The topic of this National College Student Geotechnical Engineering Competition is: Design and Construction of Composite Foundation. Participating students are required to use the rubber particles, fine sand, A3 paper, and model box provided by the organizer to build a composite foundation, and the team with the highest score wins. The competition includes the following parts: model design, model fabrication, and model testing. For specific construction requirements and scoring criteria, please refer to Appendices 2 and 3.

To encourage participants to fully exercise their innovative spirit, this competition does not consider the feasibility of construction and does not judge whether the regulations are fully met.

As of April 2025, universities (or specially invited units) that have passed the Civil Engineering Professional Evaluation (Accreditation) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development may each send one participating team. The competition secretariat will make the final determination of eligibility. Each team shall be led by 1-3 in-service teachers, with 3 students (at least 2 undergraduate participants; at most 1 graduate participant, who must be a master's student).

The competition process consists of three stages: qualification acquisition, preliminary round, and final round:

(I) Qualification Acquisition

This competition adopts an invitational format. First, the organizer will send invitations to the corresponding universities according to the determined scope of participation. Applicants shall fill out the form in Appendix 1 of this notice and return it to the organizer by email before April 15, 2025 (email address: tulixue2025@zju.edu.cn). After confirmation by the organizer, they will obtain eligibility to participate.

(II) Preliminary Round

Participating teams shall submit an electronic version of the design and calculation report, and the final list of teams advancing to the final round will be determined based on the review results of the design and calculation reports. The specific procedure is as follows:

(1) Participants shall submit the design scheme and calculation demonstration report of the corresponding competition plan according to Appendix 2 of this notice. The report shall be submitted in electronic form in both Word and PDF formats and returned to the organizer by email before May 31, 2025 (email address: tulixue2025@zju.edu.cn). To facilitate anonymous review, except for the cover page, no content related to the participating team may appear on any other page of the report (such as the name of the participating university, names of team members, logos of the participating team or university, etc.).

(2) The submitted design and calculation reports shall be organized by the Soil Mechanics Teaching Professional Committee of the Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Branch of the China Civil Engineering Society for a two-way anonymous review by the preliminary review committee. Based on the review results, the list of teams advancing to the final round will be determined on a merit basis.

(3) The calculation reports submitted by each participating team this time shall serve only as the basis for the selection of this preliminary round. The scheme may be modified for the final round. However, the revised design report must also be submitted at the final round, that is, the report and the physical model must match.

(III) Final Round

The final round will be held on July 4, 2025, on the eve of the 7th National Soil Mechanics Teaching Seminar (registration for the teaching seminar on July 4, with sessions on July 5-6; the second notice of the conference will be issued separately in mid-May). The venue is within the Zijingang Campus of Zhejiang University.

(1) Participating teams shall register according to the final schedule determined by the organizer and participate in the competition on time. At registration, one printed copy and one electronic copy of the design and calculation report adopted for the final round shall be submitted. The design scheme submitted this time must be consistent with the scheme actually adopted by the participating team in the final round.

(2) One day before the final round, participating teams will be organized to familiarize themselves with the competition venue, have the competition rules explained, and inspect and confirm the relevant materials required for model fabrication. All self-provided materials and tools of each participating team shall be submitted to the organizing committee for inspection and confirmation. Any self-provided materials and tools not inspected and confirmed by the organizing committee in advance may not be used in the final round.

(3) After the competition timer starts,participants must complete model fabrication within 90 minutes; exceeding 90 minutes will result in point deductions, and exceeding 120 minutes will result in disqualification.

(4) The final results shall be determined by the final judging panel and the organizing committee according to the scoring standards and methods specified in Appendix 3 of this notice. The awards of this competition are set as follows (tentative):

Best Creativity Award: 1 team, prize of 5,000 yuan per team

First Prize: 3 teams, prize of 3,000 yuan per team

Second Prize: 5 teams, prize of 2,000 yuan per team

Third Prize: 10 teams, prize of 1,000 yuan per team

Among them, the lists of First Prize, Second Prize, and Third Prize shall be determined in order according to the final scores. The Best Creativity Award shall be determined by vote of the final judging panel.

(5) For unforeseen or disputed circumstances arising in the final round, the final judging panel shall make the ruling. All participating teams must obey the rulings of the final judging panel.

(6) For participating teams that violate competition rules and the spirit of fair competition, upon determination by the final judging panel, the team's eligibility to compete shall be revoked.

(7) Award ceremony: The award ceremony will be held at the opening ceremony of the 7th National Soil Mechanics Teaching Seminar.

(1) To ensure the fairness of the competition, a recusal system is adopted. Members of the preliminary review committee, members of the final judging panel, and members of the competition organizing committee may not lead teams to participate in the competition, nor may they participate in any activities of any participating team.

(2) Contact for competition registration and inquiries: Teacher Zhu Chengwei, 18768115900 (Zhejiang University)

(3) The right to interpret the rules related to this competition belongs to the Soil Mechanics Teaching Professional Committee of the Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Branch of the China Civil Engineering Society.