Focusing on Structural Health Monitoring
Professor Yan Wangji is from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) of the FST, he is also one of the research members of State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City (SKL-IoTSC). and the Centre for Regional Oceans. Before joining UM, he served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He achieved the Huangshan Young Scholar professorship in 2014 by Hefei University of Technology where he served as a Full Professor. In 2018, he achieved Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship and went to the UK for researching. When discussed about the reason of teaching at UM, he says, ‘UM has grown rapidly since moving to the new campus, it brings in many expertise which is very similar to HKUST before, so I am very confident in UM’s future.’
Structural health and safety monitoring
Professor Yan’s research focuses on structural health monitoring, such as health and safety monitoring of bridges and towers. ‘The health of each structure can be reflected through signal and data processing. It is the same with human’s heartbeat and blood pressure, our health level can be monitored via these data. Just like we need to check with doctor for the reason of illness before we get proper medical treatment.’ Prof Yan shares, ‘more attention nowadays is paid to the maintenance of structure, as the life of each structure can reach decades, or even hundreds of years, regular health monitoring can help to pretend potential public safety hazards.’
Interdisciplinary study
Facing the tide of artificial intelligence, new technologies have already had an impact on different industries and research fields. The research on structural health monitoring has no exception. ‘Most of the works such as signal processing, data collection, data analysis and safety assessment for structures can incorporate artificial intelligence technology.’ Prof Yan says. ‘There could be more new industries emerge in the future, students should not limit themselves to one field when there are so many rich opportunities.’
Experiences on the research journey
To successfully make a breakthrough in academic study, it is necessary to go through a long-term researching and long-term hard working, it is usual for spending years of time to solve a research problem. Prof Yan shares his experiences on the journey of research, ‘only when you endure the loneliness, you can insist yourself in the enjoyment.’ Prof Yan also encouraged students to be more persistent and patient. He hoped that more talents could join into the research group in the near future, and continue to make achievements in structural health monitoring and structural dynamics.
顏王吉教授 — 研究結構健康監測的學者
顏王吉教授是科技學院土木及環境工程系的副教授，同時也是智慧城市物聯網國家重點實驗室的研究成員之一。在加盟澳大前，顏教授曾擔任香港科技大學博士後研究員，2014年入選黃山青年學者在合肥工業大學擔任正教授，2018年獲得歐盟瑪麗居裡學者計畫資助並到英國進行研究。他說:「澳大自搬到新校園後，發展便突飛猛進，引入很多專才，聯想到了母校香港科大的發展歷程，所以我對澳大前景充滿信心。」
建築物健康監測
顏教授的研究重點是結構健康監測和結構動力災變分析，如橋樑、軌道和建築等的健康監測及安全分析。「每座建築物是否健康，是可以透過信號處理並提取健康指標反映出來，就像人類有心跳、血壓和心電圖可以監測到健康情況，結構健康監測也像給人看病一樣，找出致病原因方可對症下藥、精准治療。」顏教授說:「近年建築物的老化現象越來越嚴重，而建築物的設計壽命可達數十年，甚至上百年，進行結構長期健康監測可避免潛在的公共安全隱患。」
跨學科的研究
面對人工智慧等新興學科的世界浪潮，各個行業及領域皆迎來了新科技、新技術。結構健康監測的研究也不例外，顏教授表示，在監測信號採集、處理、健康診斷和狀態評估等方面都可引入人工智慧技術，將來也不排除有更多新興行業出現，希望學生與時俱進，並不斷求索。
研究之路的分享
要在研究上有所進展，就要經過長期鑽研及努力，縱使遇上瓶頸位或花費以年計算的時間去解決一個疑點亦屬等閒事。顏教授形容研究之路就是要「耐得住寂寞，才能守得住繁華。」勉勵學生要懂得堅持和忍耐。他期望有更多志同道合的專才加入結構振動與監測的研究團隊 ，在結構健康監測和動力災變的研究上貢獻力量。
Professor Yan shared his research in
structural health monitoring
顏教授分享他有關結構健康監測的研究