Abstract:

Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) and Fluid-Induced Vibration (FIV) in complex multi-physics environments present fundamental challenges in aerospace and marine engineering, impacting the safety and performance of offshore and aerial structures, while also offering promising opportunities for applications such as energy harvesting and amphibious vehicles. In this talk, I will share some of my research works on FIV and FSI through data-driven modeling, high-fidelity simulation, modal analysis, and experiments. Three phases are selectively outlined: Mechanism analysis of special FIV behaviors; FSI and FIV coupling multiphysics fields; and Data-driven modeling and modal analysis. Specifically, I will pay more contents to discussing critical geometric effects in galloping triggering, FIV considering cavitation and structural flexibility, and fast prediction of FIV via the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm. Finally,I will give a brief overview of the efforts I am leading at UC Berkley to use machine learning to enhance FSI predictions.

Biography: 

Dr. Zhi Cheng is now a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley, with a research initiative on the modeling and design of bioinspired vehicles equipped with flexible flapping wings. This project involves integrating physics-based machine learning with Computational Fluid/Solid Dynamics to enhance the modeling efficiency of FSI problems. Dr. Cheng got his Bachelor's degree in Power Engineering at Southeast University. During his Ph.D. at the University of Waterloo and visiting Ph.D. time at Duke University, under the supervision of Prof. Earl H. Dowell (NAE member), he focused on modeling development and the multi-scale mechanism analysis of FIV, which is closely correlated to marine and aerospace structure safety considering FSI problems. His work led to novel discoveries, including the role of geometric tapering in galloping instability and the development of novel data-driven models for three-dimensional nonuniform FIV. As a postdoctoral fellow at UBC, Dr. Cheng expanded his expertise to hydroacoustic and hydroelasticity and became a member of the Intelligent Coastal, Oceans, and Naval Systems Research Cluster. Dr. Cheng has published 12 first-author papers in top journals, including J. Fluid Mech., J. Fluids Struct., Int. J. Multiph. Flow.

ALL INTERESTED ARE WELCOME