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Rock Mechanics and Modeling

Rock Mechanics and Modeling is a research topic within Mechanics of Materials. Science Explorer counts 42k research works in it since 1950. 24.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers advances in rock mechanics and engineering, including topics such as fracture behavior, acoustic emission monitoring, numerical modelling, brittle failure, damage propagation, dynamic behavior, compressive strength estimation, tunnel design, and geomechanics.

  • Rock Mechanics
  • Fracture
  • Acoustic Emission
  • Numerical Modelling
  • Brittle Failure
  • Damage Propagation
  • Dynamic Behavior
  • Compressive Strength
  • Tunnel Design
  • Geomechanics
Research works
42k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
10k
per year above
Top-10% rate
24.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+91%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Rock Mechanics and Modeling research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (8.2k and 535 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 8.2k works
  2. 2 United States 535 works
  3. 3 India 376 works
  4. 4 Australia 259 works
  5. 5 France 224 works
  6. 6 Canada 207 works
  7. 7 Iran 175 works
  8. 8 Japan 164 works
  9. 9 Germany 159 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 159 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.

China: 78.4%United States: 5.1%India: 3.6%Australia: 2.5%6 others listed: 10.4%78%largest
China8,209 · 78.4%United States535 · 5.1%India376 · 3.6%Australia259 · 2.5%6 others listed1,088 · 10.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Rock Mechanics and Modeling research?

By volume in 2022–2025, China University of Mining and Technology publishes the most Rock Mechanics and Modeling research, followed by Central South University and Shandong University of Science and Technology.

Who are the leading researchers in Rock Mechanics and Modeling?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Rock Mechanics and Modeling include Ted Belytschko, A.G. Evans and Kai Wang.

  1. 1 Ted Belytschko United States 4.1k citations
  2. 2 A.G. Evans United States 3.2k citations
  3. 3 Kai Wang China 3.1k citations
  4. 4 Victor C. Li United States 3k citations
  5. 5 Zdeněk P. Bažant United States 2.8k citations
  6. 6 Timon Rabczuk Germany 2.7k citations
  7. 7 Sia Nemat‐Nasser United States 2.7k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Rock Mechanics and Modeling research done?

The largest centres of Rock Mechanics and Modeling research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Xuzhou (China), Wuhan (China) and Chengdu (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Xuzhou, Huainan and Fuxin.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 1.5k works
  2. 2 Xuzhou China 901 works
  3. 3 Wuhan China 479 works
  4. 4 Chengdu China 432 works
  5. 5 Xi'an China 387 works
  6. 6 Changsha China 355 works
  7. 7 Qingdao China 313 works
  8. 8 Nanjing China 273 works
  9. 9 Chongqing China 250 works
  10. 10 Shanghai China 218 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. XuzhouCN · 901.4 works84×
  2. HuainanCN · 201.5 works59×
  3. FuxinCN · 116.5 works57×
  4. JiaozuoCN · 161.6 works43×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Rock Mechanics and Modeling than the world average.

See Rock Mechanics and Modeling on the map

Where is the best place to study Rock Mechanics and Modeling?

Among universities, judged by research, China University of Mining and Technology, Chongqing University and Northeastern University 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.

0%20%40%mean 31.96%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →China University of Mining and Technology: 877, 26.0%Chongqing University: 165, 35.3%Northeastern University: 127, 37.4%Central South University: 287, 39.2%Chang'an University: 61, 38.3%Shandong University of Science and Technology: 194, 25.0%Xi'an University of Science and Technology: 154, 24.9%Shaoxing University: 37, 32.8%Taiyuan University of Technology: 96, 26.4%Southwest Jiaotong University: 92, 34.3%Central South Univer…Northeastern Univers…Chongqing UniversityChina University of …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 71.826.0%95.0×877 +171.3%
2 Chongqing UniversityChina 71.635.3%12.9×165 +230.5%
3 Northeastern UniversityChina 70.037.4%12.3×127 +186.6%
4 Central South UniversityChina 68.739.2%14.9×287 +84.0%
5 Chang'an UniversityChina 68.538.3%13.8×61 +202.9%
6 Shandong University of Science and TechnologyChina 66.525.0%34.0×194 +352.0%
7 Xi'an University of Science and TechnologyChina 64.124.9%57.3×154 +183.0%
8 Shaoxing UniversityChina 63.632.8%23.7×37 +298.8%
9 Taiyuan University of TechnologyChina 62.326.4%19.6×96 +168.6%
10 Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 61.434.3%10.1×92 +89.6%

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 Rock Mechanics and Modeling research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 91% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Rock Mechanics and Modeling.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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.