Professor Tu has a wide range of interest in research. He has contributed considerably to the progress of design and life assessment methods of high temperature structures, mechanical reliability and development of energy materials and novel heat transfer equipment. He is also an advocator of total engineering education.

    He is an author of more than 200 papers and received a number of distinguished awards including China National Science and Technology Progress Award, China Youth Science and Technology Award, and Young Researcher Award of 8th Int Conf. Creep and Fracture.

   He is a member of the discipline review panel of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee, AORC member of International Council of Pressure Vessel Technology and a member of Reliability committee of International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science, honorary president of Chinese Pressure Vessel Institution, and president of Chinese Materials Institution. He is also a member in editorial boards of J Applied Energy, Int J of Pres Ves and Piping, J of Materials Science & Technology, Frontier of Mechanical Engineering in China, Advances in Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Materials (in Chinese), J of Applied Basis and Engineering Science (in Chinese) and so on.