Engineering scientist is a model of success

[Video courtesy of the Australian Academy of Science]

Every day, millions of people travel by car, train, ship and aircraft. When accidents happen, the structures of these vehicles must protect lives, and often just in a fraction of a second. So rather than relying on physical trial and error, I developed advanced computational mechanics models to predict how structures deform, absorb impact energy, and ultimately fail under extreme conditions. 

I'm Jianguang Fang, currently I'm an Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney.

Traditionally, safety can be improved by adding more material. Make it stronger, stiffer, maybe tougher. But heavier vehicles consume more energy, produce more carbon emissions. This creates a conflict between safety and sustainability. So my work tries to tackle this problem by rethinking how structures are designed. 

This work starts from fundamental mathematics and physics. So I developed advanced computational mechanics models, including a framework called phase field fracture modelling. These models allow us to explore hundreds or even thousands of design opportunities.

When we apply these optimisations, the results converge to a very smart structure, but we also need to validate our model. So in order to do that, first we need to manufacture the samples. So basically we add materials as we fabricate the components.

It's not like the traditional manufacturing to remove material from a block. This structure can be used to absorb impact energy multiple times. By using less material more intelligently, our research supports safer vehicles and lower carbon emissions across multiple transport sectors.

I'm grateful to my students and collaborators and truly honoured by this recognition from the Australian Academy of Science. It encourages me to keep pushing engineering boundaries to help build a safer and greener future.