刘增辉 Zenghui (Gracian) Liu
Portrait
Logo Tianjin University
School of Future Technology

你好, Hello, こんにちは, Bonjour, Привет, Hallo, مرحبا, नमस्ते, 안녕하세요, Ciao. I'm Liu Zenghui. I am currently completing my master's studies at the School of Future Technology, Tianjin University, primarily engaged in fire dynamics, building fire analysis, and intelligent fire protection. The supervisor of my master's program is Professor Gang Liu. Between October 2022 and July 2023, I conducted one-year research on the spatiotemporal prediction of infection risks in waiting rooms as a research assistant. In the future, I will devote myself to research on resilience, sustainability, and equity of complex urban systems. Starting from September 2026, I will pursue a doctoral degree in Civil Engineering at The University of British Columbia. My research focus will be on national-scale building decarbonization, urban energy systems, and life cycle assessment. I am also a student member of the Architectural Society of China, the Fire Engineers Association, the International Society for Urban Information, and the International Building Performance Simulation Association. I also serve as a peer reviewer for journals such as Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Science Progress, Knowledge-Based System, and Journal of Safety Science and Resilience. Since April 2025, I have been on probation as a young editorial board member of Jandoo press Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (JSBE). In my spare time, I play basketball, table tennis, Guan Dan (a kind of card game), listen to music, and play the guitar (for indie music lovers).

Google Scholar WeChat ORCID
Education
  • The University of British Columbia
    The University of British Columbia
    Ph.D. in Civil Engineering
    Sep. 2026 - Jun. 2030(expected)
  • Tianjin University
    Tianjin University
    School of Future Technology
    Master of Civil Engineering. Student
    Sep. 2023 - present
  • Shenyang Jianzhu University
    Shenyang Jianzhu University
    B.S. in Engineering Management
    Sep. 2019 - Jul. 2023
Experience
  • China Construction Eighth Engineering Division
    China Construction Eighth Engineering Division
    Project Manager Assistant
    Jul. 2022 - Sep. 2022
  • CESI School of Engineers, France
    CESI School of Engineers, France
    Summer School student
    Jul. 2024 - Jul. 2024
Honors & Awards
  • National Scholarship for Graduate Students
    2025
  • National Scholarship for Graduate Students
    2024
  • Innovation Star of Taihu Scholarship Project
    2025
  • Tianjin University advanced individual in science and technology innovation
    2024
  • Tianjin University merit student
    2024
  • Tianjin University entrance senior scholarship
    2024
  • Outstanding graduate of Shenyang Jianzhu University
    2023
  • Honorary nomination for the American College Student Mathematical Contest in Modeling
    2022
  • First prize of Liaoning Province in the National College Students Mathematical Contest in Modeling
    2021
  • Liaoning Provincial Government Scholarship
    2021
  • Second prize in the National Mathematics Competition for College students
    2020
Research interests
  • Urban AI
  • Life Cycle Assessment
  • Urban AI in Energy
  • Energy transition equity
  • Impact assessment of climate adaptation technologies
  • Urban AI in Resilience
  • Sustainable Mobility and Energy System
  • Smart firefighting
News
2025
Today, Zenghui was awarded the Taihu Scholarship - Engineering Innovation Star Honor, which was jointly established by Yixing City and the Future Technology College of Tianjin University, with a grant amount of 10,000 RMB. The aim is to cultivate innovative talents through the collaboration between the university and the local area, encourage students to develop comprehensively in fields such as scientific research innovation and social practice, and at the same time promote the integration of industry, academia and research in Yixing's advantageous industries such as environmental protection and intelligent manufacturing, serving the regional economic development.
May 05
Today, Zenghui received the BEQ Scholarship Certificate from BEQ(BEST EUIPMENT) Company. BEQ is a high-tech enterprise integrating research and development, production, sales and technical services of new materials and equipment.
Apr 06
Today, Zenghui's paper on fire digital twins was accepted by Nexus Forum 2025 held by Cell Press journal Nexus . I sincerely thank you and the whole conference team for the wonderful opportunity.I am looking forward to seeing senior scientists who have made outstanding achievements in the forum, as well as in-depth exchanges with colleagues who are also exploring interdisciplinary fields.
Feb 25
2024
Today, Zenghui won the honorary title of Advanced Individual in Scientific and Technological Innovation of Tianjin University.
Dec 31
Today, Zenghui jointly applied for an innovative project of engineering master degree with the Tianjin Fire Research Institute under the Ministry of Emergency Management, which has been officially approved with a funding of 10000 yuan. The research theme is "Study on Dynamic Perception Technology of Building Fire Smoke Field Considering Fire Control System". I would like to express our gratitude to my supervisor Liu Gang, associate supervisor Qu Guanhua, and enterprise mentor Wang Lan for their strong support. In addition, Lin Jing (Kitty) has also received funding, and her research topic is related to the environmental creation of the production line for aircraft engine blade molds, let's congratulate her on her achievement.
Oct 24
Today, Zenghui begins to serve as the director of the General Rights and Interests Department of the Graduate Student Association.
Oct 22
Today, Zenghui has been awarded the National Scholarship, China's highest student honor.
Oct 13
Zenghui's research, published in process safety and environmental pprotection, was praised by Fasial khan, a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Oct 06
Today, Zenghui starts to be the monitor of the class.
Sep 19
Zenghui had a two-week exchange in France from July 9 to July 21, which was his first time going abroad.At Cesi Engineering School , he learned advanced knowledge of sustainable architecture and had a deep understanding of the culture, history and technology of Paris.
Jul 22
Let's celebrate Chu Ning (Tovi), Geng Ning, Gracian, Ricki, Lin Jing (Kitty) of the Healthy life group happy birthday, good health and scientific research. I wish Kitty can keep her enthusiasm and motivation, and find her own happiness and goals in the difficult road of scientific research and life. Come on, you are doing a great job! Thanks to Yu Yuebo, Zhang Xi, Zhang Huanzhou, Li Jiaxin and other friends for their company, especially Mr. Yu Yuebo's cake.
Jun 18
2023
Today, we had the honor to conduct research on intelligent fire evacuation with Dr.Yan Ming , a senior scientist at Astar Singapore, and thank Dr. Yan Ming for his guidance.
Sep 05
Zenghui is officially registered at Tianjin University today, and in the future he will conduct intelligent fire protection research in the Optical fiber and Optical Health group of ATSI Laboratory.
Aug 31
Today, Zenghui officially completed the undergraduate degree defense. The thesis title is: Research on High-rise Building engineering cost Prediction based on combinational machine Learning. Congratulations to Zenghui on obtaining the Bachelor's degree in Management.
Jul 01
Today, the national college student innovation project hosted by Zenghui officially concluded, the project name is: Long-term Performance Prediction Research of Steel-concrete composite beams based on machine learning (202210153006) .
Jun 15
2022
Zenghui has been admitted to the School of Future Technology of Tianjin University without examination and will work as a research assistant in the ATSI research group on the risk of infection in waiting rooms.
Sep 28
Today, the university student innovation project hosted by Zenghui won the national project name: Long-term Performance Prediction Research of Steel-concrete composite beams based on machine learning (202210153006).
Jun 01
Selected Publications (view all )
Towards Evidence-Based Fire Prevention Policy: Uncovering Drivers of Urban Residential Fire Spread via Explainable Machine Learning
Towards Evidence-Based Fire Prevention Policy: Uncovering Drivers of Urban Residential Fire Spread via Explainable Machine Learning

Zenghui Liu,Mingyu Zhai,Weiyao Yang,Jing Lin,Yao Sun*.

Developments in the Built Environment 2025

We used machine learning to analyze over 100,000 residential fire incidents in the UK and identified the true drivers of fire spread. The results showed that the most crucial factor was the emergency response stage - such as delayed alarm, time of discovery, etc., accounting for approximately half of the risk impact. The second was the fire dynamics characteristics (such as rapid growth, kitchen fires), accounting for about 30%. The attributes of buildings and people overall have a significant weight, but they can amplify the risk in specific situations. Based on this, resources should be prioritized towards "earlier detection + faster response": optimizing the deployment of fire-fighting forces, upgrading alarm/detection technologies, and building intelligent monitoring platforms to improve the efficiency of early warning and response.

[Paper]

Towards Evidence-Based Fire Prevention Policy: Uncovering Drivers of Urban Residential Fire Spread via Explainable Machine Learning

Zenghui Liu,Mingyu Zhai,Weiyao Yang,Jing Lin,Yao Sun*.

Developments in the Built Environment 2025

We used machine learning to analyze over 100,000 residential fire incidents in the UK and identified the true drivers of fire spread. The results showed that the most crucial factor was the emergency response stage - such as delayed alarm, time of discovery, etc., accounting for approximately half of the risk impact. The second was the fire dynamics characteristics (such as rapid growth, kitchen fires), accounting for about 30%. The attributes of buildings and people overall have a significant weight, but they can amplify the risk in specific situations. Based on this, resources should be prioritized towards "earlier detection + faster response": optimizing the deployment of fire-fighting forces, upgrading alarm/detection technologies, and building intelligent monitoring platforms to improve the efficiency of early warning and response.

[Paper]

Dual-agent intelligent fire detection method for large commercial spaces based on numerical databases and artificial intelligence
Dual-agent intelligent fire detection method for large commercial spaces based on numerical databases and artificial intelligence

GANG Liu#,Zenghui Liu#,Guanhua Qu*,Lei Ren*.

Process Safety and Environmental Protection 2024

This study combines distributed fiber optic temperature sensing systems with deep learning algorithms to develop a dual-agent intelligent fire detection method for rapidly and accurately predicting key fire information in large commercial spaces, including the location of the fire source, the intensity of fire development, and the distribution of carbon monoxide on critical planes. This work not only improves the accuracy and response speed of fire alarms but also provides data support for emergency evacuation and rescue operations, reducing casualties and property loss caused by fires, and has significant practical importance for the safety protection systems of modern commercial buildings.

[Paper]

Dual-agent intelligent fire detection method for large commercial spaces based on numerical databases and artificial intelligence

GANG Liu#,Zenghui Liu#,Guanhua Qu*,Lei Ren*.

Process Safety and Environmental Protection 2024

This study combines distributed fiber optic temperature sensing systems with deep learning algorithms to develop a dual-agent intelligent fire detection method for rapidly and accurately predicting key fire information in large commercial spaces, including the location of the fire source, the intensity of fire development, and the distribution of carbon monoxide on critical planes. This work not only improves the accuracy and response speed of fire alarms but also provides data support for emergency evacuation and rescue operations, reducing casualties and property loss caused by fires, and has significant practical importance for the safety protection systems of modern commercial buildings.

[Paper]

Intelligent generation method of infection risk map and management system in hospital waiting room for respiratory infectious diseases
Intelligent generation method of infection risk map and management system in hospital waiting room for respiratory infectious diseases

Guanhua Qu#,Zenghui Liu#,Lei Ren*,Gang Liu*.

Journal of Building Engineering 2024

The innovation of this study is to generate infection risk map by intelligent method and manage the system, so as to achieve accurate control of airborne infection risk in waiting room. The results of this study not only help to select hospital design scheme, but also optimize the operation control strategy of ventilation system, so as to strengthen the control of infectious diseases and reduce the threat of cross-infection of respiratory infectious diseases to public health safety during peak periods in hospitals..

[Paper]

Intelligent generation method of infection risk map and management system in hospital waiting room for respiratory infectious diseases

Guanhua Qu#,Zenghui Liu#,Lei Ren*,Gang Liu*.

Journal of Building Engineering 2024

The innovation of this study is to generate infection risk map by intelligent method and manage the system, so as to achieve accurate control of airborne infection risk in waiting room. The results of this study not only help to select hospital design scheme, but also optimize the operation control strategy of ventilation system, so as to strengthen the control of infectious diseases and reduce the threat of cross-infection of respiratory infectious diseases to public health safety during peak periods in hospitals..

[Paper]

An investigation using resampling techniques and explainable machine learning to minimize fire losses in residential buildings
An investigation using resampling techniques and explainable machine learning to minimize fire losses in residential buildings

Zenghui Liu*,Yingnan Zhuang.

Journal of Building Engineering 2024

This study not only improves the emergency response strategies for urban residential fires, but also provides customized fire safety policies for different urban environments, effectively reducing fire risk. Through the introduction of resampler technology and interpretable machine learning, this study not only improves the prediction accuracy of the model, but also enhances the transparency and interpretability of the model, providing a more scientific and reliable tool for fire risk management..

[Paper]

An investigation using resampling techniques and explainable machine learning to minimize fire losses in residential buildings

Zenghui Liu*,Yingnan Zhuang.

Journal of Building Engineering 2024

This study not only improves the emergency response strategies for urban residential fires, but also provides customized fire safety policies for different urban environments, effectively reducing fire risk. Through the introduction of resampler technology and interpretable machine learning, this study not only improves the prediction accuracy of the model, but also enhances the transparency and interpretability of the model, providing a more scientific and reliable tool for fire risk management..

[Paper]

All publications