When
Thursday, October 29, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.
Zhenhua Tian
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Virginia Tech
"Leveraging Acoustics: From Damage Diagnosis to Particle Manipulation"
AME S212 | Zoom link
Abstract: Acoustic waves carry both information and energy, allowing them to inspect material damage and create invisible robotic hands capable of manipulating nano- to millimeter-scale particles. This talk covers our studies on acoustics-based damage diagnosis and non-contact bioparticle manipulation. The first part of the talk focuses on ultrasonic phased arrays and laser ultrasonics for measuring material property distributions and detecting defects in various structures, such as 3D-printed metallic and composite panels. The second part of the talk focuses on acoustic tweezers that leverage transducer arrays to dynamically control acoustic fields for non-contact, versatile manipulation of objects across multiple length scales. Their key functions and potential applications will be discussed, including (i) constructing diverse lattice-like patterns of cells and dynamically transforming these patterns, (ii) printing anisotropic tissues with aligned cells, (iii) stimulating and disrupting single cells using highly focused ultrasound with <100 μm resolution, (iv) characterizing the biophysical properties of single cells, (v) contactless transport and levitation of droplets, and (vi) transporting small targets inside blood vessels shielded by the skull. Lastly, I will present our recent experiments using acoustic metamaterials and topological phononic crystals to control suspended particles and fluid flows.
Bio: Zhenhua Tian received his PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of South Carolina in December 2015 and completed postdoctoral training at Duke University in August 2019. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. He received the Virginia Tech Dean's Awards of Excellence Outstanding New Assistant Professor, Dean's Awards of Excellence Faculty Fellow Award, Achenbach Medal, Lab on a Chip Emerging Investigator recognition, ASME Rising Star Award, C. D. Mote Jr., Early Career Award and NSF CAREER Award. His research focuses on acoustics-based manipulation of nano- to millimeter-scale objects, ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation and acoustic metamaterials. In these areas, he has published 90+ journal papers with a total citation of 5000+. More details about this research area can be found on the website of the Acoustics and Functional Materials Laboratory.