Qingyu Chen

Lead Researcher

Investigated shape-locking phenomena in purely viscoelastic materials under mechanical loading without external stimuli, challenging the traditional understanding that shape locking requires rubber-to-glass phase transitions in shape memory polymers.

• Observed and characterized the shape-locking phenomenon in viscoelastic materials driven solely by rate-dependent mechanical loading.
• Conducted systematic experiments and numerical simulations spanning quasi-static to impact-level pulling rates.
• Revealed the universal, rate-dependent kinetic trapping mechanism underlying shape-locking across diverse viscoelastic systems.

Lead Researcher

Developed a magnetically controlled soft robot for bridge crack repair, addressing limitations of traditional repair methods, and explored magnetic material enhancement strategies for soft magnetic composites.

• Prepared magnetic PDMS composites with NdFeB powder and implemented folding magnetization for magnetic pole patterning.
• Optimized plate-column structures and identified contact area as the key factor governing adhesion performance.
• Demonstrated that equidistant multi-column arrangement significantly improves overall structural performance.

Core Researcher

Investigated dynamic characteristics of pedestrian overpasses under pedestrian and running loads using finite element simulations and MATLAB-based crowd-density crossing analysis to support comfort optimization.

• Performed Midas FEA simulations of single-person vertical loads on overpass structures.
• Integrated MATLAB with Midas to realize crowd-density crossing simulations.
• Provided analytical foundations for pedestrian overpass comfort optimization strategies.