Background Information

Received training in Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences, my research focuses on understanding the physical origin of strength and deformability of advanced solids in engineering practices. Through theoretical analysis and by adopting cutting-on-edge computational tools, I and my students have been able to develop deep understanding about the most common defects in two-dimensional crystallites, and made a step forward to solve the elasticity of kinked cracks, where are ubiquitous both in nature and in engineering practice.

Research Field

I work on theoretical analysis for the strength and failure of solids, including the elastic field solutions to typical defects and cracks, the strengthening and toughening mechanisms of advanced materials, as well as constitutive modelling on solids. I supplied the elastic solution of 5-7 rings in two-dimensional hexagonal lattice and laid out the foundation of defect-interaction in two-dimensional crystals. We has made significant contribution to understand the structure-property relationship in advanced metallic materials, and developed an effective way around the strength-ductility tradeoff in a particular kind of steel called twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel by introducing gradient twins through applying torsion to the cylindrical TWIP steel. I and my student solved theoretically the strain energy release rate of a hydraulic crack with arbitrary angles with respect to the crustal stress and deduced the closed-form solution to the hydraulic deflection criterion. I also supplied a rigor analytical solution to the stress fields of kinked cracks. The solution is applicable to deflected cracks of arbitrary lengths, in sharp contrast to the previous formulae valid only for small kinks. The research of our group pushes forward the development of solid mechanics.

Educational Background

2001-2006: PhD (majoring in Applied Mechanics), Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT 

1997-2000: Master (majoring in Solid Mechanics), Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

1992-1997: Bachelor (majoring Mechanics), Department of Mechanics, Beijing University

Work Experience

2022-Present: Chair Professor, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo

2010-Present: Professor, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

2014-Present: Professor, School of Engineering Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

2008-2010: Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Alabama

2000-2001: Assistant Professor, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, CAS

Academic Experience

2014-2014: Visiting Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

2011-2012: Visiting Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder

Academic Part-time Jobs

2020-Present: Associate Editor, Excutive, Acta Mechanica Sinica (SCI: 2.9)

2020-Present: Editorial Board member, Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (SCI: 3.9)

2021-Present: Editorial Board member, Modelling & Simulation in Mater. Sci. & Engng. (SCI: 2.4)

2022-Present: Editorial Board member, European Journal of Mechanics - A/Solids (SCI: 4.9)

2010-Present: Editorial Board member, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Letters

2015-Present: Editorial Board member, Acta Mechanica Solidia Sinica

Awards and Honors

2013, 2019, 2020: Excellence in Teaching Award of Chinese Academy of Sciences

2013: Young Investigator Award of Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics

Representative Works

General Information

More than 120 SCI papers; one textbook. More than 7000 SCI citations by others.

Works Information and Citation Data

Google Scholar:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&pli=1&user=TzDqygsAAAAJ

Web of Knowledge:

http://www.researcherid.com/rid/A-3770-2009

10 Representative Works (* refers to the corresponding author)

• Yujie Wei, Engineering Science of Solids: Applied Mechanical Theories and Applications to Engineering Materials (In Chinese), Higher Education Press, 2021.

• Wen, Zou, Zhang, Shi, Wei. The scaling of charging rate and cycle number of commercial batteries. Acta Mech. Sin., Vol. 38, 222108 (2022).

• Liu & Wei. An analytical solution to the stress fields of kinked cracks. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 156, 104619 (2021).

• Gu, Wei, Yin, Li, Yang. Colloquium: Phononic thermal properties of two-dimensional materials. Rev. Mod. Phys. 90, 041002 (1–30) (2018).

• Zeng & Wei, Crack deflection in brittle media with heterogeneous interfaces and its application in shale fracking. J. Mechanics and Physics of Solids 101, 235–249 (2017)

• Wei et al. Evading the strength-ductility trade-off dilemma in steel through gradient hierarchical nanotwins, Nature Communication, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4580 (2014).

• Wei et al. The nature of strength enhancement and weakening by pentagon-heptagon defects in graphene, Nature Materials 11, 759–763 (2012).

• Li, Wei, Lu, Lu, Gao. Dislocation nucleation governed softening and maximum strength in nano-twinned metals, Nature 464, 877–880 (2010).

• Wei and Anand. Grain-boundary sliding and separation in polycrystalline metals: application to nanocrystalline f.c.c. metals, J. Mechanics and Physics of Solids 52, 2587–2616 (2004)

• Wei, Xia, Ke, Yin and Bai, Evolution Induced Catastrophe and its Predictability, Pure and Applied Geophysics 157, 1945–1957 (2000), doi: 10.1007/PL00001069.