Key Laboratory of Transportation Tunnel Engineering, Ministry of Education

Approved by the Ministry of Education for construction in 2011, the building area reached more than 10,000 square meters, including the experimental hall of 5,000 square meters, and rooms for research of 5,000 square meters. The total value of fixed assets of the equipment reached 38 million RMB. The laboratory mainly undertakes major scientific researches and experimental tasks in the field of tunnel and underground engineering, with four fixed research areas: design theory and special structure of transportation tunnel engineering, construction and maintenance technology of transportation tunnel engineering, dynamic characteristics and anti-seismic and shock absorption technology of transportation tunnel engineering, and technologies of ventilation, and disaster prevention and energy saving for transportation tunnel. The laboratory is equipped with several sets of large tunnel test equipment, taking the lead nationwide in terms of test conditions.

Now the laboratory has formed an “innovation team of Ministry of Education for large and complicated transportation tunnel engineering”, with a cohort ofProfessor He Chuan (a member of the Changjiang Scholars Program), Professor Qiu Wenge (a leading scholar in academic and technological research in Sichuan Province), Professor Gao Bo and Professor Wang Mingnian, demonstrating the strength in scientific research and disciplinary development.

In recent years, the research staff in the laboratory have participated in more than200research projects/subjects, including more than90national research projects, among which there isoneproject andtwosubjects of National Key Research and Development Project of China,twosubjects of National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program),threesubjects of National High-tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Program),foursubjects of Key Technologies Research and Development Program of China,onesubject of National Torch Program, and more than80National Natural Science Foundation Projects. The average annual research funds are about40 millionRMB. The research staff in the laboratory have published more than30monographs, over700journal articles (more than400articles being included in SCI and EI journals), and obtained more than70national patents for invention,20software copyrights, and title oftwonational key new products.

The discipline of tunnel engineering has yielded many innovative and important research results in the fields of extra-long and deep-buried over mountain line tunnel, tunnel in high altitude area, large-scale cross-sea-river underwater tunnel, urban subway under complex environmental conditions, disaster prevention and energy saving in operation of large-scale and long traffic tunnels, etc. Our team participated in the construction of many urban subways in Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xi’an, etc., and solved many key technology problems of a large number of major national transportation tunnel engineering constructions, including Guanjiao Tunnel, Wushaoling Tunnel, Gaoligongshan Tunnel, Qinling Tunnel, Zhongnanshan Tunnel, Nanjing Yangtze River Tunnel, Wuhan Yangtze River Tunnel, Shiziyang Tunnel, Xiamen Xiang’an Tunnel, etc. Since 2000, we have won134national science and technology awards (includingtwosecond prizes for National Science and Technology Progress Award,onesecond prize for National Technological Invention Award) and more than80science and technology awards at provincial and ministerial level (including awards from national first-class institutes), making important contributions to the basic research and technological progress of tunnel engineering in China.