Secondary Air Systems & Whole Engine Models - Engineer II

Secondary Air Systems & Whole Engine Models - Engineer II

POWERTECH is a center of excellence for propulsion technologies, specializing in the design, engineering, and manufacturing of combustion engines, expendable turbojet engines, and turbofan engines for a wide range of aerospace, defense, and autonomous applications-including fixed- and rotary-wing UAVs and other advanced platforms.

Job Summary
The Engineer - Secondary Air Systems & Whole Engine Models will develop and lead the implementation of advanced 2D thermo-mechanical whole engine models (WEMs) that capture the complete transient thermal and mechanical behavior of gas turbine engines across full and various mission cycles-from startup through steady-state operation to shut down and cooldown. The engineer will also develop and integrate secondary air systems (SAS) models and support cross-functional teams by providing predictive insight into thermal behavior, component clearances and structural integrity.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop 2D axisymmetric thermo-mechanical whole engine models for various aircraft propulsion applications, capturing transient thermal behavior and rotor-stator interactions across full operational scenarios.
• Translate complex 3D gas turbine geometry into efficient 2D simulation domains, accounting for both axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric features.
• Incorporate mission profiles and evolving boundary conditions into transient simulations.
• Use the WEM as a digital twin to evaluate component temperatures, thermal gradients, displacements, and clearances over time.
• Provide critical inputs to structural teams for 3D mechanical movement analysis.
• Participate in the test campaigns to validate findings and update whole engine models accordingly.

Secondary Air Systems (SAS)

• Build and validate 1D SAS networks including internal air paths, cooling flows, leakage paths, and cavities.
• Integrate SAS with WEM to account for convective heat transfer and flow behavior throughout transient engine cycles.
• Use CFD, empirical data, and in-house correlations to inform heat transfer coefficients and boundary conditions across components.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Act as the interface between thermal, mechanical, design, CFD, performance, and clearance teams, gathering input for model setup.
• Embed WEM and SAS outputs into decision-making workflows, especially for evaluating mechanical integrity, component lifetime evaluation, and clearance control.

Simulation Tools & Process Development

• Benchmark and implement tools such as ANSYS, NX Thermal, Thermal Desktop, AxStream, or similar for thermal and fluid-structure simulation.
• Automate model setup and boundary condition control using scripting.
• Develop user-friendly workflows and conditional modeling approaches to capture complex physics during engine transients.

Qualifications & Experience

• Master's or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field with focus on heat transfer, thermo-mechanics, or propulsion systems.
• 3-7 years of experience in gas turbine engine modeling, with hands-on development of WEM or SAS models.
• Proven experience with FEM/thermal modeling tools and programming/scripting for simulation workflows.
• Strong background in transient thermal analysis, fluid-structure interaction, and thermal boundary condition development.