Tongming Zhou

Professor Tongming Zhou is a faculty member in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at the School of Engineering, The University of Western Australia (UWA). He serves as Director of the UWA Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory and Program Chair for Civil Engineering, contributing to both academic leadership and industrial applications. His work bridges fundamental fluid mechanics with practical engineering challenges.

• Education: PhD in Fluid Mechanics from The University of Newcastle (1999)
• Teaching: Coordinates core units like CIVL2551, CIVL5551, and CIVL4402/CIVL3402 Hydraulics, emphasizing real-world application and industry collaboration

Research Interests focus on:

• Suppression of vortex shedding and vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) in cylindrical structures
• Enhancement of VIV and galloping for renewable energy harvesting
• Wave resonance in floating LNG facilities
• Sloshing dynamics in tanks with Newtonian/non-Newtonian fluids
• Wind tunnel testing for industrial wind load analysis

Recent Research Trends show interdisciplinary work combining experimental and numerical fluid dynamics, with applications to offshore engineering, maritime safety, and energy systems. His projects explore VIV in flexible risers, gas leakage effects on pipelines, and triboelectric nanogenerators for wind energy.

• Grants:
  • ARC Grant (2019-2021): Development of novel inerter-based dampers
  • ARC Grant (2013-2015): Local Scour below Offshore Pipelines
  • ARC Grant (2011-2015): Vortex & Force Characteristics of Inclined Cylinders
  • UWA Grant (2008): Control of Vortex Shedding with Helical Strakes

Facilities Leadership: Upgraded UWA’s Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel, Hydraulic Laboratory Water Flume, and 6DOF Hexapod motion platform, acquiring advanced equipment like PIV systems and high-precision load cells.