Lei Xu
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Lei XuBiography summary
Lei Xu is a Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor, and Associate Director of the Canadian Cold-Formed Steel Research Group at the University of Waterloo.
His research is centered on the analysis, design and optimization of steel structures. Professor Xu’s goal is to develop theoretical advances and practical innovations. The primary method of his research consists of analytic development, numerical computation and experimental testing.
His principal areas of research are the analysis and design of cold-formed steel structures, and the performance-based seismic analysis and design of steel buildings. The main objectives of the former are to develop innovative designs and structural products, and to promote advanced techniques for the Canadian construction industry. Professor Xu is currently working on vibration control for lightweight cold-formed steel floor systems, and seismic and fire performance of cold-formed steel structures.
Pertaining to the performance-based seismic analysis and design of steel buildings, he is working on the stability analysis and design of steel building structures, while accounting for any conventional and extreme circumstances that they may experience during their lifetime.
Professor Xu actively involved in the development of engineering standards on cold formed steel structures. He is a member of the Canadian Standards Association and serves for Technical Committees (CSA-S136) on Cold Formed Steel Structural Members, (CSA-G401) on Corrugated Steel Pipe Products, and (CSA-A660) on Certification of Manufactures of Steel Building Systems. He also sits on several International Standards Committees such as the American Iron and Steel Institute: Technical Committee for Standards on Steel Framing; the Chinese Construction Industrial Standard Committees (JG/T 182) on Steel Members of Assembled Residential Buildings with Light-Weight Steel Framing, and (JGJ/T XXX) on Technical Specification for Cold-Formed Thin-Walled Steel Multi-Storey Residential Buildings.
Research interests
- Performance-based Structural Analysis and design
- Design and Optimization for Cold-formed Steel
- Design and Optimization for Hot-Rolled Steel
- Structural Steel Connections
- Optimization Methods
- Steel and concrete structures
- Structures
- Mechanics & Construction
- Stability analysis
- design and optimization of steel framed structures
- Performance-based seismic analysis and design of building structures
- Fire performance of steel framed structures and cold-formed steel structures
- Vibration performance of lightweight floor systems
- Digital design and fabrication technologies
- Lightweight materials
Education
- 1995, Doctorate, Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo
- 1982, Bachelor of Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chongqing Institute of Architecture & Engineering
Courses*
- CIVE 310 - Introduction to Structural Design
- Taught in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
- CIVE 413 - Structural Steel Design
- Taught in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
- CIVE 604 - Advanced Structural Steel Design
- Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.
Selected/recent publications
- Xu, L and Yuan, XL, A simplified seismic design approach for mid-rise buildings with vertical combination of framing systems, Engineering Structures, 99, 2015, 568 - 581
- Xu, L and Zhuang, Y, Storey stability of unbraced steel frames subjected to non-uniform elevated temperature distribution, Engineering Structures, 62, 2014, 164 - 173
- Zhuang, Y and Xu, L, Elastic Buckling Strengths of Unbraced Steel Frames Subjected to Variable Loadings, Advances in Structural Engineering, 16(5), 2013, 947 - 958
- Xu, L and Zhuang, Y, Storey-based stability of unbraced steel frames at elevated temperature, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 78, 2012, 79 - 87