Geomechanics in analysis and design of shallow underground structures (characteristics and problems)

The inclusion, in the journal "Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering," of the section "Underground Structures" reflects the interest of the engineering circles in the problems of design and development of projects in the underground space. In the section, material is published on construction of underground structures in the industrial, transport, energy, and other fields. Taking into account the traditional profile of the Journal and the professional interests of the greater mass of its readers, it is proposed to devote maximum attention in the future to material relating to geotechnical problems that arise during construction of shallow structures in the underground space of cities and industrial installations.The complex and multilevel nature of the technical problem of effective and ecologically sound development of the underground space calls for participation of specialists working in different fields of the applied and fundamental sciences. Hence, we will welcome proposals for new architectural-planning solutions for underground structures, methods for their reconstruction and engineering protection, and solutions of engineering-geologic, ecologic, and other problems relating to underground construction. One of the most important places in this connection should be assigned to geomechanical problems, whose correct formulation and solution is determined by reliable analysis and design of the underground structures as well as of the overground structures that interact with them. The opening article of this section is devoted to the characteristics of such problems.Translated from Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov, No. 3, pp. 24–27, May–June, 1992.