Prof. Yang is well-known for his important contributions in the fields of Fracture Mechanics, Mechatronic Reliability and Micro/Nanomechanics. He is the author and co-author of 11 books and 260 technical papers in internationally refereed journals. He has supported and worked for collaborations with universities in the United States, Europe, Japan and elsewhere. His own postgraduate students have greatly extended his international reach with more than 10 of them holding engineering faculty positions in the United States and Europe. He has been honored extensively for his contributions world widely, including Honorary Doctorates from Brown University and the University of Bristol. His dedication to research and education has impacted various fields, such as:
Multiscale modelling and simulation
The dual nature of the material structure, i.e. continuous when viewed at large length scales and discrete when viewed at an atomic scale, leads to complex mechanical behaviors. The continuum and atomistic analyses methods, as well as multiscale materials modelling approaches, are crucial to understand the interdependences and the as-resulted structure-property correlation. Recent efforts in unveiling important mechanical and physical properties at various length scales have greatly shaped material design and optimization approaches by exploration of size dependencies. Multiscale modelling and simulation are playing an ever-increasing role in these areas to reduce development costs and manufacturing times.
Small scale mechanics
The study of small-scale mechanical behavior is at the forefront of research in materials science and applied mechanics. The impetus for the significant current activity in this field comes from the need to understand the critical roles of elasticity, plasticity, and fracture in small structures used in many modern technologies, including thin films for microelectronic devices, thermal barriers and coatings. In addition, mechanical phenomena in small-scale biological structures offer enticing opportunities to researchers in materials science and applied mechanics, who can investigate these phenomena with concepts and methods that have not previously been exploited by biologists.
Mechanisms of soft actuating materials and soft robots
Soft materials comprise a variety of physical systems that are deformed or structurally altered by thermal or mechanical stress of the magnitude of thermal fluctuations. They include liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials, liquid crystals, and a number of biological materials. These materials share an important common feature in that predominant physical behaviors occur at an energy scale comparable with room temperature thermal energy. Emerging technologies, such as soft robots, wearable devices and flexible electronics, make massive use of soft materials and put demanding requirements on the reliability. Experiments, theoretical modelling and simulation are crucial to understand the mechanical behaviors such as deformation, fracture and fatigue.
Sustained development of basic research
As the president of National Natural Science Foundation of China, Prof. Yang will deliver a keynote address on the sustained development of basic research in China and explore its impact to international science community. The interested colleagues from universities and research institutes are welcome to address in that issue.
