Zhenzhong Hu

    He received both his BE and PhD degree in the Department of Civil Engineering at Tsinghua University, China. He was a visiting researcher in Carnegie Mellon University.
    He is now the associate professor in Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, and also the secretary general of the BIM Specialty Committee of the China Graphics Society.
    His research interests include information technologies in civil and marine engineering, building information modeling (BIM) and digital disaster prevention and mitigation.
  • TOP

    The research group will recruit several PHD and master students and 2 postdocs.

    There are three requirements for doctoral and master students  enrollment: (1) Applicants should have an engineering background and have a strong interest in information technology. Applicants should have obtained a relevant bachelor's or master's degree; (2) Strong technical background, including but not limited to research experiences in offshore engineering structural analysis, marine environment numerical simulation and prediction, marine digital twin, etc. Candidates with research or practical experiences in numerical algorithms, industrial software development, or high-performance computing will be preferred; (3) Highly self-motivated, good written and oral English communication skills, and independent working ability.

    Postdoctoral recruitments should also meet the following two points: (1) The applicant should be under the age of 35 and have obtained a doctoral degree no more 3 years; (2) The research directions are civil engineering information technology, Marine environmental information modeling and application, data-driven knowledge discovery and application, etc. (Note: postdoctoral candidates are required to present a half-hour academic presentation, including the main research works during PHD period and future postdoctoral work plans).

    If you are interested, please send your resume, transcripts and work plan to the email: hu.zhenzhong@sz.tsinghua.edu.cn. For details, please see: PHD Master Recruitment and Postdoctoral Recruitment.

  • 2026-11-10

    A method and system for domino-effect risk assessment based on dynamic escalation and environmental evolution enhancement have been granted an invention patent certificate (Patent No.: ZL202611181110.1).

    The present invention discloses a method and system for domino-effect risk assessment based on dynamic escalation and environmental evolution enhancement. The method comprises: quantifying and calculating the initial propagation probability based on causal strength; dynamically updating the propagation probability through three sub-mechanisms—disturbance-resistance degradation, persistent-source amplification, and synergistic coupling enhancement—to achieve environmental evolution enhancement; triggering the evolution of secondary accidents based on self-triggering probability and a delay time-window function; constructing and filtering a three-layer causal network at the equipment, station, and regional levels; quantifying the system-level comprehensive risk based on node-level risk and importance weights; quantifying uncertainty through Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis; and finally performing benchmark validation and interpretability output. The present invention enables dynamic, multi-scale, interpretable, and verifiable risk assessment of domino effects, and can be widely applied in fields such as offshore oil and gas platforms, floating wind farms, offshore substations, liquefied natural gas receiving terminals, and hazardous chemical storage at ports.

    Note: The inventors of this patent also include postdoctoral researcher Li Yihong, doctoral student Shen Tong, doctoral student Guo Jinxiao, and Professor Duan Menglan.

  • 2026-10-26

    The paper "Knowledge Extraction and Discovery Based on BIM: A Critical Review and Future Directions," published by the research group, has surpassed 100 citations on Google Scholar.

    This study has attracted wide attention from the academic community, as it addresses the core pain point of knowledge management in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. For a long time, industry knowledge has mainly relied on personal experience and been scattered across hard-copy documents and isolated databases, making systematic retrieval and reuse difficult. By deeply integrating knowledge science with BIM technology, this research systematically reviews the latest research progress from five aspects: knowledge description, knowledge discovery, knowledge storage and management, knowledge inference, and knowledge application. It points out that BIM, through semantic networks, knowledge graphs, and other related methods, can serve as a high-quality information carrier for knowledge extraction and discovery. The study also notes that such knowledge is valuable in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance periods of the AEC industry.

    In addition to this work, the research group has published several other papers focusing on BIM-based knowledge engineering. Among them, the paper "BIM-based integrated delivery technologies for intelligent MEP management in the operation and maintenance phase" has been cited 301 times (with the author as first and corresponding author). This study focuses on digitalization of operational and maintenance information, establishing a complete closed-loop from "data integration" to "system implementation," effectively supporting intelligent management of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Another paper, "A natural-language-based approach to intelligent data retrieval and representation for cloud BIM," has received 243 citations (with the author as corresponding author). Addressing the industry's challenges of integrating multi-source information and managing increasingly large volumes of BIM data throughout the entire lifecycle of AEC projects, this study proposes a method for intelligent data retrieval and representation in cloud BIM based on natural language processing, which was validated for feasibility in the Kunming Airport Terminal project.

  • 2026-10-17

    Recently, China Graphics Society announced the results of its 2026 Incentive Program evaluation, and I was honored to be selected for the “Distinguished Graphics Teaching Award (Young Scholar Category) Incentive Program” of the China Graphics Society.

    The Distinguished Graphics Teaching Award Incentive Program of the China Graphics Society is established to honor graphics educators who have long been engaged in graphics education and teaching, emphasized teaching reform and practice, and demonstrated outstanding teaching competence and remarkable teaching effectiveness. It represents the highest teaching honor for graphics teachers in higher education institutions nationwide. The Program was first launched in 2024 and is conducted annually, with no more than 10 recipients selected each time—no more than 5 for the Distinguished Graphics Teaching Award and no more than 5 for the Distinguished Graphics Teaching Award (Young Scholar Category). This year’s evaluation went through multiple stages, including nomination (self-recommendation), qualification review, on-site defense by candidates, on-site expert evaluation, and final committee review. A total of 5 educators were ultimately selected, with the Distinguished Graphics Teaching Award left vacant this year and 5 recipients selected for the Distinguished Graphics Teaching Award (Young Scholar Category).

    This recognition is both an affirmation of my teaching and talent cultivation work, and a source of motivation for further improvement. Going forward, I will continue to move forward steadily.

  • 2026-10-09

    The invention titled "Method and System for Structural Damage Identification of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines" has been granted a patent certificate (Patent No.: ZL202611188223.4).

    This invention discloses a method and system for identifying structural damage in floating offshore wind turbines. The method includes: establishing a joint state space incorporating discrete damage states and continuous operational conditions; acquiring multi-source dynamic response data and performing window-based feature extraction; using a temporal neural network to generate proposals for discrete damage states, and employing a neural posterior estimation model combined with a uniform distribution to generate proposals for continuous parameters; calculating observation likelihood based on a structural response prediction model; correcting particle weights via sequential Monte Carlo by integrating constraints on irreversible damage evolution, transition relationships among continuous parameters, and statistical patterns of activation rates; and recursively updating and applying backward smoothing to obtain posterior distributions of damage states, continuous parameters, damage activation rates, and the first activation time, which are then outputted. By unifying external operational variations and damage evolution within a sequential inference framework, this approach avoids misinterpreting environmental-induced modal drift as structural damage, delivering probabilistic identification results that support online safety assessment and maintenance decision-making for floating offshore wind turbines.

    Note: The inventors of this patent also include doctoral student Jiang Chunhao and postdoctoral researcher Liu Yi.