Department of Body Engineering

The Department of Body Engineering at Jilin University originated from the Automotive Body Specialization established in 1962. It currently employs 36 faculty members and staff, including 6 professors (4 of whom are doctoral supervisors) and 14 associate professors. The faculty team is well-structured in terms of age distribution, with the majority of young and mid-career faculty holding doctoral degrees and having overseas research or study experience. The research team is stable and highly competent.

The Body Engineering discipline at Jilin University is the only doctoral program in Body Engineering in China, and it also offers three master's degree programs in Body Engineering, Design Arts, and Fluid Mechanics. With distinctive disciplinary characteristics, it serves as an interdisciplinary field bridging Industrial Design and Vehicle Engineering. The discipline encompasses two major directions: Automotive Styling and Body Engineering, and is a key construction discipline under both the national "211 Project" and "985 Project." Currently, the department enrolls approximately 100 undergraduate students each year across three classes in Industrial Design (Automotive Styling) and Industrial Design (Body Engineering). Additionally, it enrolls over 40 master's students in Body Engineering, Design Arts, Fluid Mechanics, and Industrial Design Engineering, as well as doctoral students in Body Engineering.

Core undergraduate courses include fundamental mechanical engineering subjects, along with Automobile Construction, Automobile Theory, Body Structure and Design, Automotive Styling, Body Manufacturing Technology, Ergonomics, Automotive Aerodynamics, Body Experimentation, Automotive Model Making, and Automotive Rendering.

Graduate research areas encompass body design and lightweight technology, automotive passive safety and simulation, body manufacturing and quality control, automotive ergonomics, automotive aerodynamics and wind tunnel testing, aesthetic principles of automotive styling, and styling and evaluation methodologies.

The Body Engineering Laboratory serves as a Jilin Provincial Experimental Teaching Center, comprising the Automotive Wind Tunnel Laboratory, Body Structure Laboratory, Automotive Styling Laboratory, and the PACE Center. The Automotive Wind Tunnel Laboratory houses China's first automobile-dedicated wind tunnel, independently designed and constructed. The Body Structure Laboratory is equipped with a comprehensive body structural performance test bench, dynamic and static strain measurement systems, component fatigue testing machines, and material property testing equipment. The Automotive Styling Laboratory features advanced coordinate measuring machines, rapid prototyping equipment, vacuum injection molding machines, automotive multimedia painting and model-making platforms, ergonomic experiment platforms, and RTT virtual experiment systems. The PACE Center is equipped with extensive CAD/CAE/CAM software and hardware systems, as well as innovative experimental platforms. The total laboratory area exceeds 6,000 square meters, with fixed assets exceeding 100 million RMB.

Over the years, the department has published more than 10 high-level textbooks in the field of Body Engineering. In the past five years, it has undertaken over 50 research projects, including those funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the "863 Program," provincial and ministerial programs, and industry-academia collaborations—among which 16 are NSFC projects. Average annual research funding received exceeds 10 million RMB. The department's research partners are predominantly large and medium-sized enterprises, institutions, and research institutes within the automotive industry.

The Body Engineering discipline maintains active academic exchanges, inviting high-level experts and scholars from both domestic and international institutions each year to deliver academic presentations and engage in collaborative exchanges. At the same time, faculty members are sent abroad annually for visits, advanced studies, and presentations at international conferences.

Contact Information:

Department Director: Lan Wei
Email: lanwei@jlu.edu.cn
Address: Department of Body Engineering, College of Automotive Engineering, Nanling Campus, Jilin University, 5988 Renmin Street, Changchun, Jilin Province, 130025, China