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Structural Design Competition

Overview​

The Structural Design Competition of the School of Civil Engineering is a school-level academic competition aimed at cultivating students' structural design and innovation capabilities, and deepening their understanding of structural mechanics principles.

  • Organizer: School of Civil Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University
  • Participants: Undergraduate students of the School of Civil Engineering
  • Format: Structural design, fabrication, and load testing

2026 7th Edition: Lele Cart Model — Structural Design and Fabrication​

Theme Introduction​

This year's competition drew inspiration from the Lele cart of the northern grasslands. With its iconic long shaft structure and distinctive creaking sound, the Lele cart epitomizes the migration and daily life of nomadic peoples, and its craftsmanship has been inscribed on the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list, perfectly embodying the structural philosophy of "mastering weight with lightness, achieving complexity through simplicity."

Teams were required to design and fabricate a Lele cart model that could complete a cargo transportation task on a complex track — including slopes, curves, speed bumps, and single-span bridges — under the traction of a powered mini-car. The cargo consisted of glass-bead-filled fabric bags (500g each, with teams independently choosing 20–40 bags). The evaluation criteria included transportation time, task completion rate, and cost efficiency. Model materials were limited to bamboo (strips and rods), posing a comprehensive challenge to the teams' mechanical analysis, multi-objective optimization design, and on-site decision-making abilities.

Award-Winning Project​

  • Award: First Prize
  • Team: 凡事不要太绝队
  • Project: 就是209号
  • Members: He Junyan, Jiang Yihan, Gong Daxuan
  • Supervisor: Zhengshou Lai
Model Weighing (121.4g)
Model Weighing (121.4g)
Model Weighing — 121.4g
Model Load Testing
Model Load Testing
Model Load Testing

This project adopted a truss-frame chassis structure. Through lightweight design while maintaining load-bearing capacity (self-weight only 121.4g), the model performed excellently in the loading test and won the First Prize.

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Historical Results​

2026​

  • Award: First Prize
  • Team: 凡事不要太绝队
  • Project: 就是209号
  • Members: He Junyan, Jiang Yihan, Gong Daxuan
  • Supervisor: Zhengshou Lai

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