Overview

In August 2000, the Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structures of the Ministry of Education (CPCS), SEU was established with the MOE's approval. The development of the CPCS mainly depends on civil engineering, civil engineering materials, engineering mechanics, etc.

The first-level discipline Civil Engineering is oriented towards the 985 project and 211 project; the second-level discipline Engineering Mechanics is a national key discipline, and the second-level discipline Disaster Prevention Engineering is being nurtured as one of the candidates for national key discipline. In 2016, the MOE launched the third China Discipline Ranking, and the discipline Civil Engineering was awarded A+ and shared for the first place in China. In 2017, the first-level discipline Mechanics was approved to confer doctoral degrees. In 2012 and 2018, the CPCS was twice honored as the Excellent Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education.

Equipped with advanced hardware, the CPCS is capable of undertaking national, ministerial and provincial key scientific research projects, as well as solving key technical problems of landmark projects. In the field of concrete and prestressed concrete structures, the CPCS is gradually becoming a national innovation research base, a high-level training base for graduates, and an international academic exchange platform.

The CPCS consists of five research centers, which are dedicated respectively to concrete and prestressed structures; disaster control and monitoring of engineering structures; high-performance structural systems; bridge, tunnel and underground engineering structures; and new materials and new structures. The main research fields of the CPCS include concrete materials and their performance, the theory of concrete and prestressed concrete structures, the theory and key technology of high-performance long-life structures, and the catastrophe theory, monitoring, and control of engineering structures.

The CPCS focuses on the combination of fundamental research and engineering application. In the areas of applied basic research, applied research, and engineering applications, the CPCS has achieved a number of domestic/international scientific and technological achievements. After the establishment of the CPCS, the laboratory has participated in a number of important national projects and successfully solved related key technical problems. The representative national/provincial key projects are South China Sea reefs, reinforcement of Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, Chanakale Bridge in Turkey, Three Gorges Dam, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station, Beijing's new airport, Nanjing Museum, Jiangsu Grand Theatre, Wuxi Grand Theatre, Sutong Bridge, and Nanjing Dashengguan Bridge of Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway. Many scientific research achievements were accepted as national standards.

Now and in the near future, the CPCS will be committed to establishing an academician-led, well-constructed teaching and research team. All of its core faculty members will be doctoral degree holders. Meanwhile, the CPCS will accelerate the selection and training of talented young academic leaders. The CPCS will continue in-depth international academic exchanges and interdisciplinary cooperation among professors and research teams. What's more, the CPCS will speed up internationalization and strengthen cooperation with universities and research institutes such as State University of New York at Buffalo (United States), University of Michigan (United States), University of California, Irvine (United States), Technical University of Denmark, Ibaraki University (Japan), Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, University of Maryland (United States), Kyoto University (Japan), École Spéciale des Travaux Publics (France), Monash University (Australia), and University of British Columbia (Canada).

In strict accordance with relevant regulations and requirements for the MOE's key laboratories, the CPCS will strive to establish itself as an important research and training base for the national concrete and prestressed concrete structures industry.

Vision

The CPCS aims to maintain its traditional preeminence in concrete and prestressed concrete structure research while helping to implement the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), new-type urbanization, and other national strategies. Focusing on the international frontier of science and technology, it spares no effort to develop structures featuring ultra length, height, and depth, high performance, and longevity. Its four research directions (i.e., concrete materials and their performance, the theory of concrete and prestressed concrete structures, the theory and key technology of high-performance long-life structures, and the catastrophe theory, monitoring, and control of engineering structures) encompass the key scientific and technological problems of major projects. The CPCS is able to provide technical support for safe, efficient, intelligent, and sustainable engineering infrastructure in China.

Research facilities

The laboratory has a 6 × 9 meter 120-ton 3-direction 6-degree-of-freedom shaking table, a 4 × 6m unidirectional simulated seismic shaking table, a large-scale fire test system, a large-scale extreme environment concrete simulation test chamber, an X-ray CT scanning system for non-destructive reconstruction of microstructure, an XRD instrument for phase and crystal structure analysis, an MTS hydraulic servo loading system (19 dynamic and static actuators of various tonnages), a 100-ton MTS fatigue test machine, a 1,500-ton large compression shear test machine, structural space positioning equipment, various types of optical fiber testing equipment, on-site wind field testing instruments, etc. The total value of these facilities is up to RMB 260 million. The laboratory has established a complete equipment management system, with over 95% of its large- and medium-sized equipment intact.

The laboratory grants free access to its equipment. It hosts more than 120 experimental research projects for graduate students and more than 30 open and innovative experiments for undergraduates each year. In addition, the laboratory completed the FAST cable fatigue test, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao concrete durability test, the test for heat of hydration in concrete for the Three Gorges Dam, and the seismic performance test for prefabricated concrete structures, thus making great contributions to major projects.

Main projects

The laboratory undertakes a total of 224 projects, including the 973 program, major research programs of the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and provincial and ministerial projects. The planned total funding of these projects is RMB 260 million, and the actual funding is RMB 220 million. The per capita vertical research funding is RMB 3.14 million. So far, the laboratory has undertaken 38 key national R&D projects with an investment of RMB 93.04 million, accounting for 35.8% of the total; 69 NSFC projects with an investment of RMB 58.69 million, accounting for 21.9% of the total; 117 provincial and ministerial projects with an investment of RMB 32.11 million, accounting for 12.4% of the total; and 415 horizontal projects with an actual investment of RMB 83.84 million, accounting for xx% of the total.

Members and outcomes

The laboratory now has 70 faculty members, 97.1% of whom have doctoral degrees, and all have overseas study or visiting scholar experience. Fifty-five of them are professors, and thirteen are associate professors. Among them are two members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, one member of the Japanese Academy of Engineering (foreign nationality), four scholars of the Thousand Talent Program under the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, four Chang Jiang Scholars, five recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, one national-level teacher, four leading researchers of the Ten Thousand Talent Program for Scientific and Technological Innovation. About 31% of the faculty members are below 40 years old, including two scholars of the Thousand Talent Program for Outstanding Young Scientists, two recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, four Chang Jiang Young Scholars, four top-notch young scholars of the Ten Thousand Talent Program, and three recipients of Jiangsu Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. With a reasonable age and knowledge structure, the faculty is highly regarded and influential at home and abroad.

The laboratory has made significant achievements in all of its four research directions. It has received two Second Prizes of National Technological Invention Award and one Second Prize of National Science Progress Award and has published 327 SCI papers and 76 ASCE papers. Its research findings have been applied in major projects with significant influence at home and abroad, including the world's largest radio telescope FAST, the world's largest water conservancy project Three Gorges Dam, and the world's largest sea-crossing bridge Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

More information

https://cpcs.seu.edu.cn/