Department of Bridge Engineering

Specialty of civil engineering and bridge engineering enjoy a century-old history at SWJTU. The discipline of bridge and tunnel engineering, presented first in the infancy of the university in 1986, has always been one of the traditional and prestigious disciplinesat SWJTU. In 1906, the university, then named Imperial Chinese Railway College at Shanhaiguan by Beiyang Railway Bureau, was relocated in Tangshan and renamed “Tangshan Railway Institute”, offering disciplines of railway and bridge. In 1937, it provided more disciplines, such as railway, structure (inclusive of bridge), hydraulic engineering and housing construction. After the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1945, the discipline of bridge was offered by the Department of Civil Engineering. After the massive restructuring in 1952, the programme of bridge and tunnel engineering was provided. In 1972, the Department of Railway Engineering was established, offering the programme of bridge engineering. In 1986, the Department of Civil Engineering was founded, delivering five programmes including bridgeengineering. During the preparatory stage of the School of Civil Engineering in 1989, the Department of Bridge and Underground Engineering was formed by integrating the programmes of bridge and tunnel. In 1996, the School of Civil Engineering became a higher education entity to offer academic programmes and carry out research. Meanwhile, the Department of Bridge and Structural Engineering was established by emerging the previous Structural Engineering Research Institute and the Bridge Teaching and Research Office and adopted the name “Department of Bridge Engineering” in 2004.

As one of the oldest and prestigious disciplines of SWJTU, the discipline of bridge engineering is a national key discipline and among the first group under “211” Programme. The Department of Bridge Engineering is authorized to confer master’s degree for college and university teachers without postgraduate diploma issued, master’s degree in architectural and civil engineering and master’s degree. It has been approved to grant doctoral degree in the programme of bridge and tunnel engineering (in the research orientation of bridge), one of the first batch, and to set up the post of distinguished professor of Cheung Kong Scholars under the discipline of bridge engineering. Among its brilliant graduates are over 20 academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and of Chinese Academy of Engineering and masters of surveying and deign represented by Mao Yisheng, an expert in bridge construction, Tung-Yen Lin, the pioneer of standardizing the use of pre-stressed concrete, and Qin Shunquan, an academician of CAE. The Department of Bridge Engineering boast advanced experiment facilities, like large-sized industrial wind tunnel groups, electro-hydraulic servo experimental system, kiloton press machine, the experiment system for structure static and dynamic analysis, large-tonnage jolting table and intermediate-wave water channel, and prominent research teams and platforms, including National Engineering Laboratory for Geological Disaster Prevention Technology in Land Transportation, Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory of Wind Engineering, Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory of Seismic Resistance Technology, Laboratory of Long-span Bridges over Deep Water, Mao Yisheng Bridge Research Institute, Work Group headed by Professor Qin Shunquan, an academician of CAE, and Sichuan Provincial Innovation Team in Wind Resistance of Bridges and Operation Safety.

Keeping pace with the advances in bridge science and the needs in engineering construction, the Department of Bridge Engineering has yielded fruitful achievements in basic theories and applied technologies, including Steel Bridge Stability and Fatigue Theory, Design Theory of Concrete Bridge and Steel-concrete Composite Bridge, Design Theory of Long-span Suspension Bridge, Vehicle-bridge Coupled Vibration, Wind-vehicle-bridge Coupling Dynamics, Nonlinear and Precise Analysis of Complex Bridges, Bridge Damage Identification and Soundness Assessment, Bridge Structure Construction Control Theory, Bridge Structure Reliability and Durability, Bridge Engineering Wind and Earthquake Resistance Research, and Railway Bridge Vibration and Noise Reduction. These achievements offer a strong technical support for key engineering projects and produce significant economic and social benefits, scooping several national, provincial and ministerial science and technology awards. They have been widely applied in large bridge engineering projects, like Wanxian Bridge over Yangtze River, Humen Pearl River Bridge, the Second Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge, Su Tong (Nantong - Changshu) Yangtze River Highway Bridge, Aizhai Bridge, Xihoumen Bridge, Wuhan Tianxingzhou Yangtze River Bridge, Nanjing Dashengguan Yangtze River Bridge, Hutong (Shanghai-Nantong) Yangtze River Bridge, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge, Jiashao (Jiaxing-Shaoxing)Bridge, the Third Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, the Fourth Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, and Wufengshan Yangtze River Bridge .

The Department of Bridge Engineering has 66 full-time teachers, including 20 professors, 21 associate professors and 25 lecturers. It also employs several academicians and renowned experts and scholars, who enjoy acclaim in China and even in the World, to offer academic guidance to students. Among the faculty, there are 1 academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2 experts of “The Thousand Talents Program”, 1 winner of the “National Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars”, 1 Distinguished Professor of Cheung Kong Scholars, 2 scholars of National-level “One hundred, One thousand and Ten thousand Talents Program”, 3 recipients of government allowances of the State Council, 1 Middle and Young Aged Leading Talent in Scientific and Technological Innovation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, 2 scholars of the Ministry of Education’s “Special Support Programme for New Century Excellent Talents in University” (NCET), 1 Young Scientific & Technological Talent in Traffic and Transportation by the Ministry of Transport, 3 Sichuan Provincial Specialists with Outstanding Contributions, 3 leaders in academic and technical development in Sichuan Province, 4 candidates for leaders in academic and technical development in Sichuan Province, 2 Sichuan Provincial Distinguished Young Scholars, and 5 first-prize winners in the Teaching Competition of SWJTU.

The main research orientations in the discipline of bridge engineering encompass New Structure, New Materials and Design Theory of Bridge Engineering, Construction, Management and Maintenance Technology, Long-term Performance and Safety Assessment of Bridge, Bridge Engineering Disaster Prevention and Reduction Theory and Control, Vehicle-induced Vibration, Environmental Vibration and Noise Control of High Speed Railway / Rail Transit Bridge, Sea-crossing Bridge Structure Theory and Construction Technology, and Safety and Durability of Bridge in Complicated and Dangerous Mountain Areas.

The Department of Bridge Engineering offers two undergraduate programmes of civil engineering and road, bridge and river-crossing engineering (in the research orientation of bridge) as well as two postgraduate programmes of bridge and tunnel engineering and disaster prevention and mitigation and protection engineering (in the research orientation of bridge). Each year, its staff members deliver over 10 disciplines in bridge engineering and provide instructions and supervision in dissertations to more than 1,000 students. The professional core courses includeIntroduction to Bridge Engineering, Concrete Bridge, Steel Bridge, Bridge Crossing Design, Long-span Bridge and Municipal Bridge and others. Among them, Introduction to Bridge Engineering was listed as National Quality Courses and Excellent Resource Sharing Courses under the Undergraduate Education Quality Program. At present, the Department enrolls more than 130 undergraduates, 120 postgraduates and 20 doctoral students each year. It has hosted several postdoctoral researchers and has cultivated 20 overseas postgraduate students. Its graduates are widely recognized in the posts of design, construction, management and research. The demand for professionals in the discipline mounts up along the swift development of China’s transportation industry.