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Topic · Civil and Structural Engineering

Tunneling and Rock Mechanics

Tunneling and Rock Mechanics is a research topic within Civil and Structural Engineering. Science Explorer counts 24k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the prediction of Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) performance in hard rock conditions, utilizing rock mass properties, rock fragmentation, and machine learning techniques. It also includes research on risk assessment, numerical simulation, and the influence of geological conditions on TBM performance.

  • TBM
  • performance prediction
  • rock fragmentation
  • rock properties
  • hard rock condition
  • machine learning
  • risk assessment
  • rock cutting
  • geological conditions
  • numerical simulation
Research works
24k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+30%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
68% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Tunneling and Rock Mechanics

Which countries lead Tunneling and Rock Mechanics research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (3.3k and 374 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 3.3k works
  2. 2 United States 374 works
  3. 3 India 260 works
  4. 4 Germany 158 works
  5. 5 Russia 158 works
  6. 6 Türkiye 131 works
  7. 7 Iran 122 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 116 works
  9. 9 Japan 114 works
  10. 10 Canada 101 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: 68.2%United States: 7.7%India: 5.4%Germany: 3.3%6 others listed: 15.4%68%largest
China3,294 · 68.2%United States374 · 7.7%India260 · 5.4%Germany158 · 3.3%6 others listed742 · 15.4%

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

Which institutions lead Tunneling and Rock Mechanics research?

By volume in 2022-now, China University of Mining and Technology publishes the most Tunneling and Rock Mechanics research, followed by Central South University and Southwest Petroleum University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 158 works
  2. 2 Central South UniversityChina 109 works
  3. 3 Southwest Petroleum UniversityChina 90 works
  4. 4 China National Petroleum Corporation (China)China 72 works
  5. 5 Tongji UniversityChina 70 works
  6. 6 China University of Petroleum, BeijingChina 65 works
  7. 7 Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 63 works
  8. 8 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 55 works
  9. 9 Shandong UniversityChina 54 works
  10. 10 China Railway Group (China)China 53 works

Who are the leading researchers in Tunneling and Rock Mechanics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Tunneling and Rock Mechanics include Xiaogang Wang, Steven J.M. Jones and Qiang Zhang.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 Steven J.M. Jones Canada 200k citations
  3. 3 Qiang Zhang China 184k citations
  4. 4 Yadong Li China 155k citations

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

What are the most cited papers in Tunneling and Rock Mechanics?

The most cited paper in Tunneling and Rock Mechanics is "Friction of rocks" (James D. Byerlee, 1978), with 4,060 citations. Next come "Practical estimates of rock mass strength" (3,398) and "The shear strength of rock joints in theory and practice" (2,992).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Friction of rocks James D. Byerlee · Pure and Applied Geophysics Jul 1978 4,060
2 Practical estimates of rock mass strength Evert Hoek, Edwin T. Brown · International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences Dec 1997 3,398
3 The shear strength of rock joints in theory and practice Nick R. Barton, Vishnu D. Choubey · Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering Dec 1977 2,992
4 Engineering classification of rock masses for the design of tunnel support Nick R. Barton, R. Lien, Jenny Lunde · Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering Dec 1974 2,937
5 Analytical Prediction of Stability Lobes in Milling Yusuf Altıntaş, Erhan Budak · CIRP Annals 1995 1,929
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Tunneling and Rock Mechanics research done?

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

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 660 works
  2. 2 ChengduChina 239 works
  3. 3 WuhanChina 184 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 175 works
  5. 5 XuzhouChina 163 works
  6. 6 ChangshaChina 148 works
  7. 7 Xi'anChina 132 works
  8. 8 JinanChina 109 works
  9. 9 QingdaoChina 109 works
  10. 10 NanjingChina 91 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. XuzhouCN · 163.5 works29×
  2. FuxinCN · 24.4 works23×
  3. HuainanCN · 38.4 works21×
  4. DhahranSA · 51.0 works18×
  5. DhanbadIN · 20.0 works15×
  6. GoldenUS · 23.2 works15×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Tunneling and Rock Mechanics on the map

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

Among universities, judged by research, Central South University, China University of Mining and Technology 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 26.68%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Techno…Northeastern Univers…Central South Univer…China University of …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Central South UniversityChina 69.621.8%10.4×109 +105.7%
2China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 65.914.4%37.2×158 +54.6%
3Northeastern UniversityChina 64.724.7%10.8×52 +165.1%
4University of Technology SydneyAustralia 63.342.4%3.4×8 +559.5%
5Beijing Jiaotong UniversityChina 62.426.6%13.3×44 +141.2%
6Wuhan UniversityChina 62.026.9%5.0×38 +108.7%
7Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 61.232.1%3.4×34 +215.1%
8Shandong UniversityChina 59.017.1%7.7×54 +46.7%
9Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 58.930.0%2.7×12 +89.6%
10Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 58.730.8%3.2×15 +102.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Tunneling and Rock Mechanics, country by country

Is Tunneling and Rock Mechanics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 30% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Tunneling and Rock Mechanics.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Tunneling and Rock Mechanics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.027% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Tunneling and Rock Mechanics0.026% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Tunneling and Rock Mechanics over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Tunneling and Rock Mechanics10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

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.

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