On-going research areas:

Fluid dynamics

• ocean surface gravity waves;
• wave-current interaction;
• wave-bathymetry interaction;
• wave statistics;
• wave-turbulence interaction;

Oceanography

• Ocean wave modeling;
• Ocean circulation;
• wave-driven flows;

Offshore engineering

• Sea loads;
• Met-ocean; 
• Offshore wind (hydrodynamics); 

Honors (selected):

• Prize to outstanding young researchers (Ph.D. level) from the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China  ;
• The 2018 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award ;

Projects

• "Water wave modulation and wave forces with sheared currents" funded by the Research Council of Norway. Click here for the project description and updates. 
• Experimental study on the evolution of a narrow-banded wavepacket propagating over a step (UK & China Center for Offshore Renewable Energy Flexible Funding / UK EPSRC- NERC) 

Job advertisement: 

     a new PhD in the subfield of fluid Mechanics, expected starting date in August/September 2024. 

UIB| Det matematisk-naturvitenskapelig fakultet | Nyhetsarkiv

     Forsker for å forutsi «monsterbølgene»

Supervision: 

Ph.D. candidates: 

• 2021-2026, Zirui Xin (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, SJTU), together with Prof. Xin Li, Topic: coupled effects of wave-current interaction on offshore bottom-fixed and floating wind turbines. 
• 2021-2026, Jianhong Zhang (SJTU), together with Prof. Wenyue Lu, Topic: Evolution of directional-spreading steep wave groups in deep water
• 2019-2023, Zibo Zheng (NTNU), together with Prof. Simen Ellingsen, Topic: Wave statistics in a vertically sheared current. 

Master students: 

• 2023-2024 Sindre Lund Lomås (UiB)
• 2022-2023 Liangfu Wu (SJTU), Topic: the numerical study of the nonlinear evolution of wave spectrum in a background current.  

 

Teaching: 

MAT 253: Fluid Mechanics (Post-graduate level) 

MAT 213: Functions of a Complex Variable 

Vitenskapelig artikkel

• Draycott, S.; Li, Yan (2025). Extreme wave amplification through the interplay of wave nonlinearity and a two-dimensional bathymetry. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Zheng, Zibo; Kalisch, Henrik (2024). Stokes drift and particle trajectories induced by surface waves atop a shear flow. (ekstern lenke)
• Zheng, Zibo; Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Ådnøy (2024). Dispersive Wave Focusing on a Shear Current: Part 2—Nonlinear Effects. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Chabchoub, Amin (2024). How Currents Trigger Extreme Sea Waves. The Roles of Stokes Drift, Eulerian Return Flow, and a Background Flow in the Open Ocean. (ekstern lenke)
• Ellingsen, Simen Ådnøy; Zheng, Zibo; Abid, Malek et al. (2024). Dispersive Wave Focusing on a Shear Current: Part 1—Linear Approximations. (ekstern lenke)
• Liang, Hui; Li, Yan; Chen, Xiaobo (2024). An Earth-fixed observer to ship waves. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan (2023). On coupled envelope evolution equations in the Hamiltonian theory of nonlinear surface gravity waves. (ekstern lenke)
• Xin, Zirui; Li, Xin; Li, Yan (2023). Coupled effects of wave and depth-dependent current interaction on loads on a bottom-fixed vertical slender cylinder. (ekstern lenke)
• Zheng, Zibo; Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2023). Statistics of weakly nonlinear waves on currents with strong vertical shear. (ekstern lenke)
• Tang, Tianning; Moss, Charlotte; Draycott, Samuel et al. (2023). The influence of directional spreading on rogue waves triggered by abrupt depth transitions. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Zhenhao; Tang, Tianning; Li, Yan et al. (2022). Wave loads on ocean infrastructure increase as a result of waves passing over abrupt depth transitions. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Draycott, Samuel; Zheng, Yaokun et al. (2021). Why rogue waves occur atop abrupt depth transitions. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan (2021). Three dimensional surface gravity waves of a broad bandwidth on deep water. (ekstern lenke)
• Draycott, Samuel; Li, Yan; Stansby, Peter et al. (2021). Harmonic-induced wave breaking due to abrupt depth transitions: An experimental and numerical study. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Li, Xin (2021). Weakly nonlinear broadband and multi-directional surface waves on an arbitrary depth: A framework, Stokes drift, and particle trajectories. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Draycott, Samuel; Adcock, Thomas A.A. et al. (2021). Surface wavepackets subject to an abrupt depth change. Part 2. Experimental analysis. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Zheng, Yaokun; Lin, Zhiliang et al. (2021). Surface wavepackets subject to an abrupt depth change. Part 1. Second-order theory. (ekstern lenke)
• Yaokun, zheng; Zhiliang, Lin; Li, Yan et al. (2020). Fully nonlinear simulations of unidirectional extreme waves provoked by strong depth transitions: The effect of slope. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2019). A Framework for Modeling Linear Surface Waves on Shear Currents in Slowly Varying Waters. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Smeltzer, Benjamin Keeler; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2019). Transient wave resistance upon a real shear current. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan (2018). Wave-Interference Effects on Far-Field Ship Waves in the Presence of a Shear Current. (ekstern lenke)
• Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy; Li, Yan (2017). Approximate Dispersion Relations for Waves on Arbitrary Shear Flows. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2016). Multiple resonances of a moving oscillating surface disturbance on a shear current. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2016). Ship waves on uniform shear current at finite depth: Wave resistance and critical velocity. (ekstern lenke)

Vitenskapelig foredrag

• Zheng, Zibo; Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2023). Weakly nonlinear focused wave group on arbitrary shear based on second-order theory. (ekstern lenke)

Vitenskapelig oversiktsartikkel/review

• Li, Yan; Chabchoub, Amin (2023). On the formation of coastal rogue waves in water of variable depth. (ekstern lenke)

Vitenskapelig Kapittel/Artikkel/Konferanseartikkel

• Li, Yan; Adcock, Thomas A.A.; van den Bremer, Ton S. (2019). Linear Evolution of a Narrow-Banded Surface Gravity Wavepacket Over an Infinite Step . (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2018). Surface waves generated by a translating and oscillating source atop realistic shear flows. (ekstern lenke)
• Smeltzer, Benjamin Keeler; Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2017). Effect on Doppler Resonance From a Near-Surface Shear Layer. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2016). Effect of Anisotropic Shape on Ship Wakes in Presence of Shear Current of Uniform Vorticity. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2015). Initial Value Problems for Water Waves in the Presence of a Shear Current. (ekstern lenke)
• Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2015). Waves in presence of shear current with uniform vorticity. (ekstern lenke)

Doktorgradsavhandling

• Li, Yan (2017). Surface water waves on depth dependent flows. (ekstern lenke)

Se en full oversikt over publikasjoner i Cristin

2024

• Li, Yan; Chabchoub, Amin (2024). How currents trigger extreme sea waves. The roles of Stokes drift, Eulerian return flow, and a background flow in the open ocean. Geophysical Research Letters. (In production)
• Ellingsen, S.Å.; Zheng, Z; Abid, M; Kharif, C; Li, Yan (2024). Dispersive Wave Focusing on a Shear Current: Part 1—Linear Approximations. Water Waves. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42286-024-00085-3

20 23

• Li, Yan (2023). On coupled envelope evolution equations in the Hamiltonian theory of nonlinear surface gravity waves. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 960, A33. doi:10.1017/jfm.2023.205. 
• Li, Yan; Chabchoub, Amin (2023). On the formation of coastal rogue waves in water of variable depth. Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures 2023 ; Vol. 1.(e33). https://doi.org/10.1017/cft.2023.21.
• Zheng, Zibo; Li, Yan;  Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy (2023). Statistics of weakly nonlinear waves on currents with strong vertical shear. Physical Review Fluids. 8, 014801. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.8.014801.
• Tang, Tianning; Moss, Charlotte; Draycott, Samuel; Bingham, Harry B.; Van Den Bremer, Ton S.; Li, Yan; Adcock, Thomas A.A.(2023).The influence of directional spreading on rogue waves triggered by abrupt depth transitions. Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Rapids); Vol. 972. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2023.737 
• Xin, Zirui; Li, Xin; Li, Yan (2023). Coupled effects of wave and current interaction on loads on a bottom-fixed vertical slender cylinder.  Coastal Engineering. 183. 104304. doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2023.104304
• Li, Yan; Xin, Zirui; Li, Xin (2023). Exponential integrator for nonlinear surface gravity-capillary waves. Submitted to OMAE-2023 (in press) 

2022

• Li, Zhenhao; Tang, Tianning; Li, Yan; Draycott, Samuel; van den Bremer, Ton S.; Adcock, Thomas A. A. (2022). Wave loads on ocean infrastructure increase as a result of waves passing over abrupt depth transitions. Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy. 1-9.
• Draycott, Samuel; Li, Yan; Stansby, Peter; Adcock, Thomas A.A.; van den Bremer, Ton S.. (2022) Harmonic-induced wave breaking due to abrupt depth transitions: An experimental and numerical study. Coastal Engineering. vol. 171.

2021

• Li, Yan. (2021) Three dimensional surface gravity waves of a broad bandwidth on deep water. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. vol. 926.
• Li, Yan; Draycott, Samuel; Adcock, Thomas A.A.; van den Bremer, Ton S.. (2021) Surface wavepackets subject to an abrupt depth change. Part 2. Experimental analysis. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. vol. 915.
• Li, Yan; Draycott, Samuel; Zheng, Yaokun; Lin, Zhiliang; Adcock, Thomas A. A.; van den Bremer, Ton S.. (2021) Why rogue waves occur atop abrupt depth transitions. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. vol. 919 (R5).
• Li, Yan; Li, Xin. (2021) Weakly nonlinear broadband and multi-directional surface waves on an arbitrary depth: A framework, Stokes drift, and particle trajectories. Physics of Fluids. vol. 33 (7).
• Li, Yan; Zheng, Yaokun; Lin, Zhiliang; Adcock, Thomas A.A.; van den Bremer, Ton S.. (2021) Surface wavepackets subject to an abrupt depth change. Part 1. Second-order theory. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. vol. 915.

2020

• Yaokun, zheng; Zhiliang, Lin; Li, Yan; Adcock, Thomas A. A.; Li, Ye; van den Bremer, Ton S.. (2020) Fully nonlinear simulations of unidirectional extreme waves provoked by strong depth transitions: The effect of slope. Physical Review Fluids. vol. 5 (6).

2019

• Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy. (2019) A Framework for Modeling Linear Surface Waves on Shear Currents in Slowly Varying Waters. Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR): Oceans. vol. 124 (4).
• Li, Yan; Smeltzer, Benjamin Keeler; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy. (2019) Transient wave resistance upon a real shear current. European journal of mechanics. B, Fluids. vol. 73.
• Li, Yan; Adcock, Thomas A.A.; van den Bremer, Ton S.. (2019) Linear Evolution of a Narrow-Banded Surface Gravity Wavepacket Over an Infinite Step. ASME 2019 38th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE2019): Volume 4: Materials Technology.

2018

• Li, Yan. (2018) Wave-Interference Effects on Far-Field Ship Waves in the Presence of a Shear Current. Journal of Ship Research. vol. 62 (1).
• Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy. (2018) Surface Waves Generated by a Translating and Oscillating Source Atop Realistic Shear Flows. ASME 2018 37th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering - Volume 7B: Ocean Engineering.

2017

• Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy; Li, Yan. (2017) Approximate Dispersion Relations for Waves on Arbitrary Shear Flows. Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR): Oceans. vol. 122 (12).
• Smeltzer, Benjamin Keeler; Li, Yan; Ellingsen, Simen Andreas Ådnøy. (2017) Effect on Doppler Resonance From a Near-Surface Shear Layer. ASME 2017 36th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering - Volume 7B: Ocean Engineering.

Doctoral Thesis

• Li, Yan. (2017) Surface water waves on depth dependent flows. 2017. ISBN 978-82-326-2461-4.

Paper(s) in Conference proceedings:

• Smeltzer, B.K., Li, Yan, Ellingsen, S.Å, Effect on Doppler resonance from a near-surface shear layer, in Proceedings of the 36th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE) , June 25-30, 2017, Trondheim, Norway. Paper OMAE2017-61231.

2016

• Li, Yan, Ellingsen, S.Å, Multiple resonances of a moving, oscillating surface disturbance on a shear current, Journal of Fluid Mechanics , 808 668-689 (2016).
• Li, Yan, Ellingsen, S.Å, Ship waves on uniform shear current at finite depth: wave resistance and critical velocity, Journal of Fluid Mechanics , 791 232-255 (2016).on the cover of J. Fluid mech. vol 791.

Paper(s) in Conference proceedings:

• Li, Yan, Ellingsen, S.Å, Effect of anisotropic shape on ship wakes in presence of shear current of uniform vorticity, in Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE). Volume 7: Ocean Engineering, Busan, South Korea, June 19-26 2016.Paper No. OMAE2016-54250, pp. V007T06A002.
• Li, Yan, Ellingsen, S.Å, Dispersion relations of waves generated by a travelling oscillating disturbance on a shear current, in Proceedings of the 31st International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies (IWWWFB), Plymouth, Mi, USA, April 3-6 2016, Abstract 24.
• 2015
• Li, Yan, Li, X. & Luo, Y., Jacket Effects on Heave, Roll and Pitch Motions of a New Floating Deep-draft Semisubmersible Concept, Journal of Ship Mechanics, 19(6), pp 1-13 (2015), (ID:1007-7294（2015）06-0664-13).

Paper(s) in Conference proceedings:

• Li, Yan, Ellingsen, S.Å, Initial value problems for water waves in the presence of a shear current, in Proceedings of the 25th International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference (ISOPE-2015) Kona, Hawaii June 21-26 2015, Vol.~3, pp. 543-549.
• Li, Yan, Ellingsen, S.Å, Waves in presence of shear current with uniform vorticity, in Proceedings of the 8th National Conference on Computational Mechanics (MekIT'15), Trondheim, Norway, May 18-19 2015, pp. 295-306.
• Ellingsen, S.Å, Li, Yan, Dispersion relations of waves generated by a travelling oscillating disturbance on a shear current, in Proceedings of the 30st International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies (IWWWFB), Bristol, UK, April 12-15 2015, pp. 57-60.

Journal paper in Chinese:

• Li, Yan, Wu, Shaobo, & Li, X., Jacket Effects on Heave, Roll and Pitch Motions of a New Floating Deep-draft Semisubmersible Concept, Journal of Ship Mechanics, 19(6), pp 1-13 (2015), (ID:1007-7294（2015）06-0664-13).

2024-2029. ERC-STG-2024: OceanCoupling, funded by European Research Council, Role: PI. (Start date: October 1, 2024, EU page).  

2023-2023. POS-ERC (Project number 342480, 464k NOK): "A bridge to ocean coupling" funded by Reserach Council of Norway. Role: PI. 

2019-2022. FRINATEK Mobility Grant (project number 287389, 3.3 Million NOK): "Water wave modulation and wave forces with sheared currents" funded by Reserach Council of Norway. Role: PI. Click here for the project description and updates.