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Topic Review
GPS in the Earthmoving Industry
GPS when applied in the earthmoving industry can be a viable asset to contractors and increase the overall efficiency of the job.
  • 741
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
A Multimodal Robust for Coal Mine Mobile Robots
Mobile robots in complex underground coal mine environments are still unable to achieve accurate pose estimation and the real-time reconstruction of scenes with absolute geographic information. Integrated terrestrial-underground localization and mapping technologies have still not been effectively developed.
  • 637
  • 09 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Discrimination Methods of Mine Inrush Water Source
Ensuring mining safety and efficiency relies heavily on identifying the source of mine water inrush. The standard methods used to pinpoint the origin of mine water inrush are systematically classified into various categories, encompassing hydrochemistry examination, water level and temperature analysis, geostatistical approaches, machine learning and deep learning methods, as well as the utilization of other analytical techniques. 
  • 634
  • 15 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Impact of Stress Path on Rock Strength
The strength of rock is a non-intrinsic property, and this means that numerous parameters influence the strength values. In most laboratory experiments, specimens are free of stress at the start of the tests, and the load is increased systematically until failure occurs. Around excavations, the opposite path occurs, i.e., the rock is in equilibrium under a triaxial stress state and at least one stress component decreases while another component may increase. Hence, the stress paths in classic laboratory experiments are different from the in situ stress paths. In the research presented, the effect of these different stress paths on the failure processes and failure envelopes was studied. The micro-fracturing when loading rock (from zero or low stress state) until failure was different from the micro-fracturing when unloading rock (from the in situ stress state) until failure. And, hence, by this difference in weakening processes, the failure envelopes were significantly different. The conventional loading resulted in the largest strength and, thus, overestimated the rock strength in comparison to the real in situ behavior. This finding, after being confirmed by additional experiments, will have a direct effect on how one characterizes rock material and on the design of rock excavations.
  • 621
  • 03 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Energy-Critical Mineral
Energy-critical minerals are mineral and metallic raw materials that possess essential technical and economic importance for the manufacturing, deployment and operation of clean energy-related facilities, including renewable energy generators, electrochemical energy storage equipment, electric mobility hardware and power grid infrastructure [1]. Criticality status is jointly determined by two interrelated dimensions: supply chain related supply risk factors such as geographic concentration, geopolitical vulnerability and production concentration, and the magnitude of negative impact on clean energy transition pathways under supply disruption scenarios [2]. These minerals do not necessarily generate energy by themselves; their critical attribute originates from their irreplaceable material function within clean energy technology chains. The critical mineral classification boundary dynamically evolves with advances in technology, material substitution possibilities and shifts in global mineral supply and demand patterns [3].
  • 9
  • 21 Sep 2026
Topic Review
Surrounding Rock Deformation
Surrounding rock deformation refers to the time-dependent change in shape and position of the rock mass immediately adjacent to an underground excavation — such as a tunnel, roadway, cavern, or borehole — caused by the redistribution of in-situ stress after excavation [1]. Before excavation, the rock is in equilibrium under the virgin stress field; removal of material at the opening boundary causes stress concentration around the opening and induces displacements — radial convergence, wall displacement, roof sag, and floor heave — that may be elastic, elastoplastic, or viscoelastic depending on rock-mass quality, depth, and groundwater conditions [2]. The deformation field is governed by the stiffness, strength, and discontinuity geometry of the rock mass and is commonly analyzed using the convergence–confinement method, in which a ground-reaction curve relates radial displacement at the wall to the support pressure provided by linings, rock bolts, or shotcrete [3]. The term is distinguished from intact-rock deformation measured on laboratory specimens and from surface subsidence by its scale and by its location within the rock mass around the opening.
  • 9
  • 18 Sep 2026
Topic Review
Rock Mass Classification
Rock mass classification (or rock mass rating) is a quantitative empirical procedure by which the quality, competence, and expected engineering behavior of a jointed rock mass are summarized into a finite set of classes or an index number based on a small number of geomechanical parameters [1]. Typical input parameters include the uniaxial compressive strength of the intact rock, rock quality designation (RQD), joint spacing, joint condition (roughness, weathering, infilling), groundwater condition, and joint orientation relative to the excavation [2]. The two most widely used systems are the Rock Mass Rating (RMR) system of Bieniawski, which sums weighted ratings to classify the mass into five classes and to derive support recommendations, and the Q-system of Barton, Lien, and Lunde, which expresses rock-mass quality as a product of ratios of RQD, joint-set number, joint roughness, joint alteration, joint water reduction, and stress reduction factors [2][3]. Classification systems are distinguished from continuous rock-mass strength criteria (such as the Hoek–Brown failure criterion) by their empirical, table-based, and design-rule-oriented character.
  • 7
  • 18 Sep 2026
Topic Review
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
Unsaturated soil mechanics is the branch of geotechnical engineering concerned with the stress-strain, strength, volume-change, and flow behavior of soils in which the void space contains both water and air, so that the pore-fluid pressure is negative relative to atmospheric pressure [1]. The state of such soils is characterized by matric suction, defined as the difference between pore-air pressure and pore-water pressure, and by the soil-water characteristic curve that relates suction to volumetric water content [2]. Because effective stress in unsaturated soils depends on two independent stress variables—the net normal stress and the matric suction—the constitutive relations for shear strength, volume change, and hydraulic conductivity are expressed as functions of both variables rather than the single effective-stress variable used in saturated soil mechanics [1]. The framework also governs the one-dimensional consolidation process, in which water drains from the soil skeleton while suction gradients evolve, and it underpins the analysis of slopes, earthen covers, and shallow foundations located above the water table [3].
  • 1
  • 24 Sep 2026
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