Overview

The Department of Bridge, Tunnel and Underground Engineering encompasses two secondary disciplines: Bridge and Tunnel Engineering, and Geotechnical Engineering. Based on the robust platform of Southeast University's School of Civil Engineering, the department is equipped with comprehensive research and teaching facilities. Addressing the critical demands of national infrastructure construction and development, it consolidates traditional disciplinary strengths while actively expanding into emerging interdisciplinary fields such as intelligent construction and underground space development. The department is dedicated to cultivating internationally-oriented leaders capable of undertaking design, construction, research, and management roles in the fields of bridges, tunnels, underground engineering, and geotechnical engineering.

Academic Advantages

A world-class faculty and outstanding talent cultivation quality form the core competitiveness of the department. Currently, the department has 58 teachers, all holding doctoral degrees, including 24 professors and 21 associate professors. Among them, 16 are recipients of national high-level talent honors such as the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, the Changjiang Scholars Program, the National Ten-Thousand Talents Program, the Thousand Young Talents Program, and the Overseas Excellent Young Scientists Fund program. The faculty team possesses strong research capabilities and is deeply engaged in teaching, focusing on cultivating students' solid theoretical foundations and exceptional innovative abilities. Graduates are highly sought after by employers in design, construction, management, and research institutions.

Research Directions and Projects

From mega-span sea-crossing projects to the underground networks weaving through urban lines, the department consistently pursues scientific research aligned with major engineering needs. In recent years, the faculty team has led and participated in key technological research for world-class large-span bridges, such as the Sutong Bridge, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, Indonesia's Suramadu Bridge, and Malaysia's Penang Second Bridge, as well as research work for major infrastructure projects such as the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, and the Grand Canal reconstruction project.

Furthermore, the department is deeply involved in the construction and operation of the State Key Laboratory of Safety, Longevity, and Health Maintenance of Long-Span Bridges，and relying on the National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Intelligent Construction and Operation and Maintenance at Southeast University, the research vision has expanded from individual bridge and tunnel structures to the systemic safety, resilience, and intelligence of urban infrastructure. The department vigorously promotes industry-university-research collaborative innovation and has conducted extensive interdisciplinary and multi-scale innovative research. The Bridge and Tunnel direction has achieved notable results in areas such as fundamental concrete bridge theory, composite structure bridges, intelligent monitoring, and disaster prevention and mitigation. The Geotechnical direction has developed distinctive strengths, covering fields ranging from shallow foundation pile engineering and underground space development to deep earth energy utilization and storage, as well as offshore and deep-sea geotechnical foundations.

Figure 1: Major Engineering Projects and Innovative Achievements of the department

Distinctive Platforms

The Geotechnical Laboratory at the Liyang Innovation Center for Infrastructure Safety and Command serves as a core experimental platform of the department, dedicated to cutting-edge research in geomechanics and its engineering applications. The laboratory is equipped with a full suite of advanced GDS instruments, encompassing multi-scale testing capabilities ranging from laboratory soil tests to large-scale physical mode and in-suit testing system. All testing procedures rigorously adhere to ASTM/ISO/GB standards. The laboratory has world-class proficiency in experimental protocols, data processing, and result interpretation. It provides robust technical support for research in ocean engineering, energy development, and underground space utilization.

Figure 2. Geotechnical laboratory at Liyang, Nanjing

International Collaboration

The department consistently regards internationalization as a key driver for disciplinary development. By combining "going global" and "bringing in" strategies, it has established a new pattern of multi-level and wide-ranging international communication and cooperation. The department actively expands strategic collaborations with top international engineering institutions. The department maintains a long-term partnership with the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and other international research institutions, resulting in multiple co-authored high-level publications. The department welcomes applications from overseas doctoral students, visiting scholars, and collaborators for international joint research projects.