School of Computing and Mathematics

I obtained a BSc in Mathematics and Mechanics (1982) from Central South University, China, and an MSc (1986) and a PhD (1988) in Theoretical Mechanics both from the University of East Anglia and supervised by Dr. Nigel Scott. I then spent three years in Exeter University as a post-doctoral research fellow working with Prof. Philip Hall on a US Air Force funded project. In 1991 I was appointed to a Lectureship in Mathematics at the University of Manchester. Six year later, I moved to Keele University as a Senior Lecturer. I was promoted to Reader in 1999 and became Professor of Applied Mathematics in 2001.

I view myself as a typical applied mathematician and I work in the general area of solid mechanics. My main research interest is in characterizing linear and nonlinear elastic waves and stability/bifurcation of pre-stressed elastic solids and structures. Studies of elastic waves have important applications in signal processing, seismology and non-destructive testing, whereas stability/bifurcation analysis has applications in assessing the integrity of structures under stress. My recent contributions include (i) resolution of a long-standing dispute concerning the derivation of evolution equations for nonlinear surface acoustic waves, (ii) a Hamiltonian interpretation of the well-known Stroh formalism which provides the necessary framework for extending the Stroh formalism to other situations such as plate bending, (iii) further insight into the problem of localized bulging in inflated membrane tubes which has applications in aneurysm modelling; (iv) showing that subcritical localization is more susceptible to material or geometrical imperfections than classical subcritical bifurcations into sinusoidal patterns (to be more precise, the former obeys a square root rule whereas the latter obeys Koiter's two-thirds
power rule).

Scholarship: I am an editor for the IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics and an editorial board member of (i) Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica, (ii) International Journal of Applied Mechanics, and (iii) Acta Mechanica Sinica.

MAT-30003: Partial Differential Equations