Very-high-cycle fatigue (VHCF, the fatigue failure beyond 107 cycles) of high-strength alloys is a new area of fatigue disciplinary and a challenge to the traditional fatigue limit at 107 cycles. The components of airplanes, high-speed trains, etc. require the theory and methods of VHCF to ensure the safe performance up to 1011 cycles. This project proposed a new concept of crack initiation characteristic region in VHCF for high-strength alloys. The threshold value for this region is a function of Burgers vector and shear modulus of material. This region of tens of microns in diameter consumes more than 95% of total fatigue life. The crack initiation characteristic region was revealed to be a nanograin layer, and a model of Numerous Cyclic Pressing (NCP) was proposed to successively explain its formation mechanism.

The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, with a total length of 1318 kilometers, is the world’s longest high-speed railway built in one go. It faces significant scientific challenges in continuously surpassing the running speed of long-distance high-speed railways around the world, unparalleled in its difficulty, complexity, and uniqueness. Through nearly 20 years of technological research and independent innovation, all scientific researchers and builders have established the theoretical system of high-speed railways in our country, built a smooth and stable infrastructure, improved the level of major technical equipment, established construction management and safety operation guarantee technologies, and formed technology standards with independent intellectual property rights.

Extreme marine environments and their coupled interactions with engineering structures are key scientific issues in ocean engineering. The team from the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in deep collaboration with industrial units such as the China National Offshore Oil Corporation Research Institute, conducted research on the marine environment and engineering responses of China's first 3,000-meter water deep semi-submersible drilling platform, the 'Ocean Oil 981' platform. With the support of projects like the '863 Program,' they investigated the special environmental conditions of the South China Sea, including internal waves and typhoons, and their impact on the platform.

This is an interdisciplinary project of solid mechanics, nonlinear mechanics, physical mechanics and micro/nano fabrication. Starting in 1980s, the NEMS/MEMS technology not only has huge impact on aeronautical and space technology, defense and economic social development, but also infuses a new vibrant energy into the development of mechanics. The intermolecular interactions and their induced surface/interface effects such as stiction, solid/liquid dynamics are the bottleneck problems for the NEMS/MEMS development, which, on the other hand, are also the frontier of the international researches of solid mechanics, physical mechanics and micro/nanomechanics. This project closely follows the national major demands for the NEMS/MEMS and the frontier of the international academia on mechanics.

Mechanician, was born in Xiangyun, Yunnan Province on December 22, 1940. Undergraduate in the department of mechanics, the University of Science and Technology of China, 1958-1963 and postgraduate in the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1963-1966. Since 1966, he has been working in the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was elected as a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991 and elected as a member of European Academy of Sciences in 2002. Now he is a professor of the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and serves as the chairman of the academic committee of the state key laboratory of nonlinear mechanics (LNM), General Assembly member of International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM), etc.

Prof. BAI Yilong from the CAS Institute of Mechanics has received the 2007 John Rinehart Award for his seminal contributions to the theories of shear-band formation and damage in materials and for his leadership in dynamic behavior of materials in China. He is the first Chinese winner of the prestigious award since its establishment. The 2007 award was announced at the annual meeting of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) held from 25 February to 1 March earlier that year in Orlando, Florida. on behalf of TMS on 18 September 2007 in Beijing, the award was conferred to Prof. Bai by Prof. Marc A. Meyers, who himself has received the same award in 2009.

Academician Hu Wenrui participated in the demonstration of the Space Application System of China Manned Space Program and took the responsibility of the development of the strategy and planning for space science, especially microgravity science and application and was also responsible for undertaking the the space experiment of drop thermocapillary migration aboard the Shenzhou-4 spaceship. The space experiment achieved the largest Marangoni number of droplet migration in microgravity experiments. Due to the significant contributions of Academician Hu Wenrui and the Institute of Mechanics to China Manned Space Program, Academician Hu Wenrui was awarded the Special Prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award for China Manned Space Program (Space Application System) in 2003. The Institute of Mechanics was also awarded the Special Prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award for China Manned Space Program in 2003.

Zheng Zhemin (1924- ) is a native of Yin County, Zhejiang Province. He is a scientist on Explosion Mechanics, Applied Mechanics and Vibration. He graduated from Tsinghua University in 1947, and received his master's degree and doctorate from the California Institute of Science and Technology in 1949 and 1952 respectively. Zheng is an academician of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the China Academy of Engineering. Zheng was Foreign Associate of U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 1993. Zheng was formerly, Director of Institute of Mechanics, President of the Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Editor-in-Chief of Acta Mechanica Sinica, etc. Presently, Zheng is Director of the Research Center for Offshore Engineering, CAS, and Vice-Chairman of the Technical Science Division of CAS.