Dr Xiangming Zhou

Xiangming is a Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University. He joined Brunel in October 2008. Before that, he was a Lecturer then Senior Lecturer in Structural Engineering at University of Greenwich from January 2007. He has conducted post-doctoral research at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He received his PhD in Civil Engineering from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is also holding two degrees, BEng in Civil Engineering and MEng (Res) in Structural Engineering, both from Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

Xiangming’s research covers a board range of topics in construction materials and structural engineering. In the area of Construction Materials, he focuses on advanced concrete technology such as extrusion, low carbon and low energy cementitious and cementless materials such as magnesium oxychloride cement and geopolymer concrete made from metakaolin, calcined clay, pulverised fly ash (PFA), and/or ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) etc., testing and modelling of rheology and early-age engineering properties of cement-based materials, fracture testing and modelling of concrete, synthetic and/or natural fibre reinforced concrete etc. In Structural Engineering, his research covers seismic testing, analysis and design of steel-concrete composite high-rise building, performance-based multi-hazards mitigation of building structures under extreme loadings, precast concrete segmental bridges, and multi-scales (nano-, micro-, meso- and macro-) modelling of fracture and structural behaviour of construction materials and infrastructures which brings his expertise in construction materials and structural engineering under one umbrella.

Xiangming is currently the Scientific Manager of a European Commission 7th Framework Programme funded cooperation project, FIBCEM, with the value of €3.8 million delivered by a consortium with 10 partners from 5 EU member state countries. He is also the PI of an EPSRC project on developing a new method for assessing cracking potential of concrete and other cement-based materials. He has also participated in other national and international collaborative research projects.

Xiangming has lectured structural design, structural mechanics, structural dynamics, bridge design, construction materials, sustainability, civil engineering drawing, computer modelling in civil engineering etc. at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, University of Greenwich and Brunel University at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Xiangming has conducted peer review for the EPSRC and the Royal Society. He has been invited to reviewed manuscripts by more than 10 international journals and is appointed an editorial board member of Advances in Concrete Construction: An International Journal of Sustainability and Innovation in Concrete Construction (to start in March 2013). He has also served Technical Program Committee Chair and session chairs in a number of international conferences. He has also been External Examiner for PhD thesis in other UK university. He has received 1st Class Natural Sciences Award by Chinese Ministry of Education for the research on Seismic Effects on Building Structures jointly with a group of collaborators in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Academic / Research Career

• Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering Design, School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, from August 2011
• Lecturer in Civil Engineering Design, School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, from October 2008
• Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Structural Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Greenwich, from January 2007 to September 2008
• Post-Doctoral Fellow, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, from April 2006 to January 2007
• Visiting Scholar and Instructor, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, from January 2005 to March 2006

Education

• Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, University of Greenwich, March 2009
• Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, April 2005
• Master of Engineering in Structural Engineering (2.5 years research degree equivalent to MPhil + MSc), Tongji University, Shanghai, China, July 2000, 2.5-year research degree
• Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China, July 1997

Research Interests

• Concrete technology, such as development of advanced cement-based materials & building products using extrusion technique, design and numerical modelling of extrusion systems for cement-based materials & products
• Testing and modelling fracture and shrinkage cracking of concrete and other cement-based materials at early ages
• Constitutive modelling of rheology of semi-solid fibre-reinforced cement-based materials at very early ages
• Computation mechanics in civil engineering structures and materials, multi-scale (nano-, micro-, meso- and macro-) modelling of fracture and structural behaviour of cement-based materials and structures
• Advanced low carbon cement materials such as geopolymer and magnesium oxychloride cement
• Supplementary cementitious materials, such as GGBS, PFA and metakaolin, in concrete and other cement-based materials
• Performance-based multi-hazards mitigation of building structures under extreme loadings like earthquakes and strong winds; Seismic design of building structures
• Steel-concrete composite structures, earthquake engineering & seismic design
• Structural test, both static and dynamic, and numerical modelling of structures and components in tests

Current Research

• Engineering and Physical Science Research Council – “A Novel Method for Assessing Cracking Tendency of Concrete at Early Ages,” EP/I031952/1, project value £130,796 (with EPSRC contribution £102,136), PI, 01 Sept 2011 ~ 31 Aug 2013. http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/NGBOViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/I031952/1.
• European Commission 7^th Framework Programme - “Nanotechnology Enhanced Extruded Fiber Reinforced Foam Cement Based Environmental Friendly Sandwich Material for Building Applications (FIBCEM),” FP7-NMP-2010-SMALL-4-262954, http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/rcn/101041_en.html, Scientific Manager of the whole project and Work Package Leader. The project value is €3,780,608 (with European Commission contribution €2,747,570). PI of the share of €495,024 (with European Commission contribution €377,836 equivalent to £320,214), 01 Dec 2011 ~ 30 Nov 2014. The project involves 10 partners from 5 EU member state countries http://www.fibcem.com/.
• European Commission LIFE + Environment Policy & Governance, “Utilisation of Recovered Wood and Rubber for Alternative Composite Products (WOODRUB),” LIFE09 ENV/ES/000454, Co-I. The whole project value is €1,838,968 (with European Commission contribution €918,192) with €98,362 (£79,969) allocated to Brunel, 01 Sept 2010 ~ 31 Aug 2013 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.dspPage&n_proj_id=3650.

Previous Research

• Engineering and Physical Science Research Council Summer Vacation Research Projects for Derrick Gordon – “Monitoring and Interpretation of Hydration Process and Strength Development of Low Carbon Geoement/Geopolymer Materials at Early Ages using Non-Contacting Resistivity Measurement,” PI, project value £2,565, 17 Jun 2012 ~ 16 Aug 2012.
• Brunel Research Initiative & Enterprise Fund - “A New Method for Investigating Shrinkage Cracking of Hardening Concrete: Experimental and Numerical Modeling”, LBK909(904/2009), PI, project value £15,000, 01 Nov 2009 ~ 30 Oct 2010.
• UK Royal Academy of Engineering International Travel Grant, PI, project value £900, May 2010.
• UK Royal Academy of Engineering International Travel Grant, PI, project value £500, May 2009.
• University of Greenwich Research and Development Fund - “A New Method for Investigating Restrained Shrinkage of Fibre-Reinforced Concrete,” PI, project value £5,000, 01 Aug 2007 ~ 31 Jul 2008.
• Hong Kong Polytechnic University Area of Strategic Development Fund - “Performance-based Design and Analysis of Smart Hybrid Building Structures in Moderate Seismic and Strong Wind Regions,” project Fellow, project value HK$736,000 (equivalent to around £60,000).

Teaching

• Structural Mechanics
• Introduction to Structural Design
• Steel and Concrete Design
• Communication, Management and Professional Skills
• Sustainable Construction and Computing
• Construction and Sustainability

Peer esteem

• Editorial board member of “Advances in Concrete Construction: An International Journal of Sustainability and Innovation in Concrete Construction”, Techno Press, start in March 2013.
• External Examiner, PhD in Civil Engineering, University of Strathclyde.
• Invited peer reviewer, Engineering and Physical Science Research Council and the Royal Society.
• Invited peer reviewer for more than 10 international journals.
• Technical Program Committee Chair and session chairs in a number of international conferences.

Awards

• Chinese Ministry of Education Natural Sciences Award (1^st Class) for the research on “Seismic Effects on Building Structures: Theoretical Studies and Applications” (the 9^th winner), 2006.

Publications

Journal Papers

(Forthcoming) Zhou, XM., Li, ZJ., Fan, MZ. and Chen, HP., Rheology of Semi-Solid Fresh Cement Pastes and Mortars in Orifice Extrusion, Cement and Concrete Composites

(2013) Zhou, XM., Ghaffar, S., Dong, W., Oladiran, O. and Fan, MZ., Fracture and Impact Properties of Short Discrete Jute Fibre-reinforced Cementitious Composites, Materials and Design 49 35- 47

(2013) ZHOU, XM. and Li, GQ., A Macro-element Based Practical Model for Seismic Analysis of Steel-Concrete Composite High-Rise Buildings, Engineering Structures 49 91- 103

(2013) Dong, W., Wu, Z. and Zhou, X., Calculating crack extension resistance of concrete based on a new crack propagation criterion, Construction and Building Materials 38 879- 889

(2012) Chen, HP., Guo, Z. and Zhou, X., Stress singularities of contact problems with a frictional interface in anisotropic bimaterials, Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures 35 (8) : 718- 731

(2012) Fan, M., Ndikontar, M., Zhou, X. and Ngamveng, J., Cement-bonded composites made from tropical woods: Compatibility of wood and cement, Construction and Building Materials 36 (1) : 135- 140

(2012) Zhou, X., Slater, J., Wavell, S. and Oladiran, O., Effects of PFA and GGBS on early-ages engineering properties of Portland cement systems, Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology 10 (2) : 74- 85

(2012) Zhou, X. and Li, Z., Light-weight wood-magnesium oxychloride cement composite building products made by extrusion, Construction and Building Materials 27 (1) : 382- 389

(2011) Zhou, X. and Li, Z., A constitutive model for fiber-reinforced extrudable fresh cementitious paste, Computers and Concrete 8 (4) : 371- 388

(2010) Zhou, X. and Li, G., Shaking table model test of a steel-concrete composite high-rise building, Journal of Earthquake Engineering 14 (4) : 601- 625

(2009) Zhang, YS., Sun, W., Li, ZJ. and Zhou, X., Geopolymer extruded composites with incorporated fly ash and polyvinyl alcohol short fiber, ACI Materials Journal 106 (1) : 3- 10

(2009) Zhou, X. and Li, Z., Numerical simulation of ram extrusion in short-fiber-reinforced fresh cementitious composites, Journal of Mechanics of Materials and Structures 4 (10) : 1755- 1769

(2008) Zhang, Y., Sun, W., Li, Z., Zhou, X., Liu, E. and Chau, C., Impact properties of geopolymer based extrudates incorporated with fly ash and PVA short fiber, Construction and Building Materials 22 (3) : 370- 383

(2007) Zhou, X. and Xu, YL., Multi-hazard performance assessment of a transfer-plate high-rise building, Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration 6 (4) : 371- 382

(2007) Zhou, X. and Li, Z., Numerical Simulations of upsetting process of the fresh fiber-cement paste, JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS-ASCE 133 (11) : 1192- 1199

(2006) Zhou, X. and Li, ZJ., Upsetting Tests of Fresh Cementitious Composites for Extrusion, Journal of Engineering Mechanics 132 (2) : 149- 157

(2005) Li, Z., Zhang, Y. and Zhou, X., Short fiber reinforced geopolymer composites manufactured by extrusion, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering 17 (6) : 624- 631

(2005) Zhou, X., Mickleborough, N., Li, Z., Rombach, G., Specker, A., Turmo, J., Ramos, G. and Aparicio, A., Shear strength of joints in precast concrete segmental bridges (Note), ACI Structural Journal 102 (6) : 901- 904

(2005) Li, Z., Chau, CK. and Zhou, X., Accelerated Assessment and Fuzzy Evaluation of Concrete Durability, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering 17 (3) : 257- 263

(2005) Zhou, X. and Li, Z., Characterizing rheology of fresh short fiber reinforced cementitious composite through capillary extrusion, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering 17 (1) : 28- 35

(2005) Zhou, X. and Li, Z., Characterization of Rheology of Fresh Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites through Ram Extrusion, Materials and Structures 38 (1) : 17- 24

(2005) Zhou, X., Mickleborough, N. and Li, Z., Shear strength of joints in precast concrete segmental bridges, ACI Structural Journal 102 (1) : 3- 11

(2004) Li, Z., Zhou, X. and Shen, B., Fiber-cement extrudates with perlite subjected to high temperatures, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering ASCE 16 (3) : 221- 229

(2004) He, Z., Zhou, X. and Li, Z., New experimental method for studying early-age cracking of cement-based materials, ACI Materials Journal 101 (1) : 50- 56

(2003) Qian, X., Zhou, X., Mu, B. and Li, Z., Fiber Alignment and Property Direction Dependency of FRC Extrudate, Cement and Concrete Research 33 (10) : 1575- 1581