Stability of underground excavations is of great importance to an operating mine because it ensures the safety of working people and operating facilities as well as successful ore production. The rock mass stability around underground excavations heavily depends on the mechanical behavior of intact rock and discontinuities, the discontinuity geometry pattern and the in-situ stress system.

At the time the first edition of Rock Mechanics and Engineering was being printed, important progress was being made both in theory and practice of rock mechanics. Some new advances were analysed in an 'Appendix' to the book, which is now incorporated, with the necessary additions, in the relevant chapters of the second edition. New developments of the new Austrian tunnelling method (NATM) and similar methods caused the important chapter on underground power-stations to be rewritten, and several new chapters to be added. <...>

Although engineering activities involving rock have been underway for millennia, we can mark the beginning of the modern era from the year 1962 when the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) was formally established in Salzburg, Austria. Since that time, both rock engineering itself and the associated rock mechanics research have increased in activity by leaps and bounds, so much so that it is difficult for an ngineer or researcher to be aware of all the emerging developments, especially since  the information is widely spread in reports, magazines, journals,  books and the internet. It is appropriate, if not essential, therefore that periodically an easily accessible structured survey should be made of the currently available knowledge. Thus, we are most grateful to Professor Xia-Ting Feng and his team, and to the Taylor & Francis Group, for preparing this extensive 2017 “Rock Mechanics and Engineering” compendium outlining the state of the art—and which is a publication fitting well within the Taylor & Francis portfolio of ground engineering related titles.<...>

Rock is the main constituent of the crust of the Earth, and its behavior is the most complex one among all materials in the geosphere to be dealt with by humankind. Furthermore, it contains various discontinuities, which make the thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of rocks more complex. These simply require a higher level of knowledge and intelligence within the Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (RMRE) community.