Professor Hongming Xu CEng, FIMechE, FHEA, FSAE

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Chair in Energy and Automotive Engineering
Head of Vehicle and Engine Technology Centre

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0) 121 414 4153
Fax: +44 (0) 121 414 3958
Email: h.m.xu@bham.ac.uk

View my research portal

Address: Mechanical Engineering
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Hongming Xu is Professor of Energy and Automotive Engineering and Head of the Vehicle Technology Research Centre. He is Director of Birmingham CASE Automotive Research and Education Centre.

He has 6 years of industrial experience with Jaguar Land Rover and Premier Automotive Group of Ford. He researches synergies between fuel, propulsion and after-treatment technologies for cleaner road vehicles.

He has 450+ publications (including 200+ refereed journal papers and 200+ conference publications) in engine flow, combustion, emissions, transient operation control and hybrid electric powertrain development involving both experimental and modelling studies. His current main research area is new fuels and electrified powertrains with artificial intelligence based control and optimisation.

Qualifications

PhD & DIC, in Mechanical Engineering (Internal Combustion Engines), Imperial College, University of London, 1995
MSc (Eng), in Mechanical Engineering (Internal Combustion Engines), Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 1984
BSc (Eng), Mechanical Engineering (Internal Combustion Engines), Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 1982

Biography

Professor Hongming Xu obtained BEng and MEng from Hefei University of Technology in 1982 and 1984 respectively where he worked subsequently as lecturer until 1990.

He obtained PhD from Imperial College London in 1995 and then worked there as Research Fellow and Senior Research Fellow. He moved to Jaguar Cars Ford Premier Automotive Group in 2000, where he was a Project Engineer (2000-2001), Team Leader (2002-2004), and Principal Technical Specialist until he joined the University of Birmingham in 2005 as Reader in Automotive Engineering.

He was appointed to the Chair of Energy and Automotive Engineering in 2009. He was named a Birmingham Hero in 2011 for his contributions to clean combustion and sustainable transport research.

Teaching

Teaching Programmes

Automotive Design Process
Powertrain Engineering
Turbomachinery and Complex Flow
Sustainable Energy

Postgraduate supervision

Hongming Xu’s research interests include powertrain system control, fossil fuels and biofuels, fuel systems and mixture preparation, combustion, formation and mitigation of emissions.

Previous PhD studentsSathaporn
Chuepeng – Quantitative Impact on Engine Performance and Emissions of High-Proportion Biodiesel Blends and the Required Engine Control Strategies (Joint supervision), 2008.
Jacek Misztal – Study of Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) Combustion and Emission Characteristics in a Multi-Cylinder Engine, 2009.
Rizalman Mamat – Performance and Emission Characteristics of an Automotive Diesel Engine Using Biodiesel Fuel with the Influence of Air Intake Variables, 2009.
Paweł Luszcz – Combustion Diagnostics in Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition Optical and Thermal Single-Cylinder Engines, 2009.
Marcin Frackowiak – Modelling and Diagnostic Study of Flow in an Optical Engine with Negative Valve Overlap for Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition, 2009.
George Constandinides – Thermal Management and Control of a Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) Engine, 2010.
Dale Turner – The Combustion and Emissions Performance of Fuel Blends in Modern Combustion Systems, 2010.
Jun Zhang – Particulate Matter Emission Control and Related Issues for Diesel Engines, 2011.
Richie Daniel – Combustion and Emissions Performance of Oxygenated Fuels in a Modern Spark-Ignition Engine, 2012.
Yanfei Li – Experimental Study on Spray and Combustion Characteristics of Diesel-Like Fuels, 2012.
He Ma – Control-Oriented Engine Modelling and Multi-Objective Optimal Feedback Control, 2013.
Fan Zhang – Spray, Combustion and Emission Characteristics of Dieseline Fuel, 2013.
Haiying Li – CFD Modelling of Spray and Combustion of Gasoline and DMF in Direct-Injection Gasoline Engines, 2013.
Chongming Wang – Combustion and Emissions of a Direct-Injection Gasoline Engine Using Biofuels, 2014.
Changzhao Jiang – Optical Investigation of the Spray and Combustion Characteristics of Furan Biofuels, 2014.
Dai Liu – Combustion and Emissions of an Automotive Diesel Engine Using Biodiesel Fuels under Steady-State and Cold-Start Conditions, 2014.
Powen Tu – Numerical and Experimental Study of Spray Characteristics in a Gasoline Direct-Injection Engine, 2015.
Daliang Jing – Experimental and Numerical Studies of Fuel Spray, 2015.
Chen Tan – Model-Based Control for a Modern Automotive Diesel Engine, 2015.
Jianyi Tian – Particulate Emission Characteristics of a Light-Duty Diesel Engine under Transient Operating Conditions, 2015.
Thomas Lattimore – Combustion and Emissions of a Direct-Injection Gasoline Engine Using EGR, 2015.
Ziman Wang – Experimental Study of Diesel Spray under Single and Multiple Injection Strategies at Room and Low Temperatures (Joint supervision), 2015.
Bowen Du – Numerical and Experimental Study of Spray Characteristics in a Gasoline Direct-Injection Engine, 2016.
Yasser Qahtani – Particulate Matter Characterisation and Control in Premixed Compression Ignition Engines, 2016.
Soheil Zeraati Rezaei – Experimental Investigation of a Premixed Compression Ignition Engine, 2016.
Tawfik Badawy – Optical Diagnostics of Flow and Combustion, 2017.
Hengjie Guo – Experimental and Numerical Study of Multi-Jet Spray Collapse under Flashing Conditions in GDI Engines (Tsinghua University), 2017.
Yunfan Zhang – Optimisation and Control of a Dual-Loop EGR System for a Modern Diesel Engine, 2018.
Scott Cash – Hybrid Electric Vehicle Modelling and Control, 2018.
Olalere Rafiu Kayode – Investigation of the Combustion and Emissions Behaviour of MF and MTHF, 2018.
Quan Zhou – Artificial Intelligence for Hybrid Electric Vehicle Development and Control, 2019.
Ziyang Li – Online Dynamic Optimisation of Engine Management Systems Using Artificial Intelligence Methods, 2019.
Shuai Liang – PAHs and Soot Formation in Laminar Partially Premixed Co-flow Flames Fuelled by PRFs at Elevated Pressures (Tsinghua University), 2019.
Aawishkar Dharmadhikari – Particulate Matter Emission Characteristics, Dynamics and Control in Compression Ignition Engines, 2020.
Lewis Parry – Diesel Engine Combustion with Dual Fuel and EGR, 2020.
Ji Li – Driver-Oriented Intelligent Control Methodology for Series-Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicles, 2020.
Carlo Coratella – Experimental Investigation of the Non-Uniformity of Jet Velocities Exiting a Multi-Hole Injector, 2021.
Yinglong He – Developing and Evaluating the Driving and Powertrain Systems of Automated and Electrified Vehicles for Sustainable Transport, 2021.
Zhou Zhang – Effect of Ethanol Blending on Particulate Matter Emissions of Direct-Injection Gasoline Engines (Tsinghua University), 2021.
Bin Shuai – Real-Time Energy Management of Hybrid Off-Highway Vehicles Using Reinforcement Learning, 2022.
Zeyu Sun – Development of a Hybrid Battery Thermal Management System for Electric Vehicles Based on Merged Digital and Physical Twinning, 2023.
Chengqing Wen – Artificial Intelligence-Based Energy Management for Hybrid Electric Vehicles, 2025.
Fanggang Zhang – Artificial Intelligence Optimisation of Energy Management for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles, 2025.
Xu He – Artificial Intelligence Optimisation of Control-Oriented Engine Models, 2026.
Min Hua – Deep Reinforcement Learning for Real-Time Energy Management of Electrified Vehicles, 2026.
Cetengfei Zhang – Artificial Intelligence-Based Online Optimal Energy Management for Hybrid Electric Vehicles, 2026.

Research

Professor Xu is working on control of future powertrains using AI technology and he has research experience in flow/turbulence, diesel/gasoline spray, mixture preparation, ignition, premixed/diffusion combustion, new combustion mode, emission formation/control, biodiesels, engine modelling, and operation control. He also has experience in turbomachinery/turbocharging, engine design and various advanced engine technologies.

Previous major projects as PI (2002-2019): £10 millions

Controlled Homogeneous Autoignition Reformed Gas Engine (CHARGE), DTI, 2002 - 2004

Controlled Homogeneous Autoignition Supercharged Engine (CHASE), DTI, 2004 - 2007

Combustion, performance & emissions of biodiesels (COPE), JLR, 2007 - 2008

Flex-diesel Engines with Sustainable Bio-fuels for Clean and Efficient On- and Off-Road Vehicle Engines (SERVE), TSB, 2007- 2010

Impact of DMF on Engine Performance and Emissions as a New Generation of Sustainable Biofuel, EPSRC, 2008 - 2011

HCCI engine technology research, JLR, 2007 - 2012

Thermal Management, JLR, 2007- 2012

Continuous Oxidation using NO2 Combustion for Exhaust Particulate Treatment (CONCEPT), JLR, Nov 2007-2009

Combustion and emissions of ethanol in a direct injection engine, Shell, 2008 - 2009

Combustion mechanism of furan fuels, Royal Society, 2011 – 2013

Biodiesel engine cold start, 2012 - 2014

Effect of fuel properties on GDI engines, 2012 - 2015

Next generation of GDI engines with boosting, 2012-2015

New control methodology for the next generation of engine management systems, 2013 -2016

X-in-the-loop diesel engine control, 2013 – 2016

Study of Novel Biofuels from Biomass 2016 - 2019

Study of diesel particulate matter emissions, 2013 – 2018

Hybrid vehicle development, 2015-2017

Engine exhaust emissions, 2016 - 2018

AI-based Hybrid vehicle energy management, 2019 -2021

Ongoing major projects: external funding over £1 million

AI Strategy for dual-mode engine development, BYD, 2020-2022

Real-time optimization system for PHEVs, JITRI, 2020-2025

Premixed Combustion Flame Instability Characteristics, EPSRC (EP/W002299/1), 2022-2025

Main research interests include:

1. Research and Development of Thermal Propulsion Systems

2. Connected and Autonomous Systems for Electrified Vehicles (CASE-V):

Level 1 - Engine/motor level transient control
Level 2 - Powertrain-level component sizing and energy management
Level 3 - Vehicle-level driver-machine interaction
Level 4 - Fleet-level collaborative energy management with vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Wu, Y, He, D, Li, J, Zhou, Q & Xu, H 2026, 'Transfer Learning-Enhanced Multi-objective Predictive Control for Electric Vehicular Platoon', IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification. https://doi.org/10.1109/TTE.2026.3665598

Guo, S, Zheng, S, Li, J, Zhou, Q & Xu, H 2025, 'A lightweight social cognitive risk potential field model for path planning with dedicated dynamic and static traffic factors', IET Intelligent Transport Systems, vol. 19, no. 1, e12595. https://doi.org/10.1049/itr2.12595

Wang, J, Du, C, Yan, F, Hua, M, Gongye, X, Yuan, Q, Xu, H & Zhou, Q 2025, 'Bayesian optimization for hyper-parameter tuning of an improved twin delayed deep deterministic policy gradients based energy management strategy for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles', Applied Energy, vol. 381, 125171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.125171

Hua, M, Chen, D, Jiang, K, Zhang, F, Wang, J, Wang, B, Zhou, Q & Xu, H 2025, 'Communication-Efficient MARL for Platoon Stability and Energy-Efficiency Co-Optimization in Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control of CAVs', IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 6076-6087. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVT.2024.3511091

Hua, M, Shuai, B, Zhang, F, Wang, J, Zhang, C, Zhou, Q & Xu, H 2025, 'Efficient Energy Management of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles Through Ensemble with In-Target Minimization Q-Learning', IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 11570-11581. https://doi.org/10.1109/TTE.2025.3579614

Wang, J, Du, C, Yan, F, Duan, X, Hua, M, Xu, H & Zhou, Q 2025, 'Energy Management of a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Using Bayesian Optimization and Soft Actor-Critic Algorithm', IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 912-921. https://doi.org/10.1109/TTE.2024.3398046

Li, J, Li, Z, Wen, C, Wu, Y, Dixon, R, Hu, X & Xu, H 2025, 'Experience-Shared Variable-Step Predictive Control of Range-Extended Electric Vehicles Using Transferable Driver Model', IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 1123-1133. https://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2024.3489018

Li, Y, Hu, J, Li, J, Xu, H, Wu, Y, Cai, Z, Lin, Y, Wu, H & Li, Z 2025, 'Experimental study on electrically heated catalyst coupling strategies for ultra-low emissions and energy-efficient thermal management in diesel engines', Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 280, no. Part 4, 128450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.128450

Wen, C, Li, J, Wang, B, Lu, G & Xu, H 2025, 'Expertise-guided NOx emission modeling of hybrid vehicle engines via peak-valley-enhanced Gaussian process regression', Energy, vol. 322, 135166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2025.135166

Jiang, K, Hua, M, He, X, Dong, L, Zhou, Q, Xu, H & Sun, C 2025, 'Improving String Stability in Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control Through Multiagent Reinforcement Learning With Potential-Driven Motivation', IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 1114-1127. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAI.2024.3511513

Zhang, F, Zhou, Q, Zhang, C, Hua, M, Du, S, Duan, Y, Li, J, Williams, H & Xu, H 2025, 'Meta-Heuristic Adaptive Equivalent Consumption Minimization of a Fuel Cell Vehicle Incorporating Fuzzy Inference and Particle Swarm Optimization', IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 5237-5248. https://doi.org/10.1109/TTE.2024.3478187

Zhang, G, Zhang, Y, Shi, P, Chen, P, Schneider, L, Xu, H & Wu, D 2025, 'Near-field jet characteristics of a single-hole medium-/low-pressure hydrogen injector', Energy, vol. 314, 134122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2024.134122

Shuai, B, Hua, M, Li, Y, Shuai, S, Xu, H & Zhou, Q 2025, 'Optimal Energy Management of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles Through Ensemble Reinforcement Learning With Exploration-to-Exploitation Ratio Control', IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 2479-2489. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIV.2024.3377215

Chapter

Li, J, Zhou, Q, Wu, Y & Xu, H 2025, Driver Behavior Prediction and Driver-Oriented Control of Electric Vehicles. in H Zhang & Q Zhou (eds), Big Data and Electric Mobility. 1st edn, CRC Press, pp. 171-189. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003302827-12

Review article

Hua, M, Qi, X, Chen, D, Jiang, K, Liu, ZE, Sun, H, Zhou, Q & Xu, H 2025, 'Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Connected and Automated Vehicles Control: Recent Advancements and Future Prospects', IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, vol. 22, pp. 16266-16286. https://doi.org/10.1109/TASE.2025.3574280

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