Geotechnical Structure Analysis and Risk Assessment in Tunnel Engineering, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

No structures above ground can be compared with tunnel engineering surrounded by rock and soil. The main load on the geotechnical structures and construction risk is based on the interaction between the surrounding rock mass and underground structures. The complex geological materials, geological structures, excavation steps, and thermal–hydraulic–mechanical–chemical (THMC) coupling environment make tunneling even more challenging.

Under challenging conditions, numerous new, complex tunnel construction methods create new problems. Recent advances in deep, large-span, bifurcated, multi-arch tunnels under extremely unfavorable conditions in the rock mass, together with shield tunnels, immersed tunnels, and suspension tunnels in soil, produce countless historical knowledge and experiences. Meanwhile, progress in numerical and physical analysis and emerging technologies, represented by artificial intelligence (AI), presents us with strong theoretical tools to solve these challenges.

We encourage the sharing and publishing of all these new insights in our Special Issue, specifically focusing on the following overlapping fields:

• Tunneling case history analysis (long, deep, large-span, bifurcated, multi-arch tunnels under extremely unfavorable conditions);
• Multi-scale tunnel geological structure analysis (investigation, surrounding rock classification, advance geological prediction, monitoring, and laboratory and on-site experiments);
• Tunnel environment analysis (THMC and coupling effect);
• Tunnel structure–surrounding rock interaction (load mode, excavation optimization, environment protection, risk motivation, and new numerical simulation models and methods);
• Tunnel geotechnical risk mitigation (groundwater, karst, collapse, large deformation, and gas and groundwater resource depletion risk analysis and mitigation);
• New emerging technology applications (AI, machine learning, deep learning, big data, virtual reality (VR), internet of things (IoT), photogrammetry, BIM, and robots).

Prof. Dr. Jianxiu Wang
Guest Editor

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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences 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.