Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering Research Institute originated from the Department of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering of Xi'an Highway College in 1958.

In 1984, the discipline received the right to grant master degrees, and became the earliest engineering discipline for training foreign students.

In 1988, the tunnel engineering began to recruit undergraduates.

The Institute of Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering and the Department of Geotechnical and Tunneling were merged in 2000.

Then, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department was incorporated into the Institute of Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering in 2016.

Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education and the Key Laboratory of Highway Bridge and Tunnel in Shaanxi Province have taken hundreds of large research projects, including projects supported by the national science and technology, the traffic industry key research projects and the National Natural Science Fund Projects. The average annual scientific research funds reach up to 50 million yuan. The discipline has formed two stable subdisciplines of highway geotechnical engineering and highway tunneling engineering.

In recent years, Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering Research Institute has won 4 National Scientific and Technological Progress Awards, 6 Provincial and Ministerial Scientific and Technological Progress first prizes, 11 second prizes, nearly 200 high-level SCI and EI papers, and 13 monographs and textbooks. A large number of senior engineering and technical personnel in highway tunnels and underground engineering have been trained for our country's transportation industry.

The current research direction is:

Basic characteristics and engineering application of highway special soil; The approaches and theories of the treatment for bad highway foundations; The mechanism & design theories of the interaction between highway structures and geological medium; The design theories & approaches of deep foundations and new-type foundations for large-scale bridges in marine surroundings; The properties of surrounding rock masses of highway tunnels and structure design theories; The theories & approaches of the control for geotechnical and tunnel disasters in highway engineering;The technology of ventilation and disaster control in large-scale highway tunnels; Underground engineering and environmental geotechnical engineering; Disaster control for engineering structures; The management and technology in emergency of sudden natural disasters in highways.

Representative research equipment

System for tunnel ventilation

large geotechnical centrifugal experiment machine

Experiment platform of large -scale subsidence

Situation of major engineering projects

Key Technology about the Construction of super long Highway Tunnel under Complex Geology

This project relies on Baotou-Maoming Line (G65) Baojiashan Tunnel of National Expressway. Under the support of the Ministry of Transportation's research project and other research plans, it took seven years to overcome a series of key technical problems about the rapid construction and operation of super long highway tunnels in complex geology with independent innovation.

Key Technology of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Tunnel Project

A large-scale structural model test system for immersed pipe joints was developed, and the model test technology for coupling interaction between large-scale immersed pipe segment and soil under land conditions was realized. The scheme of using shear connector which can be assembled was proposed. Some measures which used for optimizing shear connector`s structural design were also put forward. A small-scale probe static penetration test in-situ testing technology suitable for centrifugal model test conditions was developed.