Academic Staff

Research Interests

• Combustion instability in gas turbines and rockets
• Combustion dynamics of zero-carbon fuels
• Nonlinear dynamics and control
• Data-driven time series analysis and modeling

Short Description

Dr Yu Guan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He obtained his PhD degree in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and continued working there as a Postdoctoral Fellow before joining PolyU AAE. He is a member of The Combustion Institute and HKIE (Aircraft Division). As of June 2025, he has published nearly 50 journal papers, with 64% of these as the first or corresponding author, according to WOS metrics.

Opening Positions

PhD Positions in Combustion Dynamics, Nonlinear Dynamics and Control, and Data-driven Time Series Analysis and Modeling (Please contact via yu.guan@polyu.edu.hk)

Teaching Activities

AAE1D02 Introduction to Space Exploration

AAE3003 Aircraft Propulsion Systems

AAE5205 Aircraft Engine Systems and Combustion

Selected Recent Journal Publications (Full list in Google Scholar)

• [1]Liao, Y., Choi, Y., Liu, P., Kim, K., & Guan, Y.* (2025). Active control of thermoacoustic instability in a lean-premixed hydrogen-enriched combustor via open-loop acoustic forcing. Combustion and Flame, 277, 114175.
• [2]Zheng, L., Liao, Y., Kim, K., Zhou, J., & Guan, Y.* (2025). Amplitude death in ring-coupled network with asymmetric thermoacoustic oscillators and nonlocal time-delay interactions. Nonlinear Dynamics, 113(7), 6141-6156.
• [3]Liao, Y., Guan, Y.*, Liu, P., Moon, K., & Kim, K. (2024). Low-order modeling of collective dynamics of four ring-coupled turbulent thermoacoustic oscillators. Nonlinear Dynamics, 112(9), 6897-6917.
• [4]Guan, Y. *, Yin, B., Yang, Z., & Li, L. (2024). Forced synchronization of self-excited chaotic thermoacoustic oscillations. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 982, A9.
• [5]Guan, Y.*, Choi, Y., Liu, P., & Kim, K. (2024). Mutual synchronization and flame dynamics in an axially fuel-staged lean-premixed combustion system. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 40(1-4), 105197.

Selected Research-related Awards

• [1]Best Paper Award, Guan, Y.*, Li, L., Ahn, B., & Kim, K. in the 12th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion, July 1–5, 2019, Fukuoka, Japan (one of two BPA papers selected from nearly 400 accepted papers)
• [2]Best Paper Award, Liao, Y., Guan, Y.* (supervisor), Liu, P., Choi, Y., & Kim, K. in the 2024 China National Symposium on Combustion, October 17–20, 2024, Hangzhou, China (one of ten BPA papers selected from 314 accepted papers)