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Recent Advances in Environmental Geotechnics and Transportation Geotechnics for Sustainable Engineering Solutions

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 1116

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, FEIT, University of Technology Sydney, 15 Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
Interests: transportation geotechnics; earthquake geotechnics; constitutive modeling of granular media; finite elements
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Guest Editor
Faculty of Mining, Donetsk National Technical University, Lutsk, Ukraine
Interests: rock mechanics; coal mining; numerical simulation; mine roadway stability; geomechanics for mining

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Modern civil engineering faces serious challenges, creating projects of underground construction. Climate change and energy transformation require innovative “green” solutions that minimize the negative impact on the environment during the implementation of geotechnical engineering projects and are, at the same time, energy-efficient. Although, traditionally, the sustainability of geotechnical objects was interpreted as their ability to retain their functionality over time and maintain their efficiency, reliability, and resilience, the new challenge of geotechnics is sustainable and environmentally friendly development.

This Special Issue, entitled “Recent Advances in Environmental Geotechnics and Transportation Geotechnics for Sustainable Engineering Solutions”, aims to combine the efforts of researchers, practitioners, and experts to discuss and solve the problems in contemporary geotechnics for sustainable engineering.

The usage of the basic principles of rock and soil mechanics to solve engineering problems is not sufficient today. Sustainable geotechnical design is impossible without accurate predictions of rock behavior under the influence of static and dynamic loads, moisture, temperature, and vibration. Experimental methods/testing methods and in situ monitoring are of particular importance today. Geotechnical engineers increasingly face natural hazards, so new solutions are sought for more effective methods of their prediction and prevention, including modern methods of numerical analysis, monitoring the state of rock masses and underground structures, and the application of computer-aided design programs.

Therefore, this Special Issue welcomes the submission of manuscripts that focus on various aspects of sustainability in environmental geotechnics that enhance our knowledge and understanding of the response of tunnels, roadways, and underground structures to various loads. Its purpose is to become a platform for researchers, practitioners, and experts to present their findings, share best practices, and propose novel solutions for achieving sustainability in geotechnical engineering.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome to be submitted. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Testing methods and monitoring techniques in rock mechanics and environmental geotechnics;
  • Numerical simulation techniques in geotechnical engineering;
  • Impact of geohazards on tunnels, roadways, and underground structures;
  • Sustainable and environmentally friendly developments in geotechnics;
  • Whole-life management of underground structures;
  • Fracture mechanics and damage mechanics of underground construction

Dr. Sanjay Nimbalkar
Prof. Dr. Ivan Sakhno
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind 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.

Keywords

  • environmental geotechnics
  • rock and soil mechanics
  • geotechnical engineering
  • tunnels
  • roadway
  • underground structures
  • underground construction
  • numerical analysis
  • monitoring techniques

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

26 pages, 6966 KiB  
Article
Surface Subsidence Response to Safety Pillar Width Between Reactor Cavities in the Underground Gasification of Thin Coal Seams
by Ivan Sakhno, Svitlana Sakhno and Oleksandr Vovna
Sustainability 2025, 17(6), 2533; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062533 - 13 Mar 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 580
Abstract
Underground coal gasification (UCG) is a clean and automated coal technological process that has great potential. Environmental hazards such as the risk of ground surface subsidence, flooding, and water pollution are among the problems that restrict the application of UCG. Overburden rock stability [...] Read more.
Underground coal gasification (UCG) is a clean and automated coal technological process that has great potential. Environmental hazards such as the risk of ground surface subsidence, flooding, and water pollution are among the problems that restrict the application of UCG. Overburden rock stability above UCG cavities plays a key role in the prevention of the mentioned environmental hazards. It is necessary to optimize the safety pillar width to maintain rock stability and ensure minimal coal losses. This study focused on the investigation of the influence of pillar parameters on surface subsidence, taking into account the non-rectangular shape of the pillar and the presence of voids above the UCG reactor in the immediate roof. The main research was carried out using the finite element method in ANSYS 17.2 software. The results of the first simulation stage demonstrated that during underground gasification of a thin coal seam using the Controlled Retraction Injection Points method, with reactor cavities measuring 30 m in length and pillars ranging from 3.75 to 15 m in width, the surface subsidence and rock movement above gasification cavities remain within the pre-peak limits, provided the safety pillar’s bearing capacity is maintained. The probability of crack initiation in the rock mass and subsequent environmental hazards is low. However, in the case of the safety pillars’ destruction, there is a high risk of crack evolution in the overburden rock. In the case of crack formation above the gasification panel, the destruction of aquiferous sandstones and water breakthroughs into the gasification cavities become possible. The surface infrastructure is therefore at risk of destruction. The assessment of the pillars’ stability was carried out at the second stage using numerical simulation. The study of the stress–strain state and temperature distribution in the surrounding rocks near a UCG reactor shows that the size of the heat-affected zone of the UCG reactor is less than the thickness of the coal seam. This shows that there is no significant direct influence of the gasification process on the stability of the surrounding rocks around previously excavated cavities. The coal seam failure in the side walls of the UCG reactor, which occurs during gasification, leads to a reduction in the useful width of the safety pillar. The algorithm applied in this study enables the optimization of pillar width under any mining and geological conditions. This makes it possible to increase the safety and reliability of the UCG process. For the conditions of this research, the failure of coal at the stage of gasification led to a decrease in the useful width of the safety pillar by 0.5 m. The optimal width of the pillar was 15 m. Full article
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