Intelligent Structural Health Management of Aerospace, Mechanical and Civil Structures

It's been quite a trip to Harbin. This is my last week in Harbin. I've been here for almost a month. Initially, we had planned to perform some wind turbine blade failure testing using FBG sensors and demodulate the signals using a Michelson Interferometer. However, the process of getting the unit into China has proven to be a very cumbersome process. We have to wait for the unit for two weeks to clear the Chinese Custom; we have to deposit $7000 in order to retrieve the unit;and we have to pay an agent to perform the paperwork for us. So instead, we decided to send the unit back after it has traveled across an entire ocean, because by the time Chinese Custom releases it, I'll be back in the States. Thanks to Tao Dong Wang* for assisting me with this troublesome process!

So during my time here at HIT, I occupied myself with learning about the research being conducted in Professor Lihui's lab. Here is China. Collaborative research is very common among faculty members. Professor Lihui works with almost everyone in the School of Civil Engineering. Her group is part of a center called Structural Monitoring Center. This is their website: http://smc.hit.edu.cn/ There are variety of researches being conducted here such as learning about mechanics of shape memory alloys, designing wind turbine system, and developing accurate model for bridge engineering and offshore wind turbine system. The wonderful facility here helped make their researches possible such as the newly designed wind tunnel and wave tank.

I also spent a lot of time collecting equipments available here that I can use for my next return trip, with much help from Jiang Heng Qiang*. Through a month of searching, four days prior to my departure, he finally found the equipments that will be useful in our research. Through our search, we came across and met many professors. I would like to thank them for their helps. They've all been so helpful to me, providing suggestions for places to look and offer me access to their equipments. It's truly an amazing school. In addition, I saw a demonstration of the use of wind tunnel facility to test a small wind turbine system designed by Chen Peng*. Furthermore, I am helping out with fatigue testings of a wind turbine blade conducted by Wang Yan Qing and Professor Zhou. In the future, we hope to use our system to track changes in the embedded sensors inside wind turbine blades that is subjected to fatigue testing and wind tunnel testing.

It's been an interesting trip as I learned to live in Harbin. Harbin is different than my home town, Fuzhou in the aspect that it's still in the development stage. There are construction everywhere. The air is so polluted with dust. It's rather dirty. There's not much scenery here but the people and the food here make up for everything! Zhong Jing* has kindly taken me to various great food places in Harbin. I have felt in love with a type of dish called Chun Bing. My Chinese is slowly getting better as I speak more and more. Most of the students here are very nice as they tried to make me feel comfortable by speaking English. Some of them communicates with me to practice their English skill. So I get all of Chinese practice with the 3 Korean girls I lived with in the international student dormitory at HIT and the taxi drivers! They are so amazed when I told them I'm from the America and so interested in what America has to offer.

Every time that I traveled to a new place, I feel like I grew up a little and learned a little more about myself. This trip, I learned how I actually learned English when I came to America. People here are all so very interested in how I learned to speak English because they all want to learn. Never really thought about it before. But now I know and have passed along my knowledge. =D (It felt kinda of weird teaching ppl English when mine is so terrible. ) I also learned that I don't love food. I just love to eat. To love food, you have to know about the quality of food that you are eating. As for me, as long as it tasts good and fills up my stomach. I'm good. I also learned what it takes to be a driver in Harbin and that I'll never become one. It's nice to look back on your adventures after you have completed them. Overall, it's been a trip worthwhile. I made some great friends and visited the facilities here. In the future, I hope to make something of this research project with the help from Professor Lihui and help to enhance the collaboration between HIT and Northwesten.

*These are the graduate students of Professor Lihui. They helped me get situated in HIT and offered me so much help and had made my trip memorable.

Acknowledgements
Thanks to Professor Lihui, other HIT professors and her students for their time and effort and a welcoming stay. Thanks Seyi and Matt for trying to get the unit to me. Thanks to Professor Krishnaswamy for this wonderful opportunity. And a big Thanks to my boyfriend who stayed up late at night to help me do stuff in America when I can't access certain websites in China, moved my entire apartment into a new place while I was away, and sent me money when I ran out. =D