The Road and Bridge Engineering Laboratory of the School of Transportation, Jilin University, was established in 1992. Over nearly three decades of development, it has undergone substantial transformation—in floor space, facilities, and instrumentation, as well as in overall management standards and faculty development—resulting in marked improvements in both experimental teaching and research capacity. The laboratory was designated a Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Highway Engineering in 2008, recognized as a Provincial Demonstration Center for Experimental Teaching in 2011, and received Jilin University's "Edelberg" Laboratory Safety Award in 2020.
The laboratory occupies 2,200 square meters of floor space, houses more than 800 sets of instruments and equipment, and is staffed by 4 full-time laboratory technicians. Its advanced equipment includes a multifunctional loading system; a static and dynamic structural performance testing system; a system for field measurement and simulation-based optimization analysis of road and bridge structures; an acoustic emission detector; an MTS electro-hydraulic servo structural fatigue testing machine; a Cooper multifunctional pneumatic asphalt material testing machine; a dynamic triaxial testing machine; a computer-controlled electro-hydraulic servo pressure testing machine; a high–low temperature alternating test chamber; a rapid freeze–thaw testing apparatus for concrete; a Swedish MALA ground-penetrating radar system; a vibration testing and analysis system; and a rebar testing instrument, among other equipment.
The laboratory supports a range of undergraduate experimental courses, including Road Engineering Materials, Soil Science and Soil Mechanics, Surveying, Bridge Inspection and Strengthening, Application and Practice of Bridge Structural Software, and Comprehensive Application and Practice of Road Engineering Software. It also provides strong support for graduate training and faculty research, having undertaken more than 300 vertical and horizontal research projects, including projects under the National Key Research and Development Program, the National High-Tech Research and Development Program (863 Program), the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and various provincial and ministerial research programs.
