CSEA Annual Conference 2025 - Resilience and Sustainability in Structural Engineering

Reported by Angela Sha and Jocelyn Liao, reviewed and edited by Duo Huang, photos by Bin Su and Gaohong Ye

CSEA Group Photo

The Canadian Structural Engineers Association (CSEA) hosted its annual conference in Oakville, Ontario on November 22th, 2025. This marked CSEA’s 5th annual conference, which brought together more than 100 professionals, public representatives, consultants, contractors, educators and academics to share insights and connect with other fellow engineers in the industry. This year’s discussions mainly focused on resilience and sustainability in structural engineering. In addition, the conference offered a virtual online attendance option.

After the check-in at 10:00 am, President Liao started the event with a welcoming opening speech. Following that, two insightful keynote presentations were delivered under the moderation of Hangang Li and Cancan Yang. The first keynote presentation, titled “Gardiner Expressway Section 2” by Sherif Sidky. The Gardiner Expressway, in service for over 60 years, is undergoing rehabilitation in six sections. Sherif described his involvement on Section 2, the start of the elevated 18‑km highway, which involved substructure repairs and replacing 700 meters of girders and concrete deck. He also outlined the construction acceleration plan, which includes more equipment and modification methods, faster production and delivery of materials, contractor incentives and more. The team extended working hours to reduce traffic disruption and shortened project stages by several months.

The second keynote presentation is about “Re-Use, Re-Purposing, and the Benefit of Keeping Concrete Structures in Service”, presented by David Whitemore. He highlighted the importance of sustainability in rehabilitating concrete. He emphasized the significant carbon emissions generated in concrete production. Reusing existing structures helps reduce resource extraction and the need to manufacture new cement and concrete. The large ecological and economic impacts of producing new materials can easily be avoided by keeping concrete structures in service. David also introduced a non-profit organization P+EX (pexcoe.org) focuses on the sustainability benefits of preserving and extending the life of concrete structures.

Following the keynote presentation, Sheng Wang hosted a panel discussion on sustainability and resilience. The panel featured well-experienced speakers, including Helen Deng, Hangang Li, David Whitmore, Arnold Yuan, Brady Lin and Philip Loh. Each speaker shared valuable insights and expertise in response to thought‑provoking questions from both the moderator and the audience.

Following the panel discussion, a session was held to present gifts and take photos with the speakers, event sponsors, as well as this year’s newly joined lifetime members. In addition, committee members Cancan Yang, Feng Gao, Duo Huang and Hunt Zhong delivered the CSEA annual reports, highlighting key achievements and initiatives for CSEA committees this year.

Panelist Group Photo

2025 New Life Time Members Group Photo

From 13:00 to 14:00, the attendees enjoyed a delicious lunch break and networking opportunities.

Afternoon presentations were divided into two sessions, held simultaneously in two rooms. The second-floor session had four presenters, while the first-floor session included three. First-floor first speaker Claire Spriggs presented “Life-Cycle and Emissions Assessment of Rehabilitation Alternatives for the Montana Avenue Bridge”. Claire gave a talk on a life cycle and emissions assessment of the Montana Avenue Bridge, emphasizing the importance of detailed service-life modelling. She outlined key stages of reinforcement corrosion, including initiation, propagation, and surface deterioration, and identified chloride-induced corrosion near abutment edges as a major durability concern due to insufficient concrete cover. Her evaluation compared freeze-thaw and corrosion-mitigation repair strategies, with a baseline option involving patching with anodes. Claire concluded that successful rehabilitation hinges on accurately identifying all deterioration mechanisms and selecting repairs that provide the best balance of durability and performance.

The second speaker on the first floor was Emad Booya, who talked about “Advancing UHPC Sustainability: Cement Reduction and Structural Applications in Bridge Foundation”. In his presentation, Emad discussed advances in Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC), highlighting its exceptional compressive strength reaching over 120 MPa, and its superior durability in harsh climates. He addressed the environmental challenge posed by UHPC’s high cement content and presented a sustainable alternative using glass powder as a partial cement replacement. Experimental results showed that a 35% replacement rate provides optimal performance, significantly reducing carbon footprint while exceeding the strength of conventional concrete. He then presented a case study of a bridge site near Kapuskasing, Ontario, where UHPC piles replaced traditional steel piles, confirming both structural and environmental benefits.

The last speaker on the first floor was Runxiao Zhang, who presented about “Concrete as a Carbon Sink: How to Understand the Role of Concrete (Re)Carbonation in Achieving Net-Zero”. Runxiao explored the role of concrete as a carbon sink within the pathway to achieve net-zero emissions. He explained that cement’s carbon footprint arises from roughly one-third direct emissions and two-thirds process emissions, making accurate carbon accounting essential. He emphasized the need to integrate concrete (re)carbonation, its natural ability to reabsorb CO₂ during service life, into evaluation methods. His research focuses on developing a reliable approach to quantify this CO₂ uptake and ensure it is appropriately included in lifecycle assessments.

Arnold Yuan started off the afternoon session on the second floor. His topic was “From Structure Design to Infrastructure Asset Management”. He first outlined the evolution of structural design philosophy, focused on the limit state design principle and clarified the distinction between structural design life and service life. Then he moved onto the topic of infrastructure asset management (IAM), provided a high-level overview of structural reliability analysis behind the current structural design codes, and introduced the basics of IAM workflow with a focus on bridge management. He explained that asset management aims to meet infrastructure needs, while infrastructure management seeks to maximize value of money. Arnold contrasted asset managers who rely on visual inspections for budgeting and asset prioritization, with structural engineers who depend on detailed inspections for structural evaluation. He highlighted the challenges in budgeting and bridge treatment that arise from these differing perspectives.

The second speaker on the second floor was Brady Lin, who presented “Reuse of Foundation and Case Study”. Brady explained that while bridges may require superstructure replacement, their foundations can still retain significant functional value. His presentation opened the option of reusing foundations, offering major benefits such as cost savings, improved project scheduling, resource conservation, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. He also provided a case study of a bridge over Highway 401 near Brockville that outlined the detailed investigation process of the existing H-pile foundation and demonstrated MTO’s commitment to advancing the technical standards of structures across Ontario.

The third speaker on the second floor was Jianlin Tao, who talked about his innovative Rotao transit system and his topic was “The Central-Wall-Beam and Open-Deck Design is Optimal for the Metro Viaduct”. He addressed several issues in the construction and operation of traditional metro transit systems, then introduced the Rotao Viaduct system – a unique design with a central wall beam flanked by open-deck cantilevers on both sides. This system uses 30% less material, reducing installation and transportation costs while accelerating construction. Jianlin demonstrated how the Rotao’s hybrid transit system operates – a multi-level transportation system formed by adding RoTao elevated tracks and ancillary facilities over the existing road traffic. He concluded by highlighting several benefits and solutions that are offered by the Rotao system.

Lastly, the final presentation was presented by Philip Loh, who spoke on “Innovating Sustainable Bridge Infrastructure with Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) Structural Element”. He first introduced the formation and usage of the UHPC and its benefits, including enhanced strength, durability, and ductility. Then the UHPC H‑piles were introduced in detail, followed by a discussion on the design optimization of splice connections in UHPC piles. He showed experimental data from Western University’s structural laboratory, confirming that the splice design performs adequately in both flexural and shear testing. He also presented some Facca’s jobsites, where field testing has been carried out involving the installation and performance monitoring of test piles.

The event concluded with a final chance to network with others after 4:30 pm, providing the attendees with the final chance to connect and share thoughts on the presentations.

In summary, the CSEA Annual Conference was a big success, with structural engineering pros coming together to share and learn. As people leave with new ideas and connections, the event has a lasting impact, pushing the industry towards more innovation, sustainability and shared knowledge. The CSEA is excited to keep this going, bringing structural engineers together and inspiring them in the coming years.

Our Sponsors

Special thanks go to all our sponsors of this event, who helped make it possible:

Tabletop Sponsorship with three admissions at a cost of $600:

⦁ Facca Incorporated.

⦁ Vector Corrosion Technologies.

Sponsors with a banner exhibit and two admissions at a cost of $300:

⦁ D & H Contracting and Trading Inc.

⦁ 99 Financial Inc.

Event Sponsors Group Photo

And many thanks go to all our volunteers of this event who helped organize this event. Our event volunteers are listed alphabetically by last name:

Feng Gao, Yiming Hu, Duo Huang, Hangang Li, Haixue Liao, Daniela Lu, Sarah Sha, Kenny Shi, Bin Su, Raymond Su, Cancan Yang, Gaohong Ye, Tianyang Yin, Sheng Wang and Hunt Zhong.

High school volunteers: Ada Li, Joycelyn Liao, Angela Sha and Kevin Shi.

If you are interested in helping CSEA organizing events, and if your high school children are interested in getting volunteering hours from CSEA events, please reach us at info@csea.ca