About

Fuh-Gwo Yuan is the Samuel P. Langley Distinguished Professor at North Carolina State University in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His research focuses on areas related to aerospace engineering, with a particular emphasis on hypersonics and related high-speed aerodynamics. As a distinguished faculty member, he contributes significantly to advancing the understanding of hypersonic flow physics and the development of related technologies. His role involves leading research initiatives that accelerate hypersonics research, and he is recognized for his contributions to the field of aerospace engineering. Yuan's work supports the department's mission to foster innovation and excellence in aerospace research and education, and he plays a key role in mentoring the next generation of aerospace professionals.

Research topics

• Acoustics
• Computer Science
• Materials science
• Physics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Structural engineering
• Engineering
• Composite material
• Computer vision
• Electronic engineering
• Mathematics
• Algorithm

Selected publications

• Study on Rapid Damage Reconstruction Method Based on Finite-Difference Reverse Time Migration Using Acoustic Waves

  e-Journal of Nondestructive Testing · 2026-01-05

  articleOpen access

  For the nondestructive detection of small-scale damage in large metallic isotropic thin-plate structures, existing ultrasonic guided wave damage detection technologies have achieved basic damage localization. However, due to limitations in detection principles, imaging algorithms, and hardware systems, issues such as low positioning accuracy, low detection efficiency, and the inability to acquire morphological information persist. This study investigates a finite-difference-based reverse time migration (RTM) imaging algorithm, grounded in the complex interaction mechanisms between laser ultrasonic guided waves and structural damage. The algorithm employs two-dimensional time-domain acoustic wave finitedifference numerical calculations to compute both the incident and back-propagated scattered wavefields, thereby improving computational efficiency. Signal preprocessing and calibration methods for array wavefields are studied to maximize the extraction of scattered wavefields. A Gabor wavelet is used as the excitation signal, and a preprocessing scheme is proposed to match simulated and acquired array wavefields, including excitation time calibration, amplitude calibration, and velocity calibration. Based on finite element simulations and experimental laser ultrasonic data, array wavefield data of irregular damages with indentations and sharp corners are obtained. The damage is reconstructed using the FD-RTM imaging method. The research results provide guidance for the rapid reconstruction method of damage morphology.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Research on damage detection method of dispersive wave imaging location for CFRP material board

  e-Journal of Nondestructive Testing · 2026-01-05

  articleOpen access

  Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) is widely used in the reinforcement of key concrete components due to its light weight, high specific strength, high specific modulusand corrosion resistance. With the aim of studying the influence of CFRP damage monitoringguided wave dispersion, the elliptical trajectory intersection location imaging methodwasused to perform experiments on concrete reinforcement using CFRP for damage monitoring. The ef ects of the unconsidered dispersion and the introduced dispersion on the wave speedare compared and analysed in the study. After correcting the experimental resultsbymeasuring the group velocity curves of the reinforcement CFRP board in all directions, theimaging positioning accuracy showed improvement.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Composite sandwich structures: Damage detection and assessment using ultrasonic guided waves

  Elsevier eBooks · 2024 · 3 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Materials science
  • Acoustics
  • Composite material
  PublisherDOI

• Shear Performance of RC Beams Strengthened with Steel Strand Wire Mesh–Reinforced Engineered Cementitious Composites under Cyclic Loading

  Journal of Composites for Construction · 2024-09-18 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author

  A steel strand wire mesh (SSWM)–reinforced engineered cementitious composite (ECC), referred to as SSWM-ECC, is a promising composite material for structural strengthening owing to the combination of the high strength of SSWM and the high ductility of ECC. This paper presents an application of SSWM-ECC for shear strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams subjected to cyclic loading. First, cyclic loading tests were conducted on two control beams and five strengthened beams, considering various shear span-to-effective depth ratios, reinforcement ratios of the SSWM, and strengthening schemes. The test results showed that brittle failure and degradation of the shear properties of the strengthened beams were effectively mitigated. Compared to the control beams, the ultimate load, cracking load, service load, ductility, and energy absorption of the strengthened beams increased by 18%–40%, 145%–208%, 35%–126%, 20%–65%, and 58%–96%, respectively. The improvement in shear performance increased with increasing reinforcement ratio of the SSWM and shear span-to-effective depth ratio. In addition, the fully wrapped strengthening method effectively confined the concrete, resulting in a more significant increase in the shear performance of the beams compared to the U-wrapped and both-sided methods. Furthermore, a modified truss arch model was developed to predict the shear strength of the strengthened beams. The results predicted by the proposed model exhibited greater accuracy than those generated by various existing models, including those commonly utilized in the field.

  PublisherDOI

• Ultrasonic wavefield imaging in structural health monitoring: A review

  Elsevier eBooks · 2024-01-01 · 6 citations

  reviewSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Impact damage imaging for composite structures using guided wave techniques with 3D digital image correlation

  2023-04-18

  articleSenior author

  This paper presents an integrated system capable of damage imaging of barely visible impact damage (BVID) in composite structures. This system applies guided-wave-based structural health monitoring using 3D digital image correlation, or GWSHM-3D DIC to produce a map of subsurface damage using a short video from a stereo pair of synchronized digital cameras. The proposed system overcomes many limitations of previous efforts of GWSHM that used 2D digital image correlation (DIC). First, 3D DIC can capture the higher-amplitude out-of-plane displacements associated with the anti-symmetric wave mode, lowering the spatial resolution requirements of the cameras. Second, a total wave energy (TWE) imaging condition is employed that uses the monogenic signal via a Reisz transform to obtain the local instantaneous amplitude as a contribution to wave energy. This condition can highlight local resonance in the damage region without the need for high frame rates to fully reconstruct the wavefield. With significantly lowered spatial and temporal resolution requirements of the cameras, high-stiffness materials like composites can be inspected or monitored with a larger field-of-view (FOV). Additionally, signal enhancement techniques intended to increase the effective resolution of the camera are no longer necessary, which reduces the data acquisition time from many hours to a few seconds. To demonstrate this integrated dual-camera concept with the TWE imaging condition, the system was used to image damage in a CFRP composite sandwich panel that had been subjected to a low-velocity impact. Initial damage maps produced for a 100-mm ´ 100-mm FOV using a three-second video pair show precise damage imaging ability that is comparable to benchmark ultrasonic and x-ray scans. This efficient and reliable integrated system demonstrated high potential for in-time damage inspection on composite aircraft and other critical structures.

  PublisherDOI

• A defect localization method based on self-sensing and orthogonal matching pursuit

  Ultrasonics · 2022 · 13 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science
  PublisherDOI

• Comparison of image correlation algorithms for hidden damage laser speckle photometry

  2021-03-19 · 2 citations

  article

  This paper explores laser speckle photometry (LSP), a recent optical-based image analysis tool, as a method for detecting barely visible impact damage (BVID) in composite structures. This non-contact optical-based method provides the potential for large-scale scanning of aircrafts in real time to unearth BVID which would typically go unnoticed during routine inspections. In exploring LSP, various image correlation algorithms were tested to determine the most effective. The typical error-based correlation algorithm of mean squared error (MSE) was compared to two more advanced algorithms, normalized cross-correlation (NCC) and structural similarity (SSIM) index. Thermal LSP was conducted on a composite honeycomb panel with a surface dent of maximum depth 0.5 mm. The underlying damage was around 30 mm in diameter. When compared to the baseline experiments conducted using C-Scan and a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV), it was found that only with limited cooling (around 2 seconds) did the algorithms produce consistently accurate results. Among the three imaging conditions, MSE and certain configurations of SSIM provided results that aligned the best with the baselines. Upon extended cooling, LSP produces too many false positives to be useful regardless of correlation algorithm used. Nevertheless, LSP shows great promise as a real-time non-destructive inspection tool not only in the aerospace industry but also in industries such as additive manufacturing where defects are prevalent.

  PublisherDOI

• Demonstration of Prognostics Health Monitoring (PHM) in Adhesive Lap Joints using Simulated Studies

  2019-11-15 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Adhesively bonded joints are increasingly used in structural applications due to many advantages over classical mechanical fasteners. However, they are susceptible to fatigue damage due to the hostile working environment. It is essential to detect, quantify the damage and estimate the remaining useful life (RUL) under fatigue loading. This paper presents prognostics health monitoring (PHM) framework that can quantify the damage and estimate the RUL in adhesive lap joints. A PHM framework is the synthesis of four disciplines: damage diagnostics, predictive modeling, uncertainty quantification, and uncertainty propagation. Damage diagnostics provide the damage evolution in terms of damage growth rate as input to PHM system. In this work, a new diagnostic method based on ultrasonic Lamb waves is proposed for in-situ measurements of crack length in a single lap joint (SLJ). The idea is to excite single mode using two piezo transducers and extract the wave packet reflected from the crack tip to estimate crack length. The proposed method is verified using computational simulations. A predictive model must be capable of simulating the damage growth physics and can govern the growth rate using model parameters. In this study, the cohesive zone model (CZM) is used to simulate crack growth in SLJ. Uncertainty quantification methods require the evaluation of the predictive model for large parameter sets. To achieve this, setup is built using Python script to run crack propagation simulations in ABAQUS. Convergence issues and computational challenges associated with the setup is addressed. Finally, the procedure to estimate RUL using diagnostics data, predictive model and uncertainty quantification methods is discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• Theoretical study of a metasurface-based sound absorber

  The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2019-03-01

  article

  A metasurface-based sound absorber panel is proposed to achieve high sound absorption with a deep sub-wavelength thickness and a relatively broad bandwidth. The panel composed of different periodically-arranged Helmholtz resonators has been designed by a radiation impedance model which takes the mutual radiation impedance into account. Numerical simulations based on COMSOL Multiphysics show that the radiation impedance model yields more accurate results compared with the traditional equivalent surface impedance method. Broad bandwidth of sound absorption is achieved under proper coupling by carefully tuning the geometry and distance between Helmholtz resonators.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jiaze He

  Harbin Institute of Technology

  10 shared

• Xiaoning Jiang

  North Carolina State University

  7 shared

• Shujun Zhang

  University of Wollongong

  7 shared

• Wenbin Huang

  Chongqing University

  7 shared

• Xiang Yan

  Anhui University

  6 shared

• Seol Ryung Kwon

  5 shared

• Dong‐Won Lee

  4 shared

• Mohammad Ali Fakih

  Institute of Fluid Flow-Machinery

  4 shared

Awards & honors

• Samuel P. Langley Distinguished Professor