Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures
Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures is a research topic within Civil and Structural Engineering. Science Explorer counts 58k research works in it since 1950. 17.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.
This cluster of papers focuses on the seismic design, analysis, and damage assessment of underground structures such as tunnels and pipelines under earthquake conditions. It covers topics such as soil-structure interaction, fault rupture propagation, centrifuge modeling, and the effects of liquefaction on tunnel behavior.
- Seismic
- Tunnel
- Analysis
- Earthquake
- Damage
- Pipeline
- Fault
- Soil-Structure Interaction
- Centrifuge Modeling
- Liquefaction
- Research works
- 58k fractional, since 1950
- In the world top 10%
- 10k per year above
- Top-10% rate
- 17.2% share of its works in the world top 10%
- Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
- +39% the tick is no change
Which countries lead Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures research?
By volume, China and India publish the most (6.2k and 1k works in 2022–2025).
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 China 6.2k works
- 2 India 1k works
- 3 United States 1k works
- 4 Iran 386 works
- 5 United Kingdom 320 works
- 6 Japan 318 works
- 7 Canada 304 works
- 8 Türkiye 270 works
- 9 Australia 253 works
- 10 Italy 201 works
How concentrated that is
The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.
Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.
Which institutions lead Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures research?
By volume in 2022–2025, Tongji University publishes the most Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures research, followed by Southwest Jiaotong University and Central South University.
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 Tongji University China 318 works
- 2 Southwest Jiaotong University China 194 works
- 3 Central South University China 193 works
- 4 Hohai University China 138 works
- 5 China University of Mining and Technology China 124 works
- 6 Beijing University of Technology China 121 works
- 7 Southeast University China 118 works
- 8 Tianjin University China 112 works
- 9 Zhejiang University China 111 works
- 10 Dalian University of Technology China 108 works
Who are the leading researchers in Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures?
The most-cited researchers publishing on Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures include Xiaogang Wang, Ted Belytschko and Zdeněk P. Bažant.
- 1 Xiaogang Wang 13k citations
- 2 Ted Belytschko 4.1k citations
- 3 Zdeněk P. Bažant 2.8k citations
- 4 Timon Rabczuk 2.7k citations
- 5 C. Guedes Soares 2.7k citations
Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.
Where is Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures research done?
The largest centres of Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Chengdu (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Roorkee, Xuzhou and Dhanbad.
Largest cities, 2022–2025
Where it is the local speciality
- RoorkeeIN · 83.7 works14×
- XuzhouCN · 129.1 works11×
- DhanbadIN · 25.4 works9.3×
- MandiIN · 20.8 works8.7×
Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures than the world average.
Where is the best place to study Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures?
Among universities, judged by research, Thammasat University, Tongji University and China University of Mining and Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.
One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.
| # | University | Score | Top 10% | Specialisation | Works | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thammasat University Thailand | 68.8 | 37.8% | 9.9× | 21 | — |
| 2 | Tongji University China | 68.2 | 22.5% | 19.8× | 318 | +5.8% |
| 3 | China University of Mining and Technology China | 66.4 | 22.3% | 12.5× | 124 | +78.3% |
| 4 | Beijing University of Technology China | 66.1 | 26.3% | 13.6× | 121 | +24.7% |
| 5 | Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong | 66.1 | 31.5% | 6.3× | 68 | +47.4% |
| 6 | Southwest Jiaotong University China | 65.4 | 23.7% | 20.0× | 194 | 0.0% |
| 7 | Central South University China | 63.4 | 22.0% | 9.3× | 193 | +12.4% |
| 8 | Beijing Jiaotong University China | 62.9 | 25.8% | 13.0× | 100 | -8.4% |
| 9 | Shenzhen University China | 62.8 | 34.1% | 6.1× | 57 | +72.3% |
| 10 | Chang'an University China | 61.8 | 23.0% | 20.9× | 99 | +5.8% |
Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.
Is Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures research growing?
Output in 2018–2022 was 39% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures.
The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.
Which topics inside it are moving
Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.