Zhi Jian, also known as Alan, is an MRes + PhD candidate at the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment (FIBE3 CDT). His research focuses on establishing a component-based method for analytically determining the moment-rotation behavior and predicting various failure modes of Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) connections. He is supervised by Dr. Jurgen Becque.
In 2022, Alan earned his BEng in Civil Engineering from the University of Edinburgh with first-class honors, receiving departmental prizes and a medal in recognition of his exceptional academic and research performance. His final year project analyzed the flexural behavior of concrete-filled lean-duplex stainless steel tubes. In 2023, he pursued an MPhil in Engineering at the University of Cambridge, where his project investigated novel types of CFS portal frame apex connections through experimental and numerical methods. This research included the pioneering experimental study of apex connections under uplift loading.
His research interests lie in the most crucial and prevalent connections in CFS construction, including inter- and intra-modular connections in buildings constructed from volumetric modules, CFS portal frame connections, and beam-to-beam and beam-to-column connections in CFS framing.
For more information: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhijian-zhang-3982bb19b)
