Faculty
Dr. Tian Tian
Dr. Tian Tian is a senior research engineer affiliated with the MIT department of mechanical engineering (MechE) and the Center for Computational Science (CCSE). Dr. Tian leads the consortium on lubrication in internal combustion engines in the Sloan Automotive Laboratory at MIT. For more than 30 years inside the consortium, he and his students have developed extensive models and experimental diagnoses to understand the lubrication, friction, wear, and lubricant oil transport in the Power Cell Unit (PCU) that is composed with piston, piston rings, piston pins, and liner. He introduced the concept of the Healthy System in the development and optimization of the piston ring pack, which, together with the models and new knowledge uncovered through experiments are applied extensively in the real-world applications. He and his students won 6 SAE awards and he is an SAE fellow. Dr. Tian obtained his B.S and M.S degrees from Peking University and Ph.D from MIT.
Professor Wai Cheng
Professor of mechanical engineering
Graduate Students
Xinlin Zhong
Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Center for Computational Science, 2020-present
SM, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2022
BE, Vanderbilt University, 2020
Research interest: Digital twin development for lubrication oil transport and oil consumption; machine learning on piston crevice gas flow pattern; engine design optimization
Email: xinlinz@mit.edu
Mo Li
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2020-present
SM, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2023
BE, Tong Ji University, 2020
Research interest: 2DLIF experimental investigation of lubrication oil transport and oil consumption
Email: moli@mit.edu
Tsung-Yu Yang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2021-present
MS, National Taiwan University, 2016
BE, Tamkang University, 2014
Research interest: Modeling of oil control ring; computational fluid dynamics; two-phase flow simulations; design optimization; machine learning for time series forecasting
Email: tyyang@mit.edu
Zhiyuan Shu
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2021-present
SM, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2023
BE, Tsinghua University, 2021
Research interest: Modeling of piston pin lubrication; piston ring design optimization for friction and wear reduction
Email: shuzy17@mit.edu
Alexandra Tamburro
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2021-present
BS, Carnegie Mellon University, 2019
Research interest: Oil consumption study with hydrogen-powered floating liner engine
Email: atamburr@mit.edu
Administrative Assistant
Janet Maslow
Email: jsabio@mit.edu