Author 1:

Name & Surname: Kartoziya B. A.
Company: Mining Institute of National University of Science and Technology MISiS (Moscow, Russia)
Work Position: Professor
Scientific Degree: Doctor of Engineering Sciences

Author 2:

Name & Surname: Korchak A. V.
Company: Mining Institute of National University of Science and Technology MISiS (Moscow, Russia)
Work Position: Professor
Scientific Degree: Doctor of Engineering Sciences
Contacts: e-mail: korchak@msmu.ru

Author 3:

Name & Surname: Levchenko A. N.
Company: Mining Institute of National University of Science and Technology MISiS (Moscow, Russia)
Work Position: Professor
Scientific Degree: Doctor of Engineering Sciences

The authors state some key questions concerned with scientific decision-making on the problem of subsoil development, specify formulations of basic terms, and highlight some innovative achievements of the Russian scientists and experts in underground construction. The article also formulates some new problems on further development of construction geotechnologies and a way of perfecting the training of mining engineers for practical implementation of the geotechnologies. There are different methods of underground development: adaptation of natural cavities, construction of special underground structures, and reconstruction/restoration of the existent objects for their usage in a new capacity (recycling). Human needs, level of the society’s scientific and technical advance and economic expediency define the human being’s penetration into the subsoil, and consequently, define the scale of its the subsoil development. Underground development has a specific feature. Extraction of hard, liquid and gaseous resources results in exhaustion of the underground space, and consequently, reduces its value. On the contrary, underground development including the possibilities of recycling saves and increases the value of the underground space. For example, an underground opening in the worked-out mine is converted to an underground storage, and the storage, if it is necessary, is converted to a civil defense object, and so on. In such a way, underground development illustrates one of the statements of the concept of sustainable development, whereby the underground space is regarded as a sustained, unified source of life activity and new geo-resources, with possibility of their use in the new advantageous capacity.

1. Golubev G. E. Podzemnaya urbanistika (Underground urban planning). Moscow : Stroyizdat, 1979. 174 p.
2. Carmody J., Sterling R. Underground space design. Copyright by V. N. Reinhold. Library of Congress, Catalog Card Number 92-33460. New York, 1993.
3. Kartoziya B. A. Stroitelnaya geotekhnologiya kak sostavnaya chast gornykh nauk (Construction geotechnology as a part of mining sciences). Podzemnoe prostranstvo mira = Underground space of Earth. 1994. Iss. 1-2. pp. 10–14.
4. Korchak A. V., Kulikova E. Yu., Levchenko A. N. Strategiya upravleniya riskami v gorodskom podzemnom stroitelstve (Risk control strategy in urban underground excavations). Moscow : Publishing House of Moscow State Mining University, 2005. 223 p.
5. Gornye nauki. Osvoenie i sokhranenie nedr Zemli (Mining sciences. Mastering and saving of Earth soils). Moscow : Publishing House of Academy of Mining Sciences, 1997. 477 p. (in Russian).
6. Levchenko A. N, Khramenkov S. V., Valiev A. G., Pakhomov A. V., Fedunets B. I. Opyt stroitelstva kanalizatsionnogo tonnelya bez vtorichnoy obdelki («rubashki») s primeneniem zhelezobetonnykh blokov s polimernoy futerovkoy (Experience of construction of sewer tunnel without secondary lining (“jacket”) with application of iron-concrete blocks with polymer lining). Metro i tonneli = Metro and tunnels. 2009. No. 6. pp. 43–44.
7. Shilin A. A. Strategiya remonta zhelezobetonnykh konstruktsiy podzemnykh sooruzheniy s uchetom ikh sostoyaniya i trebuemogo urovnya nadezhnosti. Nauchnoe obosnovanie podzemnogo stroitelstva (Strategy of maintenance of iron-concrete constructions of underground facilities, taking into account their state and required reliability level. Scientific substantiation of underground construction). Moscow : Publishing House of Academy of Mining Sciences, 2001. pp. 301–344.
8. Каrtoziya B., Korchak A., Totev L. Methodological approach in training of specialists’ in underground constructions University of mining and geology «St. I. Rilski», Annual, Part II. Mining and mineral processing. Sofia : Publishing House «St. I. Rilski», 2013. pp. 79–83.
9. Kartoziya B. A., Korchak A. V., Resin V. I., Levchenko A. N. Kontseptsiya tselevoy podgotovki spetsialistov gornogo profilya dlya prakticheskogo resheniya problemy osvoeniya podzemnogo prostranstva Moskvy (Concept of target preparation of mining specialists for practical solution of problem of mastering of Moscow underground space). Moscow : Moscow State Mining University, 2008. 112 p.