Resilience of Urban Underground Infrastructures under Extreme Environmental Conditions

This special issue aims to explore the resilience, safety, and sustainability of urban underground structures under extreme environmental and climatic conditions. As cities increasingly face the challenges posed by climate change, extreme weather events, and natural hazards, it is crucial to enhance the resilience of underground infrastructure. The special issue will address key topics such as urban geological hazards (landslides, ground collapse and fissures), large-scale groundwater extraction and settlement prediction, and the performance of underground energy systems such as energy tunnels and ground-source heat pumps. The issue will explore innovative approaches in digital technologies for intelligent monitoring of multi-physical geotechnical information, resilience assessment under extreme temperatures, and failure mechanisms induced by extreme rainfall. These objectives will be met by gathering cutting-edge research and case studies that present solutions, methodologies, and strategies for enhancing the resilience of underground infrastructures in challenging environments.

The originality of this special issue lies in its comprehensive focus on urban underground infrastructure resilience in the context of extreme environmental and climatic conditions, an emerging area of geoenvironmental research. It will provide a novel, interdisciplinary perspective by integrating advanced digital technologies, intelligent monitoring systems, and predictive models in urban underground engineering. This issue aims to push the boundaries of knowledge in the design and performance evaluation of urban underground spaces under extreme weather, including the impact of geological hazards and extreme climatic events. It will bring together multidisciplinary insights on enhancing the long-term performance and resilience of urban underground structures, offering solutions that have not been comprehensively addressed in current literature.

The increasing frequency and severity of extreme climatic events such as heavy rainfall, extreme heat, and freezing temperatures have brought the resilience of urban underground infrastructure into the spotlight. Literature on the impact of geological hazards like landslides, collapse, and ground cracking on urban underground structures remains fragmented. Furthermore, groundwater extraction and settlement prediction models still lack reliability in large-scale, long-term scenarios. Studies on the long-term performance of underground energy systems like geothermal pumps, energy tunnels, and digital monitoring systems are also emerging but remain limited. This special issue responds to these knowledge gaps by addressing both the environmental and technological aspects of underground infrastructure resilience. With growing societal and industrial concerns about urban sustainability, this issue is critical for advancing research in the face of global environmental challenges.

This special issue will address key societal challenges, particularly the resilience of urban underground infrastructure in the face of extreme environmental and climate conditions. By enhancing the safety and sustainability of underground structures, it will contribute to ensuring the long-term functionality of essential infrastructure, such as transportation systems, energy networks, and utilities, which are critical for urban resilience. The research will support the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) by promoting resilient infrastructure, and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) by enhancing urban resilience to climate-related hazards. Through these contributions, the special issue will help safeguard the well-being of urban populations and contribute to more sustainable, resilient cities in the face of climate change and natural disasters.

Topics might include:

• Impact of geological hazards (landslides, surface collapse/subsidence, and ground fissures) on urban underground structure performance and resilience enhancement
• Reliable prediction models for ground surface settlement due to large-scale, long-term groundwater extraction
• Long-term performance evaluation and intelligent prediction of urban underground energy systems (energy tunnels, ground source heat pumps, etc.)
• Intelligent monitoring of multi-physical geotechnical information for urban underground space using digital technologies
• Resilience evaluation and improvement of underground structures under extreme temperature conditions
• Failure mechanisms and instability of urban underground structures induced by extreme rainfall events

Submission information

Submit your abstract  here

Author guidelines must be strictly followed

If your abstract is successful, you will be invited to submit your full paper here: https://ice-review.rivervalley.io/journal/jenge. Once you have registered, navigate to the journal that you wish to submit to. Choose article type “Themed Issue” and then the specific name from the drop-down menu on screen.