From March 24 to 26, 2023, the "Yingjianke Cup" 15th National College Student Structural Design Competition was grandly held at Shanxi Taiyuan University of Technology. Nearly 30,000 students from approximately 600 universities across 32 competition zones registered for the selection rounds. Ultimately, 111 teams from 110 universities, including Tsinghua University and Jilin University, advanced to the finals.
The team from the College of Construction Engineering at Jilin University, led by Zhu Shan, Head of the Department of Architectural Engineering, competed under the dedicated guidance of instructors Zhu Shan and Zheng Shaopeng. The undergraduate students Yan Xinyi, Xiang Shuanglin, and Sun Zhongyu worked together and, after 16 hours of on-site construction, successfully completed a wooden pagoda that withstood three full loads, ultimately winning the National Second Prize. Another team consisting of Zhu Yangguang, Fang Shule, and Liu Enbo received the National Third Prize.
Through wind and rain, we continue our journey, not wasting our youth but pursuing brilliance
A total of 12 teams from three campuses of Jilin University participated in the university-level finals selection. Two teams, due to their outstanding performance, qualified to represent the university in the Jilin provincial competition. They excelled and secured the first and second places in the provincial division, ultimately representing the Jilin zone at the national competition.
The national competition, based on the wooden pagoda in Yinxian County, set the challenge of "Design and Fabrication of a Triple Wooden Pagoda Structure Model." Each participating team was required to construct a three-tiered, 24-eave pagoda using bamboo within 16 hours and to complete three levels of loading on-site. The competition featured many uncertainties, varied working conditions, and multiple load selections, presenting significant challenges during preparation and fierce competition. The wooden pagoda model constructed by our university's team successfully bore a total load of 45 kg under multiple vertical, torsional, and horizontal loading conditions.
The honors achieved are a culmination of the countless hours of intelligence and effort put forth by the team members, supported by the hard work of their guiding teachers and the strong backing from the leadership at both the university and college levels, as well as various functional departments.
In a Sea of Ships, the Brave Sail Ahead
In recent years, the College of Construction Engineering has aimed for excellence with Chinese characteristics and first-class programs, focusing on moral education, driven by teaching reform and guided by national strategic objectives and regional economic and social development. Through the establishment of new engineering disciplines, the College has continuously improved the quality of talent cultivation and its scientific and technological innovation capabilities. By focusing on the frontiers of global academic research and meeting major national needs, the College actively promotes the industrialization and demonstration application of research results, fostering a harmonious and sustainable academic ecosystem that enhances the overall level, international influence, and core competitiveness of the university.
As a national-level first-class program, the Civil Engineering major at the College of Construction Engineering emphasizes the cultivation of students’ comprehensive qualities. By combining its educational characteristics and training objectives, the College transforms its research advantages into unique educational features, forging a commitment to craftsmanship while maintaining the original aspiration to nurture students’ innovative awareness, teamwork, and engineering practice abilities. This approach ignites students’ creative potential, enhances the quality of talent training, and supports the high-quality and sustainable development of the discipline.
The National College Student Structural Design Competition is one of the nine major discipline competitions for college students identified by the Ministry of Education. It is the highest-level and most influential comprehensive discipline competition in the civil engineering field, often referred to as the "most brilliant jewel in the crown of civil engineering." The competition aims to establish a practical platform for engineering education in universities, further fostering students' innovative awareness, teamwork, and engineering practice abilities, thus improving the quality of innovative talent cultivation. The competition’s model challenge involved the structural analysis, model fabrication, and loading tests of a spatial structure under various load conditions, including vertical, torsional, and horizontal loads.
