Opening Ceremony of the 13th Extracurricular Science and Technology Experiment Competition of College Students, and 2021 Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE Held

The opening ceremony of the 13th Extracurricular Science and Technology Experiment Competition of College Students and 2021 Science and Technology Month in SCE was held at 2nd auditorium of Xipu Campus Library, SWJTU at 4:00 pm, March 19 (Friday), 2021. The participants of this ceremony included Wen Yumin, Deputy Director of the Asset Management and Laboratory Department, Deputy Party Committee Secretary of the School of Civil Engineering Zhou Xi, Chen De and Zhan You from Department of Road and Railway Engineering, Zhang Rui from Department of Bridge Engineering, Guo Chun from Department of Underground Engineering, Gao Wenjun and Long Danbing from Department of Architectural Engineering as well as many counselors from Student Support Services who are working in the front line and making active preparations for various competitions. This opening ceremony was hosted by Liu Ping, Secretary of the Youth League Committee of SCE.

In the first session of the ceremony, Zhou Xi, Deputy Party Committee Secretary of SCE, briefly introduced the overview of this competition. Students could join the competitions on the site and multiple series of competitions were carried out consecutively and efficiently. Deputy Secretary Zhou Xi emphasized that through this competition, he hoped that every student can put the knowledge learned in class into practice, and at the same time cultivate team awareness and gain friendship through cooperation. At the end of his speech, Deputy Secretary Zhou Xi expressed his gratitude to all the faculty and staff. Deputy Secretary Zhou Xi’s brief and wonderful speech won warm applause from the audience.

Then, Deputy Director of the Asset Management and Laboratory Department Wen Yumin gave a speech. He recalled the story when the 1st Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE was held in 2001. “Two teachers, a few students, and a classroom have propped up the whole activity.” Deputy Director Wen Yumin has witnessed the changes and growth of the Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE, developing from a small group to a large community, from small activities to grand events in the past two decades, which bring us a sense of achievement and satisfaction. Deputy Director Wen Yumin indicated that the Asset Management and Laboratory Department would provide participants with financial, material, and safety support to ensure that all the participants could show their talents in this competition. He said excitedly: “I hope that the students will cherish this opportunity and showcase your competence of applying theoretical knowledge to practice.”

The second session of the activity was that representatives, from the Preparatory Group of the Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE and Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, took the oath: In the various competitions of 2021 Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE, I shall strictly abide by the working regulations and racing rules. I shall respect all the participants and the judges, as well as the facts. I shall take care of the equipment and tools, and never play favoritism and commit irregularities. I shall insist on fairness, justice and openness to ensure the smooth progress of this competition by ethics and professionalism.

The third session of the activity was that questions of each group were explained by the question setters of 2021 Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE.

First, Chen De introduced how teachers set up the competition on Rack (Cog Rail ) Railway for Railway Engineering team. This question is a fixed-point assessment of the “climbing ability of the cog railway model under constant traction.” Mr.Chen took the stairs and elevators as the starting point to catch the students’ attention from various aspects such as the topic background and competition model, which was much appreciated by the students.

Then, Zhan You explained the main points of Mix Proportion Design of Pervious Concrete Pavement for Road Engineering team. Mr. Zhan introduced the background of this question starting from the sponge city. From the four perspectives: competition questions, competition specimen and related materials, specimen tests, and the grading rules, Mr. Zhan helped the students understand the basics about the competition systematically, and provided detailed answers to students’ puzzles.

Guo Chun made a systematical analysis of Assembly Multi Compartment Utility Tunnel Model for Underground Engineering team from the background, the competition details and loading experiments. At the same time, he pointed out that the 5th National Model Design Competition of Undergraduates in Urban Underground Space Engineering will be held in SWJTU in October this year. Therefore, 2021 Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE is used as the preliminary selection for the national competition. Mr. Guo hoped that students can actively participate in relevant activities of Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE, aiming high and winning honor for SWJTU.

Afterwards, Gao Wenjun and Zhao Lei explained the Three-layer Ancient Tower Model in detail for Architectural Engineering team. The inspiration of the proposal came from the ancient Chinese pagoda, and this simple but novel question immediately attracted all the students. The model shall include a three-layer frame and three-layer eaves, and all the components shall be made of bamboo. Design drawings, structure selection, craftsmanship, on-site defense, and loading shall be all taken into consideration to determine the winners. The students were motivated and eager to participate.

Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) is the frontiers field in today’s civil engineering materials development. Zhang Rui introduced UHPC Elastic Ball Customization Competition of this Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE from the production and characteristics of UHPC. He elaborated on the basic information related to this question from the background, history, characteristics, to rubrics. Then, Mr. Zhang played the videos of some contestants in previous competitions. The students made active interaction with Mr. Zhang.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) Competition will also be held in 2021 Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE and Long Danbing gave an introduction about the competition. Mrs.Long firstly explained the meaning of BIM, that is, using various relevant data of the construction project as the basis of the model, and simulating modeling through digital information. Mrs.Long shared with the students the BIM model made by the seniors at No. 3 Teaching building of Xipu campus and conducted a simulation demonstration. Students were all marveled at this.

The opening ceremony of the 13th Extracurricular Science and Technology Experiment Competition of College Students and 2021 Science and Technology Competition Month in SCE came to an end successfully at 17:30 with joy and laughter. We hoped that our students could explore enthusiastically and make models carefully, and thus achieve a lot finally!