Zhang's research areas include steel and composite structures, innovative and resilient structural systems and components against multi-hazards; structural vibration assessment and mitigation; and cold-formed steel structures. His prior work on special steel moment frames with Reduced Beam Section (RBS) connections contributed largely to the prequalification of RBS connections with deep columns by American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) in its standard ANSI/AISC 358 – Prequalified Connections for Special and Intermediate Steel Moment Frames for Seismic Application.