Basic Introduction:

My research interests include turbulent flows and air pollutant transport in urban boundary layers, large-eddy simulation, urban surface parametrization, and developing fast flow prediction models based on machine learning methods.

Professional Experience:

2023–now Research Assistant Professor, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, China

2018–2023 Associate Professor/Lecturer, Faculty of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, China

2017–2018 Research Associate, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

2011–2016 Scientist, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

Education:

2008-2011 Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong

2005-2007 M.Phil. Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

2002-2005 B.Sc. Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Selected funded projects:

1. National Natural Science Foundation of China (42375193), 2024/1-2027/12, “Development of a deep-learning model for the publications of high-resolution wind flow and dispersion in urban environments”, PI.  

2. National Natural Science Foundation of China and Macau, Science and Technology Development Joint Fund (NSFC-FDCT), China and Macau (41861164027), 01/2019-12/2021, Core member.

Research Interests:

1. Atmospheric turbulence

2. Urban wind flow and dispersion

3. Larg-eddy simulation

4. Machine learning applications on urban flows and dispersion

Recent Publications:

1. WC Cheng* (2023), On the value of the von Kármán constant in the atmospheric surface layers over urban surfaces, Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics, 241, 105547.

2. H Ma, WC Cheng* (2023), Effects of unstable thermal stratification on the flow characteristics in an idealized rural-to-urban transition region: A large-eddy simulation study, Building and Environment, 203, 109971.

3. WC Cheng*, Y Yang (2023), Scaling of Flows over Realistic Urban Geometries: a large-eddy simulation study, Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 186, 125-144.

4. L Yao, CH Liu*, Z Mo, WC Cheng, GP Brasseur, CYH Chao (2022), Statistical analysis of the organized turbulence structure in inertial and roughness sublayers over real urban area by building-resolved large-eddy simulation, Building and Environment, 207B, 108464.

5. WC Cheng*, F Porté-Agel (2021), A simple mixing-length model for urban canopy flows, Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 181, 1-9.

6. WC Cheng, CH Liu*, YK Ho, Z Mo, Z Wu, W Li, LYL Chan, WK Kwan, HT Yau (2021), Turbulent flows over real heterogeneous urban surfaces: wind tunnel experiments and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations, Building Simulation, 14, 1345-1358.