The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Congratulations to Dr. LI Xiangru on earning his PhD

  • Sports Aerodynamics
EMG devices on a cyclist during wind-tunnel testing.
EMG devices on a cyclist during wind-tunnel testing.
Surface EMG electrodes measuring upper-limb muscle activation.
Surface EMG electrodes measuring upper-limb muscle activation.
Pareto optimization of upper-limb muscle activation and aerodynamic drag across cycling postures.
Pareto optimization of upper-limb muscle activation and aerodynamic drag across cycling postures.

AANTC congratulates Dr. LI Xiangru on completing his doctoral research and earning his PhD. His dissertation is entitled “Advancing cycling performance through integrated aerodynamic engineering and human-centered optimization”.

His research develops an integrated, multiscale framework for improving cycling performance through the aerodynamic optimisation of textiles, cycling skinsuits, rider posture and helmet design. It shows that effective interventions must balance drag reduction with each rider's physiological demands, thermal comfort and practical operating conditions.

Research highlight

Beyond Low Drag: Integrating Aerodynamics and EMG for Smarter Cycling Postures

Conventional cycling-performance research often considers aerodynamic drag and physiological demands separately, while the upper-body muscular effort required to sustain an aerodynamic posture receives much less attention. This study integrates wind-tunnel aerodynamic measurements with surface electromyography (EMG) to quantify drag and upper-body muscle activity across different cycling postures and handlebar positions. Pareto optimization was then used to identify postures that best balance aerodynamic efficiency and muscular demand. The results show that more aerodynamic postures reduce drag but generally require greater upper-body muscle activation, providing a quantitative basis for posture selection, athlete training and aerodynamic bike fitting.

This work was published in International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance in 2026 and presented at icSPORTS 2025 in Spain, where it received the Best Student Paper Award.

We thank Dr. Li for his contributions to sports aerodynamics research and wish him every success in his future work and personal life.

Related publications

  1. X. Li, P. Zhou, and X. Zhang, “Optimizing cycling postures: Upper limb muscle effort and aerodynamic performance,” International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, advance online publication, 2026. DOI: 10.1123/ijspp.2025-0344.
  2. X. Li, J. Mao, and P. Zhou, “Aerodynamic and acoustic evaluation of a cylinder covered by stretched grooved fabric,” AIAA Journal, vol. 63, no. 5, pp. 2097–2104, 2025. DOI: 10.2514/1.J065006.
  3. X. Li, P. Zhou, and X. Zhang, “Balance of upper limb muscle activation and aerodynamics for cycling posture optimization,” in Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Sport Science Research and Technology Support-icSPORTS, SciTePress, 2025, pp. 50–56. DOI: 10.5220/0013677000003988.
  4. X. Li, J. Mao, and P. Zhou, “Aerodynamic and acoustic evaluation of a cylinder covered by stretched grooved fabric near critical Reynolds numbers,” in Proceedings of Inter-Noise and Noise-Con Congress and Conference, Institute of Noise Control Engineering, 2024, pp. 5724–5733. DOI: 10.3397/IN_2024_3638.