PONE-D-24-14746Tunnel and underground engineering rock mass water inrush damage and acoustic emission characteristicsPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Zeng,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please, carefully follow the reviewer's suggestions and properly answer to the raised points.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jul 04 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Fabio Trippetta, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal requirements:

When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements.

1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf

2. Thank you for stating the following financial disclosure:

“This work is supported by Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (2023JJ50104); Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (21B0803, 22B0853, 23B0838); Hunan Institute of Technology provincial-level applied characteristic discipline (KFB23022); National College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program Project(S202311528042).”

Please state what role the funders took in the study.  If the funders had no role, please state: "The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript."

If this statement is not correct you must amend it as needed.

Please include this amended Role of Funder statement in your cover letter; we will change the online submission form on your behalf.

3. Thank you for stating the following in the Acknowledgments Section of your manuscript:

“The authors appreciate the constructive comments from the anonymous reviewers. This work is supported by Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (2023JJ50104); Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (21B0803, 22B0853, 23B0838); Hunan Institute of Technology provincial-level applied characteristic discipline (KFB23022); National College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program Project(S202311528042).”

We note that you have provided funding information that is currently declared in your Funding Statement. However, funding information should not appear in the Acknowledgments section or other areas of your manuscript. We will only publish funding information present in the Funding Statement section of the online submission form.

Please remove any funding-related text from the manuscript and let us know how you would like to update your Funding Statement. Currently, your Funding Statement reads as follows:

“This work is supported by Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (2023JJ50104); Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (21B0803, 22B0853, 23B0838); Hunan Institute of Technology provincial-level applied characteristic discipline (KFB23022); National College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program Project(S202311528042).”

Please include your amended statements within your cover letter; we will change the online submission form on your behalf.

4. We note that your Data Availability Statement is currently as follows: [All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.]

Please confirm at this time whether or not your submission contains all raw data required to replicate the results of your study. Authors must share the “minimal data set” for their submission. PLOS defines the minimal data set to consist of the data required to replicate all study findings reported in the article, as well as related metadata and methods (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability#loc-minimal-data-set-definition).

For example, authors should submit the following data:

- The values behind the means, standard deviations and other measures reported;

- The values used to build graphs;

- The points extracted from images for analysis.

Authors do not need to submit their entire data set if only a portion of the data was used in the reported study.

If your submission does not contain these data, please either upload them as Supporting Information files or deposit them to a stable, public repository and provide us with the relevant URLs, DOIs, or accession numbers. For a list of recommended repositories, please see https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/recommended-repositories.

If there are ethical or legal restrictions on sharing a de-identified data set, please explain them in detail (e.g., data contain potentially sensitive information, data are owned by a third-party organization, etc.) and who has imposed them (e.g., an ethics committee). Please also provide contact information for a data access committee, ethics committee, or other institutional body to which data requests may be sent. If data are owned by a third party, please indicate how others may request data access.

5. PLOS requires an ORCID iD for the corresponding author in Editorial Manager on papers submitted after December 6th, 2016. Please ensure that you have an ORCID iD and that it is validated in Editorial Manager. To do this, go to ‘Update my Information’ (in the upper left-hand corner of the main menu), and click on the Fetch/Validate link next to the ORCID field. This will take you to the ORCID site and allow you to create a new iD or authenticate a pre-existing iD in Editorial Manager. Please see the following video for instructions on linking an ORCID iD to your Editorial Manager account: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xcclfuvtxQ

6. Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

**********

2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: This paper conducted a fracture failure test of fissured rock mass under stable hydraulic pressure using a self-developed stable hydraulic pressure device, verified the feasibility of the test system, and analyzed the acoustic emission characteristics and damage evolution law of the fracture failure process. The research content of this article is novel, and the research results have certain guiding significance for the prevention and control of water inrush disasters in tunnels and geotechnical engineering. Suggest receiving after minor optimizations and improvements.

1. Figure 1 shows the CAD diagram of a stable infiltration water pressure system. Please provide a laboratory diagram of the test system

2. In Section of “2 Test preparation”, The CAD specimen diagram in Figure 1 can depict the dimensions, and there are duplicate labels in the diagram. Please check and correct them

3. In Section of “2 Test preparation”, “After the initial setting of the specimens, the water injection rods were pulled out and the steel sheets were embedded. ” This sentence describes some issues. I would like to know if "the steel sheets were embedded" should be pulled out or embedded at this time?

4. In Section of “Introduction” , "The rock-like materials in this test are made by mixing 425 white cement: fine sand: water at the mass ratio of 5:5:2." I'd like to know how to ensure the homogeneity of the sample ?

5. In the peak intensity of Figure 6, is the data taken as a single specimen or the average of multiple specimens? If it is multiple, please indicate the number of specimens.

6. Please unify the words "osmotic water pressure" and "water pressure" in the paper

7. Please unify the words "osmotic water pressure, water pressure, hydraulic pressure, etc." in the paper.

8. In Figure 8, the time axis is used as the horizontal axis for the acoustic emission ringing count and stress curve. Is it convenient to convert the time axis to strain, and have other studies used time as the horizontal axis to describe it?

9. The color of the right vertical axis in Figure 10 (b) is inconsistent. Please check all information and language throughout the text.

Reviewer #2: The author independently developed a stable permeability hydraulic pressure device, conducted hydraulic-stress coupling tests on fractured rock masses, analyzed the mechanical characteristics and crack initiation modes of fissured rock masses, and explored the acoustic emission and damage characteristics during the loading process. Some useful conclusions were obtained, which are helpful for the prevention and control of water inrush disasters in tunnels and underground engineering. There are still some minor issues in this article that need further optimization and improvement.

1. Introduction, page 3: “ the gas-liquid concavity is used, and the liquid is driven by pressure to apply water pressure. ” Could you please explain the meaning of “the gas-liquid concavity” here.

2. Figure 1 only shows a schematic diagram, without the actual equipment diagram during indoor testing. It is best to describe and explain it in conjunction with the actual diagram.

3. Test preparation, page 4: Figure 1 has duplicate naming. Please check all figures, tables, titles, and other serial numbers to correct any issues.

4. Test preparation, page 4: “The steady water pressure test was carried out in strict accordance with the following steps”. More precise and concise description of the experimental steps during the loading process.

5. The author's review of the latest related research on tunnel safety, rock crack propagation, and non-destructive testing is insufficient. The following latest published literature can provide reference for the author's research:

[1] Case study on the secondary support time and optimization of combined support for a roadway under high in-situ stress. Geomechanics and Geophysics for. Geo-Energy and Geo-Resource. 2024, 10(1): 66. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-024-00774-w

[2] Analytical solution of the stress field and plastic zone at the tip of a closed crack. Frontiers in Earth Science, 2024, 12: 1370672. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2024.1370672

[3] Experimental study of dynamic characteristics of tailings with different reconsolidation degrees after liquefaction. Frontiers in Earth Science, 2022, 10: 876401. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.876401

6. Different descriptive words such as “osmotic water pressure”, “osmotic water pressure”, “no hydraulic pressure”, and “non-hydraulic” appear in the text. Please check the relevant vocabulary and provide a unified description

7. In section 3.4.2, the author selected the peak frequency of acoustic emission for analysis. Please further explain the information characterizing the peak frequency of acoustic emission and explain the pattern of acoustic emission frequency.

8. Discussion, page 15: The font size of the first paragraph of this section does not match the font size of the previous and subsequent articles. Please verify and modify it.

9. Figure 10: The color of some image coordinate axes is inconsistent with other graphics. In the analysis, it should be added to analyze the differences in acoustic emission damage under two types of loads: Non-hydraulic and Stabilized hydraulic.

**********

6. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

**********

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Tunnel and underground engineering rock mass water inrush damage and acoustic emission characteristics

PONE-D-24-14746R1

Dear Dr. Zeng,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice will be generated when your article is formally accepted. Please note, if your institution has a publishing partnership with PLOS and your article meets the relevant criteria, all or part of your publication costs will be covered. Please make sure your user information is up-to-date by logging into Editorial Manager at Editorial Manager® and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. If you have any questions relating to publication charges, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Fabio Trippetta, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: All my comments have been properly replied or addressed. I think it can be accepted in the present form.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript has been carefully revised and its quality has significantly improved, making it suitable for acceptance.

**********

7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

**********