Tianjian Ji

Biography

Tianjian graduated in Civil Engineering and studied a three-year MSc course in Structural Mechanics. He worked at China Academy of Building Research then Harbin Institute of Technology in China before coming to England in 1986. Studied on tension structures at City University, worked as a Research Fellow on welding diffusion problems at Birmingham University, which led him to being awarded a PhD degree in 1991. He then worked as a consultant on structural dynamics at Building Research Establishment. Joined UMIST as a Lecturer in 1996 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2002. Tianjian's specific area of technical expertise is in the field of structural vibration induced by human movements, such as dance floors and grandstands subjected to rhythmic crowd loading. His research includes structural dynamics, in particular, human-structure interaction and structural vibration induced by rhythmic crowd loads, structural concepts and finite element modelling of structural dynamic behaviour. He has studied experimentally and theoretically human loads generated from jumping, bouncing and walking, dynamic behaviour of floors and grandstands, and their responses to human loads. He has published over 100 articles in the above areas. He published a book, Seeing and Touching Structural Concepts, by Taylor and Francis in 2008. It demonstrates a combination of his teaching, research and practice relating to structural concepts (www.structuralconcepts.org). The book has been translated into Chinese and published by the Higher Education Press in China in 2009.

Research Interest

Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering