An expert in using advanced smart structural technologies for the monitoring and protection of civil infrastructure systems, Assistant Professor Yang Wang joined the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Georgia Tech in 2007.
“The safety and reliability of infrastructure systems are essential for human societies” says Dr. Wang, “and the condition of these systems may deteriorate rapidly due to material aging, improper usage, harsh environment, and damages resulting from natural or man-made hazards.”
Due to the large scale and high complexity of typical buildings, bridges, tunnels, dams, and other civil structures, the task of monitoring and protecting them is extremely challenging. Dr. Wang’s Laboratory for Smart Structural Systems is capitalizing on recent advances in wireless communication, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), and integrated circuits to design low-cost modular structural monitoring and control systems to make real-time intelligent decisions for these complex structures. He works on both the physical implementation and the theoretical formulation in wireless structural health monitoring and control.
Wang states “In the future, hundreds or even thousands of miniature wireless sensors mounted on a civil structure will be able to acquire and process measurement data, communicate with each other, and make informed decisions about the structure’s safety condition. And when connected with structural actuators, the wireless sensors can also form a feedback structural control system to effectively mitigate undesired structural vibration during earthquakes or typhoons.”
Prior to joining CEE, Wang completed his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at Stanford University in 2007. His primary research interests include structural health monitoring and damage detection, optimal decentralized structural control, smart materials and structures, wireless sensor network, numerical simulation and advanced computing technologies, structural dynamics, and earthquake engineering. Wang is a member of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
For more information about Dr. Wang’s research, visit his research website.
More information about Dr. Wang can be found on his CEE faculty web page.
