Postdoctoral Scholar in Mechanical Engineering

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JOB DESCRIPTION AND POSITION REQUIREMENTS:

The Steady Thermal Aero Research Turbine (START) Lab within The Pennsylvania State University's Department of Mechanical Engineering is seeking a Postdoctoral Scholar to lead our computational fluid dynamics research. The START Lab aims to increase the efficiency and durability of gas turbine engines for both power generation and propulsion. This position offers flexibility and the opportunity to work daily with those acquiring state-of-the-art heat transfer and aerodynamic measurements on a cooled test turbine operated at engine-representative conditions. The START Lab evaluates both industry-proprietary test turbines and the test turbine designed through a collaborative industry-federal agency effort, which is known as the National Experimental Turbine (NExT).

The START Lab’s research is supported by outstanding collaborators from nearly all gas turbine companies, as well as federal agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Energy, and NASA. As such, this position offers excellent prospects for professional networking with those in the field. This position is also an excellent opportunity for applicants seeking to gain experience and advance to a full-time academic position.

Job Duties:

• Perform physics-based code development for turbine applications, including 3D unsteady calculations, relevant turbulence modeling, overset grid methods, and unstructured and adaptive grid algorithms.

• Perform verification and validation of pre- and post-test predictions of heat transfer and aerodynamics of the START test turbine.

• Assist and teach students who are seeking graduate degrees through their research in START with their computational research.

• Present and interact with industry and federal collaborators on the Computational Advisory Board for the National Experimental Turbine (NExT).

 Requirements and Qualifications:

• A PhD degree by the start date.

• Experience using commercial codes, especially StarCCM+, and familiarity with Pointwise and post-processing tools.

• Experience in writing additional code using C++ and/or Python.

• Experience conducting CFD analysis and experience with the development of CFD algorithms or models.

• Experience creating computational meshes for use in CFD analyses.

• Must be competent and comfortable producing scientific reports and giving presentations of findings/conclusions resulting from CFD and engineering analyses.

• Expertise in rotating machinery computations is preferred.

Additional Information:

The successful candidate's working location will be fully on-site, located in State College, PA. This is a term appointment, funded for one year from date of hire, with a possibility of renewal.

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