Under the effects of global environmental change and extensive human engineering activities, people worldwide are suffering from increasing geotechnical and geological disasters over the past decades. Not only disasters related to geotechnical engineering including tunnel damage and ground surface subsidence, etc., but also natural geological hazards such as landslides, debris flows, and rockfalls can pose high risks to society and the environment. Although the triggers of these disasters are various, the hydromechanical coupling process is crucial and has a close relationship with the formation and occurrence of the disasters. Effects of hydromechanical coupling are ubiquitous in engineering geology, and can be regional and very long-term or local and transient. Therefore, understanding the hydromechanical coupling process is very useful for risk reduction and mitigation of geotechnical and geological disasters.

Many efforts have been made in the field of hydromechanical theory and modeling, and various analysis approaches have been developed. However, geological processes are generally nonlinear systems that present complex dynamic behaviors. The formation mechanism and failure mode of geotechnical and geological disasters affected by hydromechanical coupling are yet to be fully understood. Relevant surveying and monitoring methods are also yet to be developed.

This Special Issue aims to provide an outlet for original research and review articles focusing on the most recent advances and challenges of hydromechanical coupling in geotechnical and geological disasters. We welcome submissions related to field investigations and monitoring, theoretical derivation, laboratory tests, numerical and physical modeling at various scales.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• In-site survey methods and procedures for engineering geology and hydrogeology
• Advanced methods for monitoring hydromechanical processes during geotechnical and geological disasters
• Innovative approaches to hydromechanical modeling and obtaining critical data
• Applications or case studies of numerical methods in geotechnical and geological disasters
• Dynamic responses of geotechnical and geological disasters under extreme conditions (earthquake and heavy rainfall, etc.)
• Mechanical properties of special geological materials, such as loess and jointed rock mass
• Formation mechanism of geological disasters subjected to hydrometeorological factors
• Risk assessment and reduction measures for geological disasters at various scales
• Progress of analysis and simulation techniques for geotechnical disasters
• Physical model tests for hydromechanical coupling effect
• Rainfall infiltration and triggering mechanism for slope instability
• Other hazards (e.g., land subsidence due to subsurface fluid withdrawal) characterized by long-term evolution