Rui ZHANG , male, Associate Professor, Master's Supervisor, Ph.D. in Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, High-Level Overseas Talent of Sichuan Province, Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Member of the Engineering Resilience and Disaster Prevention Committee of Sichuan Civil Engineering Society. His current research focuses on the productization and industrialization of High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites (HPFRCC, including ECC and UHPC).

【Teaching】

Courses taught include Principles of Concrete Structure Design, Civil Engineering Experiment and Measurement Techniques, the all-English course Civil Engineering Materials II: Cement and Concrete, and the training course High-Performance Concrete for High-Speed Railways offered by the Infrastructure Inspection Department of China State Railway Group. He has led 3 teaching reform projects and participated in 3 others. In terms of student innovation guidance, he has led undergraduate students three times to participate in the Steel Bridge Competition and Concrete Canoe Competition at the ASCE Student Conference, achieving outstanding results. From 2020 to 2024, he continuously guided university teams to participate in the International Student Concrete Canoe Dragon Boat Competition, winning one Grand Prize and multiple Second and Third Prizes. From 2022 to 2024, he continuously supervised undergraduate students from the School of Civil Engineering and the Liyuan College (civil engineering direction) in the National College Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (formerly "Internet+" competition), securing 2 national silver awards, 2 national bronze awards, and several provincial gold awards.

【Research】

His research areas focus on the development of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCC) and the mechanical and seismic performance of their composite structures. Current key research directions include material development, composite member design, and 3D printing technology applications for Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) and Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC). He has led one project under the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, one sub-topic of a National Key R&D Program, one project from the Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and several horizontal research projects. He has co-authored one national standard — Technical Standard for Ultra-High Toughness Concrete Prefabricated Components in Substations— and three local standards: Technical Standard for Segmental Precast Ultra-High Toughness Concrete Girder Bridges in Sichuan Towns, Technical Standard for Urban Ultra-High Toughness Composite Steel Deck Structures in Sichuan, and Technical Standard for Application of Ultra-High Performance Concrete Precast Components in Sichuan. In the past five years, he has published over 20 papers, including multiple articles in CAS Q1/Q2 journals such as Composite Structures, Engineering Structures, and Construction and Building Materials, three EI-indexed papers in China Journal of Highway and Transport, two papers in Proceedings of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, and holds 3 invention patents and 2 utility model patents.

【Industry Application】

Focusing on proprietary cost-effective ECC and UHPC materials, current application domains cover energy, railways, water conservancy, military, highways, and building construction. The new materials and structures developed by his team have been successfully applied in numerous scenarios, including:

• New energy and power grids (e.g., booster stations No. 1, 2, and 3 of Zhongheng Longxuan First Wind Farm under CHN Energy Longyuan Power; substations and ultra-fast charging stations of State Grid Shanxi Company and China Southern Power Grid Yunnan Company);

  
  

• Railway/highway side ditch covers (e.g., Guiguang High-Speed Railway bridge section of Nanning Bureau, G15 Shenhai Expressway Wenzhou section);

  
  

• High-speed/conventional railway track structure maintenance (e.g., anti-crack repair of Chengdu-Chongqing High-Speed Railway, mud-pumping treatment of Daqin Railway Company);

  
  

• Existing railway tunnel lining reinforcement (e.g., Shuohuang Railway of CHN Energy);

  
  

• Hydropower station apron anti-abrasion repair (e.g., Naqu Jinqiao Hydropower Station in Tibet);

  
  

• Airbase runway emergency repair;

  
  

• Bridge jointless connection slabs (e.g., Dongfeng Canal Branch Bridge on Shaxi Line, Chengdu, Sichuan);

  
  

• Bridge expansion joint anchorage zones (e.g., Lingge section of Yongguan Expressway on G15 Shenhai National Expressway);

  
  

• Bridge precast pile casings (e.g., multiple highway bridges in Mianyang and Guangyuan, Sichuan);

  
  

• Existing masonry structure reinforcement (e.g., No. 99 Tianxiang Street, Chenghua District, Chengdu; Chenghua City Investment; Shifang Jinqiao Hotel in Deyang, etc.).