Introduction
Xianliang Chen is an Assistant Professor at the School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University. His main research areas include flow instability, turbulence, and hypersonic aerodynamics, and he has published more than 20 journal papers. He is the PI of the NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas). His academic awards include Outstanding Young Scientist Award at the 14th IWMO conference, Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Zijing Scholar Fellowship at Tsinghua University.
His research group is actively recruiting undergraduate students, fully-funded PhD candidates, and postdoctoral researchers in fluid mechanics and interdisciplinary fields. Interested candidates are warmly invited to contact him!
Email: xlchen@tsinghua.edu.cn
Office: Room N717, North Building, Meng Minwei Science & Technology Building, Tsinghua University
Education background
2017–2022: Ph.D. in Mechanics, School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University
2013–2017: B.Eng. in Engineering Mechanics, School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University
2014–2017: B.A. in Economics (Second Bachelor’s Degree), School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University
Academic experience
2026–Present: Tenure-track Assistant Professor, School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University
2024–2026: Research Assistant Professor, Department of Ocean Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
2022–2024: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Mathematics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Research interests
1. Theory and simulation of high-speed wall-bounded turbulence (turbulence modelling & wall models, turbulent structures, resolvent analysis)
2. Hypersonic boundary layer transition (thermochemical coupled instabilities for Mach numbers above 10, NPSE, transition modelling)
3. Geophysical fluid dynamics (global instability theory, submesoscale turbulence, regional ocean modelling)
Honors and awards
2025 Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas), National Natural Science Foundation of China
2025 Outstanding Reviewer, Acta Aerodynamica Sinica
2024 Outstanding Young Scientist Award (OYSA), the 14th International Workshop on Modelling the Ocean
2023 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics
2022 Tsinghua Zijing Scholar Fellowship
2022 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, Tsinghua University
2022 Outstanding Graduate of Beijing Municipality
2022 Outstanding Graduate, Tsinghua University
2021 Linfeng Counselor Award, Tsinghua University
2017 Excellent Graduate, Tsinghua University
Publication
Monograph
• Xianliang Chen. Instability and transition of hypersonic high-enthalpy boundary layers with thermochemical nonequilibrium effects, Tsinghua University Press, 2026 (Series of Excellent Doctoral Dissertations of Tsinghua University)
Journal Articles
• XL Chen, ZY Zhao, JP Gan & L Fu. Total enthalpy transformation in compressible turbulence recovering the incompressible law of the wall, Physical Review Fluids, in press (2026).
• J Shen, XL Chen & L Fu. Development and assessment of an improved Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model for complex hypersonic flows in two and three dimensions, Computers & Fluids, 305: 106917 (2026).
• XL Chen, Ying, A., JP Gan & L Fu Uncovering the forcing statistics in stochastic linear models for compressible wall-bounded turbulence. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1015: A40 (2025).
• XL Chen & JP Gan. Nonlinear instability and subthermocline turbulence for western boundary undercurrents. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 55(10): 1715–1733 (2025).
• XL Chen, JP Gan & L Fu. Mean temperature–velocity relation and a new temperature wall model for compressible laminar and turbulent flows. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1009: A39 (2025).
• DD Xu, XL Chen & L Fu. Temperature-velocity relation for laminar adiabatic and diabatic hypersonic boundary layers, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1023: A40 (2025).
• XL Chen, JP Gan, CW Hui & JC McWilliams. Parameterization of the vertical mixing for the Luzon Undercurrent in the northern Western Pacific Ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 129(11): e2024JC021378 (2024).
• XL Chen, JP Gan & JC McWilliams. Baroclinic nonlinear saturation and secondary instability of current-undercurrent meanders. Physical Review Fluids, 9(10): 103801 (2024).
• XL Chen, JP Gan & L Fu. An improved Baldwin–Lomax algebraic wall model for high-speed canonical turbulent boundary layers using established scalings. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 987: A7 (2024).
• C Cheng†, XL Chen†, WK Zhu†, W Shyy & L Fu. Progress in physical modeling of compressible wall-bounded turbulent flows († denotes co-first author). Acta Mechanica Sinica, 40(1): 323663 (2024).
• AJ Ying, XL Chen, ZG Li & L Fu. Optimization and modeling of eddy viscosity in the resolvent analysis of turbulent channel flows, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1001: A20 (2024).
• WK Zhu, XL Chen & L Fu. Resolvent analyses of incompressible turbulent channel, pipe and boundary-layer flows. International Journal of Heat & Fluid Flow, 106: 109331 (2024).
• XL Chen, JP Gan & JC McWilliams. Biglobal analysis of baroclinic instability in a current-undercurrent oceanic system. Physical Review Fluids, 8(12): 123801 (2023).
• XL Chen, C Cheng, JP Gan & L Fu. Study of the linear models in estimating coherent velocity and temperature structures for compressible turbulent channel. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 973: A36 (2023).
• XL Chen, C Cheng, L Fu & JP Gan. Linear response analysis of supersonic turbulent channel flows with a large parameter space. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 962: A7 (2023).
• XL Chen, YC Xi, J Ren & S Fu. Cross-flow vortices and their secondary instabilities in hypersonic and high-enthalpy boundary layers. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 947: A25 (2022).
• XL Chen, L Wang & S Fu. Energy transfer of hypersonic and high-enthalpy boundary layer instabilities and transition. Physical Review Fluids, 7(3): 033901 (2022).
• XL Chen & S Fu. Research progress on instability and transition of hypersonic high-enthalpy boundary layers. Acta Mechanica Sinica, 54(11): 2937–2957 (2022).
• XL Chen, L Wang & S Fu. Parabolized stability analysis of hypersonic thermal-chemical nonequilibrium boundary-layer flows. AIAA Journal, 59(7): 2382–2395 (2021).
• XL Chen, L Wang & S Fu. Secondary instability of the hypersonic high-enthalpy boundary layers with thermal–chemical nonequilibrium effects. Physics of Fluids, 33(3): 034132 (2021).
• XL Chen, DX Xu & S Fu. Oblique-mode breakdown in hypersonic and high-enthalpy boundary layers over a blunt cone. Advances in Aerodynamics, 3(1): 24 (2021).
• XL Chen & S Fu. Convergence acceleration for high-order shock fitting methods in hypersonic flow applications with efficient implicit time-stepping schemes. Computers & Fluids, 210: 104668 (2020).
• XL Chen & S Fu. Linear instability analysis of hypersonic flat-plate boundary layers with thermochemical nonequilibrium effects. Acta Aerodynamica Sinica, 38(2): 316–325 (2020).
