Ruochun Zhang
Research Assistant at UW-Madison Simulation Based Engineering Lab (SBEL)
Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolRuochun Zhang is a PhD-trained researcher and software engineer specializing in high-performance, GPU-accelerated multi-physics simulation software, with nine years of experience building scalable DEM, CFD, FEA and MBD solvers. Based at UW–Madison and contributing as a core developer to Project Chrono, he has led the development of multi-GPU DEM solvers that handle billions of degrees of freedom and supported researchers nationwide in simulation-driven design and rover optimization. His work spans low-level CUDA, MPI, OpenMP and Kokkos abstractions, plus production-focused C++ backend engineering for commercial multiphysics solvers targeting both NVIDIA and AMD hardware. Notable contributions include stabilizing GPU friction/contact models and redesigning GPU demos in Chrono to improve analysis and debugging capabilities. He combines deep academic rigor with practical performance wins—one internship produced an 80–100x speedup migrating legacy CFD code to GPU—and often pairs simulation-scale computing with data-driven model calibration.
9 years of coding experience
4 years of employment as a software developer
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Mechanical Engineering at University of Wisconsin-MadisonMaster of Science (M.Sc.), Mechanical Engineering, 3.83, Master of Science (M.Sc.), Mechanical Engineering, 3.83 at Rice UniversityBachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Applied Physics, 3.7, Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Applied Physics, 3.7 at Beijing Institute of Technology
English, Chinese
Github Skills (14)
simulations10
cuda10
simulation10
gpu-programming10
findbugs10
c-language10
physics10
fixest10
cprogramming-language10
simulator10
dynamics10
physics-engine9
debug9
debugging9
Programming languages (2)
Github contributions (5)
projectchrono/chrono
Apr 2021 - Jul 2022
High-performance C++ library for multiphysics and multibody dynamics simulations
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:15 commits, 2 PRs, 40 pushes in 1 year 2 months
Contributions summary:Ruochun primarily focused on addressing bugs and enhancing the GPU-accelerated features of the project. Key contributions include fixing issues related to friction models, contact information recording, and int32 overflows within the GPU simulation framework. The user also redesigned a GPU repose demo, improved the stability and functionality of the simulation, and added capabilities such as querying the number of particles above a certain Z or X value. The user's work directly improved core physics simulation aspects, including adding functions for analyzing the simulation and debugging issues.
c-plus-plussimulationroboticssimulationsmultibody
projectchrono/DEM-Engine
Sep 2022 - Jan 2025
A dual-GPU DEM solver with complex grain geometry support
Contributions:310 pushes, 63 branches, 5 comments in 2 years 4 months
chronocudadiscrete-element-methodgpumulti-gpu
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