Research

Technical Specialization

• Steel structures and joints: analysis, experimental testing, design.
• Structural analysis: nonlinear finite element formulations, high performance computing.
• Wind hazards: hurricane simulation, hurricane fragility analysis, computational fluid dynamics.
• Uncertainty quantification using machine learning algorithms.

Research vision

Critical infrastructures, including power generation and transmission, communication, and transportation systems, are the mainstay of our society’s economy, security, and health. On one hand, these infrastructures are vulnerable to natural hazards such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires. One the other hand, we remain under the dense cloud generated by these infrastructures, which makes the goal of net-zero emissions one of the most defining challenges of the post-industrial era. My research aims to enhance resilience of critical infrastructures and make renewable energy more accessible and affordable to people. There are several specific directions for my work, which lie in collecting detailed asset data using machine learning approaches, developing hazard maps for life-cycle analysis of infrastructures, developing design methods for infrastructures in a system level using time-variant reliability and system reliability techniques, and conducting resilience analysis of interdependent infrastructure systems.

Research projects

• Fastened joints of solar PV structures
  This is a project funded by the U.S. DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO). More information can be found here.

• Hurricane risk analysis of electrical transmission networks
  This work is part of a NSF-funded project CRISP-1638234.
  • Nonlinear structure analysis of transmission towers
  • Uncertainty quantification and selection of hurricane wind records
  • Event-based fragility development of transmission towers under hurricanes
  • Regional damage assessment of transmission networks
• Beam-through steel frames with self-centering modular panels