Advancing Sustainability in Rock Mechanics and Underground Engineering

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of Sustainability journal that will be dedicated to present the most recent advances in sustainability in Rock Mechanics and Underground Engineering.

Underground infrastructures are increasingly in demand as a solution to cope with the growing development of transport infrastructures, industrial facilities and urban sprawl. Occupying underground space frees up surface space, which is of greater economic, social and environmental value. On the other hand, the productive sector requires the mining sector to extract and process raw materials in an economically profitable way, while at the same time being subject to greater environmental and social pressures.

The growing demand for underground space and the pressures on the mining sector require innovative tools and processes that contribute to greater sustainability. The industry must achieve greater economic efficiencies and lower environmental costs, as well as consider the suitability and reuse of existing underground spaces. For all these reasons, there is growing interest from industry and researchers in advancing towards greater sustainability in the planning and construction of infrastructure and the exploitation of mining resources.

The scope of this Special Issue is to gather original fundamental and applied research concerning experimental, theoretical, computational, and case studies that contribute towards sustainable underground construction and mining. The topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• New calculation models for a more efficient and sustainable use of materials;
• Reuse and recycling of materials for use in lining, drainage, earthworks or any other elements necessary for the construction of underground infrastructures;
• Innovative drilling and excavation techniques that contribute to a lower carbon footprint;
• Use of sustainable blasting technics, including biodegradable explosives and low-vibration solutions;
• New laboratory test methods to estimate the behaviour of materials that contribute to a lower carbon footprint in underground excavations;
• Innovative techniques to reduce impacts on the surface and aquifers, including advanced or innovative sensorization and modelling;
• Big data and BIM to optimise the project-build-operate process of underground infrastructures, including the use of digital twins;
• Transition to electric equipment and machinery that contribute to lower emissions of polluting gases, and the analysis of risks associated with its use in underground excavations;
• Exploitation of underground spaces for use in clean energy storage;
• Solutions for the exploration and production of geothermal energy with low environmental impact based on Rock Mechanics.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Martina Inmaculada Álvarez Fernández
Dr. Víctor Martínez-Ibáñez
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. Sustainability 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.