To enhance college students' interest in geotechnical engineering and related disciplines, stimulate young students' innovative awareness, exercise their hands-on practical ability and collaborative spirit, and promote intercollegiate student exchanges, the finals of the "Zhaodi Cup" 6th National College Student Geotechnical Engineering Competition were held from July 3 to 4, 2025, at the Zijingang Campus of Zhejiang University. The competition was hosted by the Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Branch of the China Civil Engineering Society, organized by the College of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Zhejiang University, and exclusively title-sponsored by Zhaodi Holding Group. It brought together participating teams from 42 universities that stood out after preliminary review by an expert panel.

The theme of this competition was "Design and Construction of Composite Foundation," comprising three stages: model design, fabrication, and testing. Participating students were required to use rubber granules (simulating soft soil), fine sand, A3 paper, and adhesive tape provided by the organizers to build a composite foundation in a model box, conduct settlement tests under multi-stage loading, and were scored comprehensively based on the design report, foundation settlement, material consumption, and fabrication time, among other factors.

At 8:00 a.m., referees and contestants signed in and entered the venue one after another. At 8:30 a.m., the opening ceremony was held, presided over by Professor Hu Anfeng of Zhejiang University. Professor Gong Xiaonan of Zhejiang University, Professor Yu Yuzhen of Tsinghua University, Professor Xu Yueping, Vice Dean of the College of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Zhejiang University, andZhaodi GroupPresident Zhou Kaifa delivered speeches successively at the opening ceremony, introducing the original aspiration and vision of holding the college student geotechnical engineering competition and encouraging contestants to demonstrate their style and level. Professor Wang Kuihua of the College of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Zhejiang University, a member of the competition organizing committee, read out the competition rules on behalf of the panel of referees and conveyed the spirit of the competition to the participating teams. Student Feng Yurong of Wuhan University, a contestant, spoke on behalf of the participating teams at the opening ceremony. At the end of the opening ceremony, Professor Luo Yaozhi, Dean of the College of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Zhejiang University, declared the finals officially open!

In the composite foundation model fabrication stage, all teams successfully completed their work after 90 minutes of intense effort and proceeded with the subsequent loading and settlement tests. After fierce competition, the competition awarded 3 first prizes, 5 second prizes, 11 third prizes, 1 Best Creativity Award, and 1 Best Organization Award. The first-prize teams were: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, South China University of Technology, and Zhejiang University; the second-prize teams were: Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan University, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, NingboTech University, and Northwest A&F University; the third-prize teams were: Shandong Jianzhu University, Tianjin University, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ningbo University, Southwest Petroleum University, Hunan University, Taiyuan University of Technology, Xi'an University of Technology, Jilin Jianzhu University, Guangdong University of Technology, and Lanzhou University of Technology; the team from Zhengzhou University won the Best Creativity Award, and the team from University of Science and Technology Beijing won the Best Organization Award.

After the competition, the faculty advisors and participating students of the various teams, along with experts from the host and organizing units, visited the Zhaodi Group corporate exhibition area and interacted cordially with representatives of Zhaodi Group, promoting industry-academia exchanges. In the connector assembly activity at the Zhaodi Group exhibition area, teachers and students participated enthusiastically, and the atmosphere on site was lively and joyful.

In this competition, the participating teams gave full play to their creativity and ingenuity, cooperated with tacit understanding, and designed and fabricated various composite foundation models rich in form and ingenious in conception, fully demonstrating the solid theoretical foundation and superb hands-on ability of outstanding contemporary college students in the field of geotechnical engineering, and winning widespread praise from experts and teachers.