The 2016 IABSE Conference & the 22nd National Bridge Academic Conference was held in Guangzhou from May 9 to May 11. Some 1,000 domestic and international bridge authority experts, scholars and practitioners participated the conference. As a guest of honor, Chief Engineer Gao Zongyu of BRDI made an academic report titled “China Long-span Bridges for High-speed Rail”. He also chaired the Humen Second Bridge session. Master Xu Gongyi attended the conference as a council member of IABSE.

The IABSE Conference was themed with “Smart Solutions for Bridge and Structure Sustainability” . The National Bridge Academic Conference featured the theme of “Economy, Durability, Innovation”, exploring the concept design and innovation of bridges and new progress in bridge wind resistance and seismic resistance researches. The conference was divided into 8 sessions, respectively discussing topics in green civil engineering, innovation of design philosophy , smart materials, quality control and durability, high-speed rail, challenges in sea-crossing project , disaster prevention and reduction, and health monitoring evaluation and maintenance. Nine leading experts from the U.S., France, Japan, Spain and China made academic theme releases, and shared the development and experience in bridge construction of their own countries.

Serving as a co-organizer of the conference, the leaders had attached great importance to advertising. The relevant departments introduced BRDI to domestic and foreign attendees enthusiastically and earnestly to help them with a more profound and comprehensive understanding on BRDI. Therefore, BRDI has successfully completed the advertising work during the conference.

On May 11^th, representatives attending the conference paid a technical visit to the Pearl River Huangpu Bridge, which is regarded as the No.1 Bridge in South China; and the Humen Second Bridge under construction, which is an eight-lane suspension bridge with the longest-span in China. 

The conference has collectively showcased the achievements of Chinese bridge technologies over recent years, and provided an extensive platform for exchange and cooperation in bridge engineering. It will surely  promote the development of domestic and foreign bridge industry.