Mini Concrete Canoe Competition 2023
The CEE Mini Concrete Canoe Competition 2023 was successfully held during 9-22 August 2023. Co-organising with the Industrial Centre (IC) of PolyU, the competition is the first of its kind in Hong Kong to provide students with the unique and authentic chance to build a mini canoe with concrete materials. 30 students (six groups) from four 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 before competing 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. To learn the concept of 3D printing technology, students attended a workshop held by IC, in which they utilised 3D Printing software to draw, outline, and print out the mould for their unique designs. The students also visited IC’s Research Facilities, 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 canoes, 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 finally present their design concepts to the judges. Students were able to improve their collaboration, communication and project management skills during this programme.
The final competition comprised of the testing of buoyancy (under weight) and stability (under different wave conditions) of each canoe in the Hydraulics Laboratory in CEE. The best-performing concrete canoe was able to load 500g of weight. After considering the performance of the canoe, the students’ presentation skills and design innovation, the judges declared that China Holiness Church Living Spirit College (Group 1) was the Champion, 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. We hope all the students enjoyed their time and had sampled a taste of university life. Thanks also goes to all the support from CEE and IC members that made the competition a great success.
https://www.polyu.edu.hk/cee/news-and-events/news/2023/20230904_news/
