Marcus Zhao
EN

Structural design · Verification · Testing

Drone structural engineering

I’m Marcus Zhao. My responsibilities are to select airframe structures and perform strength verification for consumer drones, test carbon-fibre composites for weight reduction in drone arms, and work with the aerodynamics team on the aircraft's aerodynamic form.

A natural portrait of a structural engineer
A worn engineering bench with a carbon-fibre drone-arm sample, caliper, pencil, and sketches with no readable project information

Engineering record

A hypothetical drone-arm revision record

The target was 8% mass reduction. The first test stopped at 6,400 cycles; the revision completed 10,000 cycles and achieved 6.5%.

Open the record ↗

Collaboration

Marcus Zhao

Before a proposal leaves my desk, I put the boundary conditions, verification note, and open items in one place.

When structural and aerodynamic work meet, the available space, interface locations, and load cases still to be checked need to be explicit. A change to the outer form also changes the hand-off record.

After a test issue, the record adds the specimen condition, failure location, model assumptions, and the conditions for the next check. Missing context usually returns as another meeting.

RoleSenior Structural Engineer
CompanyDJI
EducationHarbin Institute of Technology · Aircraft Design and Engineering · Bachelor of Engineering · 2015–2019
LocationShenzhen, China

Checklist

Items I check before review

The three groups cover inputs, local details, and the test record.

Inputs

Source of the load case, load direction, constraints, deflection limit, and mass target.

01
Local details

Hole edges, transition regions, bond length, and locations where the layup terminates.

02
Test comparison

Fixture boundaries, measurement points, failure location, and the assumptions used in the model.

03

Contact

Get in touch

For a conversation about structural verification, composite testing, or cross-discipline engineering work, email me or use LinkedIn.