From August 25^th to 27^th, 2017, the 1^st national energy geo-structure &engineering symposium was successfully held at Tsinghua University. The inauguration ceremony of the Technical Committee (TC08) for Energy Geo-structure & Engineering (under Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics & Engineering) was also held during the symposium. The symposium was sponsored by the Technical Committee for Energy Geo-structure & Engineering, undertook by the Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, and co-organized by the College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Hohai University and the School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University. More than 130 Representatives from nearly 50 colleges, research institutes and engineering companies participated in the symposium. Prof. Zhang Jiangmin, Dean of School of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, gave the welcome address. Prof. Zhang Wei, Vice Secretary of Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics & Engineering, announced the official establishment of the Technical Committee. More than 5 society committees sent the letter of congratulation for the symposium.

 Group photo of all representatives of the symposium

 Address by Prof. Zhang Jiangmin, Dean of School of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University and by Prof. Zhang Wei, Vice Secretary of Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics & Engineering

 Letters of congratulation from other society committees

Ever since the first conference notice in February, the symposium has brought wide attention nationwide. The academic board collected 45 submitted papers, 20 of which were selected and officially published on Journal of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Engineering. Prof. Wu Hongwei from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Prof. Song Erxiang from Tsinghua University, Prof. Li Xiaochun from Wuhan Geotechnical Engineering Institute under Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Xia Caichu from Tongji University, Prof. Cheng Xiaohui from Tsinghua University gave the invited talk. 19 experts nationwide gave the plenary lecture. The symposium greatly improved the communications among academic researchers and engineers in the field of energy geo-structure and engineering, which possess significant importance for the development of the field.

  Prof. Wu Hongweifrom HKUST          Prof. Li Xiaochun from CAS        Prof. Xia Caichu from TJU               

Prof. Song Erxiang &  Prof. Cheng Xiaohui from THU

On the night of August 26^th, the 1^st meeting of the Technical Committee was held at JiaSuo, Tsinghua University. Prof. Cheng Xiaohui, Chairman of the committee, hosted the meeting. 32 committee members attended the meeting. The committee discussed about the development of energy geo-structures in China and the future work plan of the committee. The meeting discussed and approved that the 2^ndnational energy geo-structure &engineering symposium will be held in 2019 at Hohai University, Nanjing.

 Group photo of all members of the Technical Committee for Energy Geo-structure & Engineering

On the afternoon of August 27^th, representatives visited the underground construction site of BadalingChangcheng station, one of the stations of Beijing-Zhangjiakou high speed railway. The station is to-date the largest and the most complicated underground tunneling railway station. Representatives learned about the overall planning, the construction technologies, the construction procedures and the difficulties during the construction of the station. They also visited the in-situ heat response tests being carried out in the station by the research group led by Prof. Cheng Xiaohui of Tsinghua University.

 Planning of BadalingChangcheng station  &  Photo of in-situ heat response tests

Besides, the symposium has set up a long term Wechat official account. The account will publish regularly the slides of presentations on the symposium and will serve as a sharing and communication plat for researchers of energy geo-structures.

The Wechat official account of the 1^stnational energy geo-structure &engineering symposium