CEE Mini Concrete Canoe Competition 2023 was successfully conducted during 9 - 22 August 2023. Co-organizing with Industrial Centre (IC) of PolyU, the competition is the first of its kind in Hong Kong to provide students with the unique and authentic exposure to build a mini canoe with concrete materials. 30 students (6 groups) from 4 local secondary schools, including China Holiness Church Living Spirit College, Munsang College, SKH Holy Carpenter Secondary School and St. Paul’s Secondary School, participated in a series of trainings and workshops to compete for the championship.
The programme commenced with lectures delivered by Dr Shipeng Zhang, Assistant Professor of CEE, and Dr Alireza Keramat, Research Assistant Professor of CEE, on the knowledge and principles of concrete materials, canoe design and hydraulics. In order to gain the concept of 3D printing technology, students attended the workshop held by IC, in which they had the opportunity to utilize the 3D Printing software to draw, outline, and print out the mould of their unique designs. The students also visited the Research Facilities in IC, including the Building and Construction Workshop and Surface Engineering Workshop, where the latest 3D Printing Equipment and technology were demonstrated.
To allow students to have hands-on experience in creating their own concrete canoe, they were brought to the Concrete Technology Laboratory of CEE to experience the process of concrete mixing, casting and curing. Throughout the activity, students were required to cast the concrete to their designed mould, demould the canoe after a week of drying, polish and design their canoe and present their design concepts to the judges. Students were able to improve their collaboration, communication and project management skills during the programme.
The final competition comprised of the testing of buoyancy (under weight) and stability (under different wave condition) of each canoe in the Hydraulics Laboratory in CEE. The best performed concrete canoe was able to load 500g weight. After considering the performance of the canoe, students’ presentation skills and design innovation, China Holiness Church Living Spirit College (Group 1) won the Championship, while St. Paul Secondary School and China Holiness Church Living Spirit College (Group 2) won the 1st Runner-up and 2nd Runner-up respectively. Congratulations to all awardees for their hard work during the whole competition. Hope all the students enjoyed the competition and had a taste of university life. Thank you for all the support from CEE and IC members to make the competition a great success.
