Summary
Dr Min Yu holds a four-year Imperial College Research Fellowship (ICRF 2022-2026) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, where he has started an independent research career. He was a Research Associate in Imperial College London (2018-2022), mainly sponsored by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Dr Yu received a Ph.D. degree in control engineering from Imperial College London, UK, in 2018 (supervised by Dr Simos Evangelou and Professor Daniele Dini), M.Sc. in mechatronic control engineering from Zhejiang University, China, in 2014 (supervised by Professor Huayong Yang), and B.Eng. in mechanical engineering from Xi'an Jiaotong University, China, in 2011.
Dr Yu's research vision is using control and sensing techniques to design smart engineering interfaces that improve mechanical performance and enable structural health monitoring. Dr Yu’s research is highly interdisciplinary and industrially relevant with applications to industrial systems (vehicles, robotics) and elements (bearings, seals, hydraulic pumps, suspensions), natural environment (soils), and medical health. Dr Yu has been awarded Imperial College Research Fellowship (ICRF 2022-2026) for the project 'intelligent lubrication: from open-loop to closed-loop'. He is also the principal investigator (PI) to a couple of research grants including Royal Society International Exchanges - Cost Share Scheme (Grant Number: IEC\NSFC\223044), Open Foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems (Grant Number: GZKF-202201), Taiho Kogyo Tribology Research Foundation (Grant Number: 21B09), Dame Julia Higgins Engineering Postdoc Collaborative Research Fund (2019), and Peter Jost Travel Fund (2022). Dr Yu's research has attracted industrial consultancy projects from ExxonMobil, Shell, Toyota, and OLA Electric. He has more than 30 peer reviewed papers published and 6 patents granted.
Dr Yu has been working closely with Control and Power Group, Tribology Group, Non-Destructive Evaluation Group, Optical & Semiconductor Devices Group, and Geotechnics Group within Imperial College London. He has collaborated with researchers from academic institutions all over the world, including Georgia Tech, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University, and Tsinghua University. He also has developed connections with companies, including Shell, ExxonMobil, PCS Instruments, Safran, JLR, and Toyota to solve engineering grand challenges.
Vacancy
1 PhD Studentship that fully covers tuition fees, stipend, and technical and professional training programmes is open to UK students, please see the details here. International students with strong education background and academic records are encouraged to apply scholarships.
My group's research is focused on active control of engineering interfaces, such as in mechanical bearings and seals, that aims to improve energy efficiency and enable structural health monitoring. Within the closed-loop control systems, the actuation will involve electrical field, magnetic field, thermal field, acoustic field, vibration, or fluid supply pressure. Non-destructive sensing techniques, including acoustic, electrical, and optical methods, will be used to probe variables that reflect solid-fluid contact condition, including fluid film thickness, fluid viscosity, contact friction and temperature. Optimal robust controllers, combined with adaptive and machine learning techniques, will be synthesized to reduce contact friction and thus save energy consumption. Both analytical / numerical modelling and experimental testing will be promoted. An interest in one of the following areas is essential: mechanical engineering, tribology, mechatronics, control, non-destructive testing, and signal processing.
Please check application process, academic and language requirements for PhD study here. To apply, email cover letter and CV to m.yu14@imperial.ac.uk
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Yu M, Evangelou S, Dini D, 2023, Advances in active suspension systems for road vehicles, Engineering, ISSN:2095-8099
Yu M, Evangelou S, Dini D, 2022, Parallel active link suspension: full car application with frequency-dependent multi-objective control strategies, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Vol:30, ISSN:1063-6536, Pages:2046-2061
Yu M, Reddyhoff T, Dini D, et al., 2022, Acoustic emission enabled particle size estimation via low stress-varied axial interface shearing, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol:71, ISSN:0018-9456
Yu M, Reddyhoff T, Dini D, et al., 2021, Using ultrasonic reflection resonance to probe stress wave velocity in assemblies of spherical particles, IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol:21, ISSN:1530-437X, Pages:22489-22498
Yu M, Cheng C, Evangelou S, et al., 2021, Series active variable geometry suspension: full-car prototyping and road testing, IEEE-ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, Vol:27, ISSN:1083-4435
Yu M, Zhang J, Joedicke A, et al., 2021, Experimental investigation into the effects of diesel dilution on engine lubrication, Tribology International, Vol:156, ISSN:0301-679X, Pages:1-9
Yu M, Shen L, Mutasa T, et al., 2020, Exact analytical solution to ultrasonic interfacial reflection enabling optimal oil film thickness measurement, Tribology International, Vol:151, ISSN:0301-679X, Pages:1-10
Yu M, Evangelou S, Dini D, 2019, Position control of parallel active link suspension with backlash, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Vol:67, ISSN:0278-0046, Pages:4741-4751
Yu M, Arana C, Evangelou S, et al., 2019, Quarter-car experimental study for series active variable geometry suspension, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Vol:27, ISSN:1063-6536, Pages:743-759
Yu M, Arana C, Evangelou S, et al., 2018, Parallel active link suspension: a quarter-car experimental study, IEEE-ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, Vol:23, ISSN:1083-4435, Pages:2066-2077