With the rapid development of underground engineering, many challenges concerning efficient rock breakage theory and technologies have arisen. Mechanized excavation is common for underground rock engineering, including civil tunnels, mining shafts, and large water tunnels, because of the high construction efficiency and environmental friendliness. Mechanized rock breakage has therefore been the subject of extensive research attention.

Adverse geological conditions, including high in-situ stresses, intense rock fractures, and large underground water flow, inappropriate mechanical configurations, and improper operation parameters frequently cause excavation delays and potentially even disasters. Adverse geological conditions are fixed, therefore the controllable mechanical configurations and operation parameters, directly related to the rock cutting mechanism, are critical to successful rock excavation. However, we lack information on the complex rock cutting mechanisms for various mechanical configurations and operation parameters under adverse geological conditions. There is therefore an urgent need for corresponding field, theoretical, laboratory, and numerical studies.

This Special Issue aims to collect original research articles investigating mechanized rock excavation, especially those related to novel rock breakage mechanisms and new excavation tool designs. We welcome both original research and review articles.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Laboratory studies on rock excavation processes
• Field analyses of the influence of geological and mechanical parameters on rock excavation
• Analysis of the optimal configurations for excavation tools
• Dynamic simulations of rock excavation processes
• Optimization of operation parameters
• Rock breakage mechanisms for novel excavation tools
• New rock excavation methods