Weidong Zhu Recognized for Engineering Innovations
Have you ever wondered how engineers can tell if a structure needs repairs? Weidong Zhu, professor of mechanical engineering at UMBC, is determined to make this process easier and more accurate. In conjunction with his graduate students, he has developed a unique method for testing and monitoring stationary objects for structural soundness.
The Daily Record recently recognized Zhu’s work by naming him an Innovator of the Year. The awards program recognizes Maryland individuals and companies that have created a product, service, program or process that has had a positive effect on their business, industry or community.
Zhu, whose research focuses on continuous system vibration and structural damage detection, is being recognized for his development of a vibration-based damage detection method that uses changes in natural frequencies of a structure to accurately detect the locations and extent of structural damage. Currently, structural damage can be detected through either visual inspection or ultrasonic testing, but these methods are not as thorough and have limited accuracy in detecting internal damage.
With several mechanical engineering graduate students in his Dynamic Systems and Vibrations Lab at UMBC, Zhu has developed new modeling techniques and inverse algorithms for structural damage detection. “Much of the work we do is theoretical, but it all has applications in industry,” says Zhu. These techniques have been used to test the lightning masts’ structural soundness at Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) electric substations. Testing can be done from the ground level, greatly reducing the employees’ risk for injury. His group is currently applying the methodology to other structures such as transmission towers, pipelines and cables, and the work is supported by the National Science Foundation and the American Society for Nondestructive Testing.
Zhu has also worked with other industries. In particular, his group has developed traveling cable and hoist cable vibration models for Otis Elevator, Mitsubishi Electric and ThyssenKrupp Elevator. A native of China, Zhu was recently named a Visiting ChiangJiang Scholar Chair Professor in General Mechanics by China’s Ministry of Education. For his three-year appointment, he will conduct short-term research at the Harbin Institute of Technology in the field of dynamics and vibration, with the goal of developing a collaborative research program with Chinese universities. Zhu has previously received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation for his work on continuous system vibration.
Zhu is most proud of the achievements of his students, who have gone on to prestigious jobs in both academia and industry, such as the United Technologies Research Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, A.O. Smith Electrical Products Company and Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Zhu received his Innovator of the Year Award on October 14 at an awards ceremony at the American Visionary Art Museum.
(10/19/09)
