-compensation scenario (CC0), the total GWP is only 0.18% lower than that of conventional concrete. In contrast, cement-compensation levels of 5%, 10%, and 15% increase the GWP to 455.3, 474.7, and 494.1 kg CO2eq/m3, which are 4.26%, 8.72%, and 13.17% higher than conventional concrete, respectively. The previously identified deterministic break-even transport distance of 26.04 km is therefore specifically applicable only to the equal-cement CC0 aggregate substitution scenario. These findings demonstrate that the environmental feasibility of RCA-based lining concrete is jointly governed by the quality of the recycled material, the additional cement demand, and regional transport conditions. The outcomes provide a quantitative foundation for decision making in the production and environmental performance evaluation of underground lining concrete, particularly in the context of extreme environments, where material reliability and resource security are of paramount importance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Process Safety and Prevention Technologies for Underground Engineering Under Extreme Environments)
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