Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Geotechnical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable development requires satisfying the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland Report, United Nations, 1987). In light of this conceptual approach, any engineering application should be thought through by balancing environmental, social and economic aspects. Then, in the field of civil engineering design, sustainable development imposes the challenge of achieving the technical advantage while taking into account socio-economic interest and environmental protection.

In this framework, geotechnical engineering can certainly make a significant contribution to identifying innovative solutions for more sustainable constructions and, more in general, to finding new strategies or analysis methods, bringing beneficial effects on the geotechnical systems from the sustainability point of view.

This Special Issue seeks contributions in the new research areas of geotechnical engineering, which have been recently developed to effectively incorporate the sustainability concept into geotechnical theory and practice. However, all new insights into the scientific knowledge of more established geotechnical research fields are welcome, if they aspire to make geotechnical systems more efficient, more resilient to the complex socio-economic contexts and with a reduced impact on the environment.

In general, the studies that will be selected for publication in this Special Issue, following a rigorous peer-review process, could address all the innovative studies performed to make geotechnical engineering more sustainable. Original research articles, reviews and case-history papers are welcome.

Topics of interest may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Sustainable systems (e.g., innovative, energy-efficient and low carbon ground reinforcement techniques; reuse, retrofitting or rehabilitation of existing foundations);
• Sustainable materials (e.g., use of environmentally friendly material; innovative use of recycled materials; use of waste materials or by-products from production processes; use of innovative and recycled binders for soil stabilization; bioengineered materials; geosynthetics);
• Sustainable energies (e.g., geotechnics for renewable energies; energy geostructures; geomaterial energy);
• Sustainable construction and maintenance technologies (e.g., sustainable earthworks and ground improvement; use of underground space for sustainable purposes; advanced methods of design and analysis of the behaviour geostructures: sustainable geotechnical interventions and maintenance works on existing buildings including those of high architectural or monumental value);
• Sustainability assessments in geotechnical design (e.g., life cycle assessment; cost–benefit analysis, environmental assessment and nocive emission evaluation for geotechnical case studies);
• Advanced geotechnical characterization and field monitoring (e.g., advances in ground investigation technology, in laboratory methods, in monitoring techniques and in experimental data management for reducing cost, increasing coverage, and reducing uncertainty in subsurface characterization);
• Geo-hazard mitigation (e.g., extreme weather events; earthquakes; landslides; effect of climate change on geotechnical systems; weathering, degradation from ageing or extreme ground conditions of geomaterials);
• Resilience of geotechnical infrastructures and systems (e.g., foundations; embankments; dams; earth retaining structure; slopes tunnels).

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Marco Rosone
Dr. Francesca Ceccato
Dr. Stefano Stacul
Dr. Mingliang Zhou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• geotechnical engineering
• sustainable engineering
• resilience
• environment
• society
• economy
• construction
• energy
• geostructures
• geomaterial