BRIEF DETIALS OF DR TIANJIAN JI



Dr Tianjian Ji is a Senior Lecturer in Structural Engineering at the University of Manchester. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers and a Registered Analyst of the NAFEMS (National Agency of Finite Element Methods and Standards).  Before joining UMIST in 1996, he had worked in industry for over ten years, including Building Research Establishment at Watford and China Academy of Building Research in Beijing. He received his BSc and MSc degrees in Civil Engineering and Structural Mechanics respectively from Harbin Institute of Technology in China and PhD degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham in 1991.

His specific area of technical expertise is in the field of structural vibration induced by human movements, such as dance floors and grandstands subjected to rhythmic crowd loading. His research includes structural dynamics, in particular, human-structure interaction and structural vibration induced by rhythmic crowd loads, structural concepts and finite element modelling of structural dynamic behaviour. He has studied experimentally and theoretically human loads generated from jumping, bouncing or walking, dynamic behaviour of floors and grandstands, and their responses to human loads. He has published over 100 articles in the above areas. He published a book, Seeing and Touching Structural Concepts, by Taylor and Francis in 2008 which demonstrates a combination of his teaching, research and practice relating to structural concepts (www.structuralconcepts.org). The book has been translated into Chinese and published by the Higher Education Press in China in 2009.

In addition to research and teaching, he has actively taken consultancy work for helping to solve practical vibration problems. He led a team and took vibration measurement of the London Eye and frequency measurement of the Govan Stand of the Ibrox Stadium before and after its extension, and provided consultancy on vibration problem of the Wembley Stadium. The other technical consultancies include vibration of the Coventry Stand, vibration assessment of dance floors and human loading. He worked as a consultant and/or expert witness for solicitors for providing or reviewing remedial schemes of dance floors with low natural frequencies. He also provided advice on vibration reduction of the Beijing Great Wheel with a diameter of 208m.

Dr Ji is one the two writers of BRE Digest 426: The response of structures to dynamic crowd loads (Second edition 2004, ISBN 1 86081 1744). The Digest provided background information for the related clauses in BS6399-1: Loading for Buildings, and a method for estimating floor vibration induced by rhythmic crowd jumping loads. The document has been widely used for assessing dance floors in the UK. A spectral method was developed in 2009 based on the Digest for assessing the safety and serviceability of floors subjected to rhythmic crowd loads.  The method has been implemented linking to ANSYS finite element analysis, which effectively speeds up the assessment.

Dr Ji is a Visiting Professor at Harbin Institute of Technology in China and member of the Application & Professional Review Panel, The Institution of Structural Engineers. He was a member of the joint ISTRUCTE, ODPM and DCMS Working Group onDynamic Performance and Design of Stadia Structures and Seating Decks. His early paper, floor vibration induced by dance type loads – theory, was awarded a Henry Adams Award Diploma from the Institution of Structural Engineers in 1995. His talk, how and why to study structural concepts? at a meeting during the 2009 session was awarded the Lancaster & Cheshire  Branch Prize. He has received research grants from EPSRC, Leverhulme Trust, the Royal Society and the Institution of Civil Engineers, and teaching grants from the University of Manchester, the Education Trust of the Institution of Structural Engineers and the Engineering Subject Centre of the Higher Education Academy.