Hongyuan Liu is a Senior Lecturer in Geomechanics at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He received his BEng and MEng from Northeastern University, China, in 1997 and 2000, respectively, and his PhD from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden in 2004. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia.

Daisuke Fukuda is an Associate Professor at Hokkaido University, Japan. He obtained his BS, MS, and PhD degrees from Hokkaido University in 2006, 2009, and 2012, respectively.

Haoyu Han is an Associate Professor at Yunnan University, China. He completed his BEng and PhD degrees from the University of Tasmania in 2017 and 2022, respectively, under the supervision of the other three authors.

Andrew Chan was a Professor at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He obtained his BSc and MPhil from the University of Hong Kong in 1982 and 1984, respectively, and his PhD in 1988 from University College of Swansea (now Swansea University). He was previously the Head of the School of Engineering at the University of Tasmania.