Abstract: Shotcreting technology,a primary method for roadway bolt-shotcrete support,is now widely applied in mine excavation support. Dust is generated during shotcreting operations,including handling,feeding,mixing,and spraying stages,making it one of the main dust sources in mining. For current research on shotcreting dust control technologies,quantitative analysis of literature over the past 50 years was conducted using CiteSpace software. Research hotspots were categorized and statistically analyzed in terms of publication volume, authors, institutions, keyword co-occurrence, clustering, and time zones. Research shows that China′s research on shotcreting technology started relatively late,with its development showing phased characteristics:① Embryonic exploration stage,in the 1970s,breakthroughs were made in the development of shotcrete equipment. Shotcreting technology gradually found application in mine roadways and slope support,but the technology and equipment remained immature. ② Growth and development stage,in the 1980s,wet spraying technology began to be promoted. However,due to insufficient emphasis on safe operation,severe dust hazards and frequent production accidents occurred. ③ Mature growth stage, in the early 21st century,the state introduced clear legislation on work safety and occupational diseases. The dust problem in shotcreting operations thus received sustained attention and research from scholars in the field,driving the development of shotcreting dust control research. After 2010,improving the practicality of shotcreting machines became the focus,with a rapid increase in the number of related publications. ④ Epidemic-induced downturn stage,from 2018 to 2022,the number of publications declined significantly due to the impact of the epidemic and research cycles. However,long-term projections suggest that research in shotcreting dust control still has substantial room for expansion in breadth and depth,with growing attention. Core authors maintain extensive collaborative relationships,while non-core authors are widely distributed and highly independent. Research teams in shotcreting dust control are mainly composed of universities and colleges,with no extensive collaboration formed among institutions across regions. Both authors and institutions in English literature overlap significantly with those in Chinese literature. Domestic scholars focus more on engineering applications,whereas foreign scholars mainly emphasize areas such as the laws of wet concrete pipeline transportation and jet structure characteristics. Keyword evolution indicates that the existing research is moving toward in-depth exploration of optimizing shotcreting equipment and applying shotcrete in new materials and environments,with an increasing number of research directions. On this basis,current challenges in shotcreting dust control research are further discussed,along with future development trends. Key challenges in this field include clarifying dust generation and reduction mechanisms in shotcreting,developing intelligent and precise wet shotcreting technologies,creating portable shotcreting equipment,strengthening vocational training for technical workers,expanding research teams,and enhancing collaborative development and research among industry,academia,research,and application. Future research on mine shotcreting dust control can be deepened through measures such as clarifying dust generation and reduction mechanisms via various experiments and numerical simulations,developing precise dust control schemes by integrating emerging intelligent technologies like artificial intelligence and machine vision,strengthening research on drag reduction in long-distance material pipeline transportation and dust-free jet theory,expanding shotcreting dust prevention applications across multiple fields and industries,and promoting standardization of shotcreting dust prevention and control. 

Key words: dust,CiteSpace,shotcrete,wet spraying,data visualizations,development direction