Education

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (September 1992-May 1998)
  
  • Sc.D. in Mechanical Engineering: June 1998
    Major: applied mechanics. Minor: computer-aided design.
  • Thesis: Full-Scale Simulation of Multiple Scattering of Elastic Waves in Fiber Reinforced Composite
    
  • Courses include wave propagation, nonlinear dynamics, system dynamics and control, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, CAD, computational geometry, etc.
• University of Tennessee at Knoxville (August 1990-August 1992)
  
  • Ph.D. candidate, Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics
    
  • Courses include: computational mechanics, applied mathematics, numerical analysis, mechanics of composite materials, viscoelasticity, plasticity, plastics design and fabrication, etc.
• Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (September 1985-August 1988)
  
  • Master of Engineering in Applied Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics: August 1988.
    
  • Thesis: Computer Simulation of Damage Evolution in Nonlinear Viscoelastic Composites
    
  • Course include rational mechanics, fracture mechanics, elasticity, finite element theory, etc.
• University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China (September 1980-June 1985)
  
  • Bachelor of Science in Solid Mechanics, Department of Modern Mechanics: June 1985.
  • The undergraduate curriculum in UTSC covers extremely extensive courses in the major subject, mathematics, physics, as well as other ``standard'' courses

Computer Skills

Research Interests

Research Projects

• Thermography and ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation for multi-layered composite sandwich panels
(Sponsored by ONR)
• Full-Scale Simulation of Multiple Scattering of Elastic Waves in Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials: Basic research for developing new techniques for nondestructive material characterizations and evaluation in the micro-structural level (Sponsored by ONR)
• Moisture Effects in Composite Materials: Study the nonlinear moisture diffusion and its effects on mechanical properties in both micro and macro scales (Sponsored by ONR)
• Design of Loading Tab for Composite Specimens: Use FEM to optimize the tab geometry in order to minimize the stress concentrations in the specimens caused by the loading tabs
• Nonlinear Viscoelastic Damage Behaviors of Composite Materials: Efforts to distinguish and characterize the two effects in fibrous composites (Sponsored by Chinese NSF)
• Prediction of the Strength and Mixed-Mode Crack Propagation Direction in Anisotropic Materials: Proposed criteria and performed extensive experimental verification, won a research award

Computer Projects

• GolfPro -- A Computer Aided Golf Course Design System: Full-featured package that features NURBS surface editing, trimming and contouring, puddle detection, ground work estimation, simulation of golf game
• Greedy Packer -- A 2-D Packing System to pack random 2-D geometrical objects into a rectangular region while communicating with a game enforcer who sets the competition rules
• 3-D Data Visualization System: for scientific data visualization of my thesis needs, since some features cannot be found in any available packages
• A simple 3-D graphic program: Use low level Xlib functions' off-screen buffering mechanism to animate the continuous rotation of a simple 3-D object
• A Finite Element Analysis package: for 2-D linear elastic analysis, completed with a simple mesh generator and some post-processing features

Extracurricular

• Member of Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society (Tennessee Alpha)
• Member of Standing Committee of Chinese Young Mechanics Scientist Association, 1987
• Chairman of Academic Affairs, Graduate Student Association of the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1987-1988

Invited Talks

• May 2000: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Florida International University.
• November 2000: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

Publications

Books

• Shuangyin Zhang, Jiqing Liu, Xiaoxia Yu, Liang-Wu Cai, Mechanical Properties of Composite Structures, Beijing University of Science and Technology Press, 465 pp., Beijing, China, 1992. (ISBN: 7-81013-601-1/O.91)
• Shuangyin Zhang, Weiping Zheng, Liang-Wu Cai, Introduction to Composite Materials, Chinese Construction Industry Press, 315 pp., Beijing, Chinese, 1989. (ISBN: 7-112-00164-1/TU.109)

• Liang-Wu Cai, James H. Williams, Jr., Ultrasonic detection of face sheet-core debonding of polymeric composite sandwich panels, submitted for publication, January 2001.
• Liang-Wu Cai, Anton, F. Thomas, James H. Williams, Jr., Thermographic nondestructive evaluation of polymeric composite sandwich panels, submitted for publication, June 2000.
• Liang-Wu Cai, James H. Williams, Jr., NDE via stop band formation in fiber reinforced composites having square fiber arrangements, Ultrasonics, 37(7), 483-492, 1999.
• Liang-Wu Cai, James H. Williams, Jr., Full-scale simulations of elastic waves scattering in fiber reinforced composites, Ultrasonics, 37(7), 463-482, 1999.
• Liang-Wu Cai, James H. Williams, Jr., Large-scale multiple scattering problems, Ultrasonics, 37(7), 453-462, 1999.
• Liang-Wu Cai, Y. J. Weitsman, Non-Fickian Moisture Diffusion in Polymeric Composites, Journal of Composite Materials, 28, 130-152, 1994.
• Shuangyin Zhang, Liang-Wu Cai, The Strain Energy Density Ratio Criterion for Prediction of Cracking Direction and Failure Strength in Composite Materials, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 37, 881-889, 1990.
• Shuangyin Zhang, Liang-Wu Cai, Extending Tsai-Hill and Norris Criteria to Predict Cracking Direction in Orthotropic Materials, International Journal of Fracture, 40, R110-R104, 1989.
• Liang-Wu Cai, Shuangyin Zhang, Prediction of Mixed-Mode Cracking Direction in Random, Short Fiber Composite Materials, Composite Science and Technology, 31, 97-110, 1988.
• Shuangyin Zhang, Liang-Wu Cai, Strain Energy Density Ratio Criterion for Failure of Composite Materials, Chinese Science Bulletin, 34, 1173-1175, 1989.
• Shuangyin Zhang, Liang-Wu Cai, Predicting the Mixed-Mode Cracking Direction in Composite Materials, Acta Mechanic Scinica (in Chinese), 21, 441-449, 1989.
• Liang-Wu Cai, Creep Behaviors in Composite Materials, Advances in Mechanics (in Chinese), 18, 494-510, 1988.

• Liang-Wu Cai, Anton, F. Thomas, J. Cho, James H. Williams, Jr., Thermographic nondestructive evaluation of polymeric composite sandwich panels, Research Review for US Office of Naval Research, Tuskegee University, AL, April 2000.
• Liang-Wu Cai, Using Stop Band Formation for Characterizing Interphase Properties of Composite Models Having Square Fiber Arrangements, 1999 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Nashville, TN, November 14--19, 1999.
• Liang-Wu Cai, James H. Williams, Jr., Towards Full-Scale Simulations of Elastic Wave Scattering in Fiber Reinforced Composites, Thirteenth U.S. National Congress in Applied Mechanics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL., June 21-26, 1998.
• Liang-Wu Cai, Shuangyin Zhang, Experimental Characterization of Non-linear Viscoelastic and Creep Damage of Short Fiber Composite, Proceedings of C-MRS International'90 Symposium, Beijing, China, June 18-23, 1990.
• Liang-Wu Cai, Experimental Determination of Non-Linear Viscoelastic Properties of Composite Materials in Presence of Damage, Proceedings of Fifth National Conference on Composite Materials (in Chinese), vol.1, pp. 312-317, Xian, China, October, 1988.
• Liang-Wu Cai, Singularity Analysis of Stress Around a Notch Tip of Arbitrary Angle, Proceedings of the First Annual Meetings of China Young Mechanics Scientists Association, Paper No. 129, Lanzhou, China, July, 1987.

Others

• Won the second prize, as the second author, of Chinese Academy of Sciences' ``Science and Technology Achievement Awards'' in 1991
• Master thesis was recommended as "Best Dissertations of the Chinese Academy of Sciences" by the Institute of Mechanics, 1988.
• Held an administrative position in the Ministry of Personnel in the Chinese Government, doing research on national policy toward intellectuals, during 1988-1990
• Enjoy photography, painting, listening music, computer programming

References available upon request.