Picture of Dr. Weihua Su

Departmental Undergraduate Program Director, Associate Professor

Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics

213 Hardaway
 (205) 348-6728
 (205) 348-6959
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Education

  • Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, The University of Michigan, 2008
  • M.S., Aerospace Engineering, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, 2002
  • B.S., Aerospace Engineering, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, 2000

Biography

Dr. Weihua Su is an associate professor at The University of Alabama and director of the Aeroelasticity and Structural Dynamics Research Laboratory.

Su is an elected member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, or AIAA, Structural Dynamics Technical Committee. He is also an elected member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, or ASME, Aerospace Division Structures and Materials Technical Committee. Prior to joining the faculty of UA, Su worked as an engineer at Tenneco Inc. and as a research fellow at the University of Michigan.

He has extensive experience in finite element modeling, aeroelasticity, structural dynamics, and structure optimization. Su’s research interests include aeroelasticity, flight dynamics, and control of flexible aircraft. Recently, he has focused on nonlinear aeroelasticity and control synthesis of flexible mission-adaptive aircraft, with adaptive and multifunctional structures and sensing technologies. He is also engaged in the design and analysis of novel Urban Air Mobility, or UAM, vehicles.

Su’s work was recognized by the ASME/Boeing Structures and Materials Award in 2011. His research has been funded by NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, or ARMD, NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Kennedy Space Center, as well as companies from aerospace and automotive industries.

Honors and Awards

  • ASME/Boeing Structures and Materials Award, ASME/Boeing, 2011
  • NASA Group Achievement Award, NASA, 2018

Areas of Research

Latest Publications

  • Tsushima, N., and Su, W., “A Study on Adaptive Vibration Control and Energy Conversion of Highly Flexible Multifunctional Wings,” Aerospace Science and Technology, 79, pp. 297-309, (2018).
  • Hang, X., Fei, Q., and Su, W., “On Tracking Aeroelastic Modes in Stability Analysis Using Left and Right Eigenvectors,” AIAA Journal, 57(10), pp. 4447-4457, (2019).
  • Su, W., and Song, W., “A Real-Time Hybrid Aeroelastic Simulation Platform for Flexible Wings,” Aerospace Science and Technology, 95, Art. 105513 (12 pp), (2019).
  • Su, W., Qu, S., Zhu, G., Swei, S. S.-M., Hashimoto, M., and Zeng, T., “Modeling and Control of a Class of Urban Air Mobility Tiltrotor Aircraft,” Aerospace Science and Technology, 124, Art. 107561 (17 pp), (2022).
  • Qu, S., Zhu, G., Su, W., and Swei, S. S.-M., “Linear Parameter-Varying-Based Transition Flight Control Design for a Tilt-rotor Aircraft,” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 236(16), pp. 3354-3369, (2022).