Research

My research focuses on  turbulent flow modeling, with special emphasis on the turbulent transport of heat/air pollutants over urban environments, and turbulent drag reduction via bio-inspired design.

Publication

1. X. Zhu & W. Anderson (2019). Turbulent flow over urban-like fractals: prognostic roughness model for unresolved generations. Journal of Turbulence. 19(11-12):995-1016.
2. X. Zhu, G. V. Iungo, S. Leonardi & W. Anderson (2017). Parametric Study of Urban-Like Topographic Statistical Moments Relevant to a Priori Modelling of Bulk Aerodynamic Parameters. Boundary-Layer Meteorology. 162(2), 231-253.
3. Z. Wang, J. Yang, H.I. Andersson, X. Zhu et al. (2021). Numerical investigation on the flow around an inclined prolate spheroid. Physics of Fluids. 33(7), p.074106.
4. G. Li, J. Yang, X. Zhu & Z. Shen (2021). Numerical study on the heat transfer performance of coaxial shallow borehole heat exchanger. Energy and Built Environment. 2(4), pp.445-455.
5. F. Xu, J. Yang & X. Zhu (2020). A comparative study on the difference of CFD simulations based on a simplified geometry and a more refined BIM based geometry. AIP Advances. 10(12), p.125318.
6. J. Yang, A. Li, X. Zhu, X. Liu & Z. Shen (2020). Numerical study on the hydrodynamic performance of a novel electroplating cell with jet array and crossflow. Transactions of the IMF. 98(1), pp.42-47.
7. M. Liu, C. Xie, J. Yang, X. Zhu & M. Yao (2019). Numerical study on the flow over two circular disks in tandem arrangement. Physics of Fluids. 31(3), p.034102.
8. J. Yang, M. Liu, C. Wang, X. Zhu & A. Zhang (2018). Numerical study on uniform-shear flow over a circular disk at low Reynolds numbers. Physics of Fluids. 30(8), 083605.

Conference Presentation

1. X. Zhu, B. Minnick & D. Gayme (Nov. 2020). Restricted nonlinear (RNL) study of the mechanisms underlying drag reduction via riblets. 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society-Division of Fluid Dynamics. Chicago, Illinois. (Virtual)
2. B. Minnick, X. Zhu & D. Gayme (Nov. 2020). Scalar Transport in Restricted Nonlinear Turbulence. 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society-Division of Fluid Dynamics. Chicago, Illinois. (Virtual)
3. D. Gayme, B. Minnick & X. Zhu (Nov. 2020). Restricted Nonlinear Comparisons of Turbulent Flows over Spanwise Heterogeneous Roughness. 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society-Division of Fluid Dynamics. Chicago, Illinois. (Virtual)
4. X. Zhu, Minnick B., & Gayme, D. (Nov. 2019). Extending the restricted nonlinear model to flow over rough surfaces with spanwise heterogeneities. 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society-Division of Fluid Dynamics. Seattle, Washington.
5. X. Zhu & W. Anderson (Nov. 2018). Roughness Model for Unresolved Sub-grid Structures in Turbulent Flow Over Fractal Urban-like Topographies. 71st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society-Division of Fluid Dynamics. Atlanta, Georgia.
6. X. Zhu & W. Anderson (Jun., 2018). Large-Eddy Simulation Study of Turbulent Flow over Urban-like Fractals. 23rd Symposium on Boundary Layers and Turbulence of American Meteorological Society. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
7. X. Zhu & W. Anderson (Nov. 2017). Roughness model for LES of turbulent flow over multiscale fractal urban-like topography. 70th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society-Division of Fluid Dynamics. Denver, Colorado.
8. X. Zhu & W. Anderson (Nov. 2016). Dynamic roughness model for LES of turbulent flow over multiscale urban-like topography. 69th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society-Division of Fluid Dynamics. Portland, Oregon.
9. X. Zhu & W. Anderson (Jun. 2016). Large-eddy simulation study of urban-like topography statistical moments relevant to setting roughness length via a priori models. 22nd Symposium on Boundary Layers and Turbulence of American Meteorological Society. Salt Lake City, Utah.
10. X. Zhu & W. Anderson (Dec. 2015). A large-eddy simulation study on statistical attributes of urban-like geometries relevant to parameterizing bulk aerodynamic characteristics. 68th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society-Division of Fluid Dynamics. Boston, Massachusetts.
11. X. Zhu, H. Tang, H. Li, J. Hong & S. Yang (2013). Theoretical and Numerical Analysis of Heat Transfer in Pipeline System. Proceedings of 4th International Symposium on Computational Mechanics. 11-14.
12. X. Zhu, J. Li,Q. Liao, X. Zhu & D. Ye (2008). Effects of Ambient Conditions on the Cell Performance of a Passive Air-Breathing DMFC. Proceedings of ASME 6th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology. pp. 751-756.

Teaching

• 2019 Fall Teaching Assistant (Fluid Mechanics Lab), Johns Hopkins University
• 2019 Spring Teaching Certificate, Teaching Academy of Johns Hopkins University
• 2017 Spring Mentor for Young Women in Science and Engineering Investigators program, The University of Texas at Dallas
• 2013 Fall Mentor for Undergraduate Research, Nanyang Technical University