1st International Rock Mass Classification Conference

Since the 1950s, the topic of rock mass classification was a central issue for geotechnical engineers and heated discussions amongst scholars up to international court cases revolve around it. The overall goal of the RMCC is therefore to provide an arena for the international rock mechanics community for knowledge development, interaction and sharing.

Today’s society has an ever-increasing need for infrastructure to be internally connected as well as resilient against changing environments. This demand meets decreasing numbers of engineers due to demographic change and a paradigm shift towards digitalization. This makes the practicability of systems that rely on the subjective experience of engineers questionable. Furthermore, many of today’s rock mass classification systems have been developed with a focus on economic optimization which yet again stands in contrast to today’s requirements for sustainability and the need for a green transition to fight climate change. The RMCC 2024 should therefore discuss a decade old topic – rock mass classification – in the light of the challenges of the 2020s like demographic change, the green transition and digitalization.