Challenge: The lifetime and safety of liquid hydrogen storage tanks is unknown

Change: Develop a tank management concept including safety and durability.

Impact: Help enable sustainable aviation

Job description

Within the COCOLIH2T project, funded by the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, we are collaborating with nine other partners to develop a conformal liquid hydrogen tank for aviation.

In this position you will conduct safety and fatigue analyses of the developed tank design. Challenges include analysing the safety requirements and characteristics of the tank in the design stage, conducting fatigue analyses taking into account the complex thermomechanical loading, and coming up with a fatigue management concept for the tank, e.g. should it be based on safety-by-replacement or safety-by-inspection. To inform these analyses you will colloaborate with colleagues at TU Delft, as well as with project partners, working on the tank design, NDT, and life cycle analyses.

In addition to conducting the research, you will be required to communicate it both in academic settings (journal papers and conferences) and towards an industrial audience. You will also be expected to contribute to the management of the project.

In this position you will be supervised by Dr. ir. John-Alan Pascoe and Dr. ir. Alexei Sharpanskykh. At TU Delft the project team further consists of Dr. Roger Groves, Dr. ir. Daniël Peeters, Dr. ir. Julien van Campen, and two additional post-docs (recruitment in progress). The other project partners are: Collins Aerospace (Microtecnica, UTC Aerospace Systems Wroclaw, Goodrich Aerospace, Crompton Technology Group and Simmonds Precision Products), NLR, Unified International, ATR, and Novotech - Aerospace Adavanced Technology.

Requirements

Need to have:

• A PhD in a relevant field e.g. aerospace, mechanical, or structural engineering;
• Experience with modelling fatigue of composites;
• An eagerness to learn new skills and knowledge as needed for the project;
• A capacity to work both independently and as a member of a team
• Interest in / willingness to learn safety analysis and risk assessment methods
• The ability to communicate your work and its significance clearly, towards both academic and industrial audiences.

Nice to have:

• Experience with modelling fatigue of large composite structures;
• Experience with conducting safety analyses

Conditions of employment

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (based on scale 10: € 2.960,00 - € 4.670,00). The employment contract is for 2 years and the position is for 38 hours per week. The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, a discount on health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Aerospace Engineering

The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology is one of the world’s most highly ranked (and most comprehensive) research, education and innovation communities devoted entirely to aerospace engineering. More than 200 science staff, around 270 PhD candidates and close to 3000 BSc and MSc students apply aerospace engineering disciplines to address the global societal challenges that threaten us today, climate change without doubt being the most important. Our focal subjects: sustainable aerospace, big data and artificial intelligence, bio-inspired engineering and smart instruments and systems. Working at the faculty means working together. With partners in other faculties, knowledge institutes, governments and industry, both aerospace and non-aerospace. Working in field labs and innovation hubs on our university campus and beyond.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.

Additional information

Based on the submitted cover letters and CV a shortlist of suitable candiddates will be invited for an (online) interview, in which you will be asked to give a presentation about your research experience.

Application procedure

Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply before 2 July 2023 via the application button and upload:

• Your cover letter, include a few sentences explaining what you think is the greatest threat to the structural integrity of a composite liquid hydrogen tank.
• Your CV .

Please note:

• A pre-employment screening can be part of the selection procedure.
• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.