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Staff Profile

Dr Weichao Shi

Reader in Net Zero Maritime Systems

Background

Reader, in the field of marine renewable energy and marine propulsion, focusing on experimental and numerical marine hydrodynamics.


Our labs: Armstrong Marine Hydrolab & Emerson Cavitation Tunnel


Weichao is currently leading a research team developing applied biomimetics marine hydrodynamics technology with the ambition of providing the maritime industry with effective and feasible solutions inspired by mother nature. Weichao started his higher education at the Harbin Institute of Technology in 2007, studying Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering. He continued his Master's degree in Mechatronics and got inspired to devote himself to tidal energy research. During his Master study, he was involved in several national R&D projects developing marine renewable energy systems in China. In 2013, he moved to Newcastle University to continue his PhD research in the Emerson Cavitation Tunnel, working on biomimetic concepts to improve tidal turbine performance. In 2016, he joined the University of Strathclyde as a research associate. In 2018, he was appointed as Strathclyde Chancellor's Fellow in low carbon technologies and in 2022 he was promoted to Senior Lecturer. And in 2023, he chose to return to Newcastle University as a Reader in Net Zero Maritime Systems.


To date, Weichao has been working on 30+ research and knowledge exchange projects with funding from various funding societies, including Horizon Europe, EU-H2020, Innovate UK, Department for Transport, the Royal Society, and various industrial companies, like BAE Systems, James Fisher and Defence, etc. He is the project coordinator for a number of multi-million projects, including RESHIP, TransSHIP, etc. Meanwhile, Weichao and his team have generated 100+ journal and conference papers together with 10+ international patents.


Weichao is a member of the ITTC specialist committee, RINA and HEA. He serves as guest editor for Journal of Ocean Engineering, Frontier in Energy Research and Journal of Marine Science and Engineering; and as an editorial board member for Journal of Scientific Reports, Journal of Energies, Journal of Mathematical Problems in Engineering and Journal of Sustainable Marine Structures. He also contributed to organising many international conferences, including OMAE, AMT, and MARINE.


For Weichao's research, please check the research website, https://www.abmhydro.com/.


Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Weichao-Shi-2

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jZmxjKMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Research

Research Interests:

l Marine Renewable Energy: Wind, Wave and Tidal Energy

l Experimental and numerical marine hydrodynamics

l Self-sustainable autonomous marine vehicles

l Ship propulsion, alternative fuel, cavitation, noise, and vibration

l Design analysis and optimization of ship forms

l Design, development, and experimental verification of energy-saving devices

 

Research expertise:

l Marine hydrodynamic testing: resistance and propulsion tests; open water tests; cavitation tests; underwater radiated noise tests; Particle Image Velocimetry; Laser Doppler Velocimetry; Skin Friction test of marine coatings.

l Computational Fluid Dynamics: Ansys (CFX, Fluent, Workbench, Mechanical, ANSYS Composite); Star-CCM+; Pointwise; Tecplot; Shipflow

l CAD Software: Solidworks; Rhino; AutoCAD

l Coding: LabVIEW; Fortran; C

l Animation Software: Autodesk 3DS MAX

l Language: English; Chinese


Member of Professional Bodies

[1] Committee Member: The North East Coast Joint Branch of The Institute Of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) and The Royal Institution Of Naval Architects (RINA) (2023-now)

[2] The 30th ITTC Technical Committee Member: Resistance and Propulsion Committee

[3] Member of RINA, Royal Institution of Naval Architects (2016-now)

[4] Fellow of HEA, UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) for teaching and supporting learning in higher education (2021-now)

[5] Funding evaluator: EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK); Horizon Europe (European Commission); NSF (THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, US); LCS (Latvian Council of Science, Latvia)

 

Journal Editorship

[1]  Energies (Q1, IF=3.2): Editorial board member (2025-now)

[2]  Journal of Scientific Reports (IF=3.8): Editorial board member (2025-now)

[3]  Journal of Ocean Engineering (Q1, IF=4.372): Guest Editor, Special Issue on Advanced Model and Full-scale Measurement Technologies for Maritime Industry (2019-2023)

[4]  Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (Q1, IF=2.744): Guest Editor, Special Issue on Advancements in Marine Renewable Energy and Renewable Powered Marine Vehicles (2021-2024)

[5]  Energies (Q1, IF=3.2): Guest Editor, Dynamic Analysis and Optimization of Wave Energy Devices

[6]  Frontiers in Energy Research (Q2, IF=3.858): Guest Editor and Review Editor, Research Topic: Efficiency in the Marine Energy Nexus

[7]  Journal of Mathematical Problems in Engineering (Q2, IF=1.43): Editorial board member (2020-now)

[8]  Journal of Sustainable Marine Structures: Editorial board member (2019-2023)

 

Research Projects:

As Principal Investigator, PI

1.     ECHO Glider: Prototyping and Demonstration of an Endurant, Cognitive, and High-speed Ocean Glider (08/2025-03/2026, Northern Accelerator, PI, £30k, Ref: NA-SPF14)

2.     Royal Academy of Engineering: Enterprise Fellowships-Yang Song (07/2025-06/2026, Royal Academy of Engineering, Fellowship Co-Applicant, £75k, Ref: EF-2425-20-126)

3.     Techno-Economy Feasibility Study of Manufacturing Digitally Enable Efficient Propellers (09/2025-03/2026, Department for Transport, PI, £998k total, £139k share, Ref: 10161115)

4.     Waves 2.0: Scalable Methanol Integration for Offshore Working Vessels (09/2025-03/2026, Department for Transport, PI, £595k total, £161k share, Ref: 10160767)

5.     HyPACT 2.0: Enabling Smart, Zero-Emission Maritime through Digital Innovation (09/2025-03/2026, Department for Transport, PI, £667k total, £107k share, Ref: 10158261)

6.     Maritime Future Fuels Training Plan (09/2025-03/2026, Department for Transport, PI, £984k total, £118k share, Ref: 10159074)

7.     Flipping Underwater Glider for Acoustic Monitoring in Offshore Energy Farms (04/2025-10/2025, PI, £30k, Ref: NU-022888)

8.     Prototyping a new buoyancy engine with double nested metal bellows for future-proof underwater vehicles in UK waters (03/2024-03/2025, Northern Accelerator programme, PI, £49.95k, Ref: SPF14)

9.     WAVES - Wind and Aquaculture Vessels: Emission less Sailing (04/2024-03/2025, Department for Transport, PI, £1.4M total, £311k share, Ref: 10097950)

10.  TransShip II - RV Prince Madog Hydrogen Retrofit (04/2023-03/2025, Department for Transport, PI, £5.5M total, £780k share, Ref: 10055507)

11.  Project ZERO - Zero Emission Research and Offshore Service Vessel (01/2023-08/2023, Department for Transport, PI, £727k total, £220k share, Ref: 10039625)

12.  RESHIP: Redefine Energy Efficiency Solutions for Hydrogen Powered Ships in Maritime and Inland Transport (09/2022-09/2025, EU-Horizon Europe, PI, Project coordinator, €5million total, €798k share, Ref: 101056815)

13.  Transition to hydrogen powered ocean-going and short-sea shipping with enabling retrofit technologies, TransShip (09/2021-03/2022, Department for Transport, PI, Project coordinator, £682k total, £189k share, Ref: 10011677)

14.  Demeter (10/2021-09/2023, Innovate-UK, PI, £1,997k total, £200k share, Ref: 10012225)

15.  Design and Development of the New JFD Tactical Diving Vehicles in High Sea State (06/2022-06/2024, PI, James Fisher and Defence JFD, £38,895.00, Ref: KE3137)

16.  Biomimetic improvement for the hydrodynamic performance of the enduring underwater glider (03/2021-03/2023, The Royal Society, PI, £12,000.00, Ref: IEC\NSFC\201050)

17.  High-speed stereoscopic PIV system upgrades (11/2020-04/2022, EPSRC Capital Core Equipment Award, subproject PI, £46,180.00, Ref: EP/V034995/1)

18.  Dynamic Stability of JFD DSAR rescue submarine (11/2019-06/2020, PI, James Fisher and Defence JFD, £15,562.80, Ref: 690180)

19.  ELEMENT - Effective Lifetime Extension in the Marine Environment for Tidal Energy (06/2019-06/2022, subproject PI, €356k share, EU-H2020, Ref: 815180)

20.  Design and Optimization for the Noise Reduction Marine Ducted Thrusters (10/2019-09/2022, BAE Systems Submarine, PI, £72k, Ref: MEIR PhD 16)

21.  A Biomimetic Inspired Energy Saving Device on Marine Propeller (03/2019-03/2020, The Royal Society, PI, £19k, Ref: RGS\R1\191167)

22.  Biomimetic Improvement for Underwater Glider Wings in Ultra-low Reynolds Number (01/2019-01/2021, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Open Fund, PI, ¥ 80k, Ref: 1801)

23.  Control or Mitigation of the Turbulence Generated by Marine Control Surfaces (10/2018-09/2021, BAE Systems Submarine, PI, £72k, Ref: MEIR PhD 17)

 

Teaching

l Module Leader:

o  MAR3027 Future Marine Projects (Newcastle University)

o  MAR8068 Advanced Hydrodynamics (Newcastle University)

o  NM 833 Marine Renewable Energy Systems (University of Strathclyde)

o  NM 837 Underwater Vehicle (University of Strathclyde)

o  NM 428, NM430, NM440: Marine/Naval Engineering Project (University of Strathclyde)

l Assistant Instructor:

o  NM948 Subsea Systems and Installations (University of Strathclyde)

o  Ship Hydrodynamics (MAR2019, Newcastle University)

o  Further Ship Hydrodynamics (MAR3040, Newcastle University)

o  Fundamentals of Marine Engineering (MAR8071, Newcastle University)

l Guest lecturer:

o  IDCORE (Industrial Doctoral Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy, Edinburgh University)

o  REMS (Renewable Energy Marine Structures, University of Strathclyde)

PhD Supervision

l First Supervisor

o  Zehao Sun (2023-now), Hydroacoustic signal control for marine propellers.

o  Moritz Troll (2018-now), Control or Mitigation of the Turbulence Generated by Marine Control Surfaces, Sponsored by BAE Systems

o  Hongbo Hou (2019-2023), Design and development of renewable energy powered AUV

o  Yunxin Xu (2019-now), A Biomimetic Study of Shark Suckers as applied to AUV Recovery

o  Bryn Townley (2022-2023), Scaling up the tidal energy

o  Peyvand Habibi (2022-2023), Energy Saving Solutions for Hydrogen Powered Vessels

o  Callum Stark (2019-2022), Design and Optimization for the Noise Reduction Marine Ducted Thrusters, Sponsored by BAE Systems

o  John McDowell (2018-2021), Comprehensive Site Selection Tool for Tidal Stream Energy, CDT-IDCORE, University of Edinburgh


Publications