Wind Tunnel Characterization Engineer Location US-OH-Cleveland Job ID 2024-3043

Positions

1 Experience (Years) 2 Category Engineering - Mechanical Type of Position Regular Full-Time Level Experienced (Non-Manager) Visa Requirements Citizen only Overview The Test Facilities Operation, Maintenance and Engineering (TFOME) team at the NASA Glenn Research Center provides engineering and technical services in the areas of aeropropulsion and space propulsion and power test facilities. TFOME management is dedicated to excellence in service and to providing outstanding technical opportunities for our employees. We specialize in providing unique products and services to NASA Glenn. We are currently seeking a Wind Tunnel Characterization (WTC) Enginner to join our team that will be providing facility and characterization engineering support to our wind tunnels as part of the TFOME contract at the NASA Glenn Research Center. HX5 Sierra, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer that recruits and hires qualified candidates without regard to race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, disability, or veteran status. Responsibilities FUNCTION OF POSITION The Wind Tunnel Characterization (WTC) Engineer is responsible for understanding the overall operability of the wind tunnel in terms of the test section flow field. This includes developing and maintaining the wind tunnel calibration, documenting the flow quality over the entire operating range of the facility, and ensuring the stability and repeatability of the facility through health monitoring techniques such as statistical process control. The WTC Engineer is a key member of the facility and will work closely with facility and test engineers to ensure that customer needs in terms of tunnel conditions and flow quality are being met. The understanding of the wind tunnel operations and flow field that the WTC Engineer must possess are foundational to ensuring that quality data is being produced from each test project. The WTC Engineer is responsible for the overall planning and execution of characterization tasks (hardware and software development and testing) and for documenting the wind tunnel characterization details. As such, the WTC Engineer has duties that emulate both a Mechanical Test Engineer and a Data Engineer in addition to the specialized tasks focused on characterization. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 1. The primary task of the Wind Tunnel Characterization Engineer is to develop and execute the characterization procedures for a given wind tunnel or wind tunnels. As defined by the NASA Aeronautics Evaluation and Test Competency (AETC) Wind Tunnel Characterization Working Group (WTCWG), the overall characterization for a wind tunnel will consist of the following four key points: (1) Calibration, (2) Flow Quality, (3) Facility Evaluation, and (4) Quality Assurance. The WTC Engineer will develop the characterization plan for a given wind tunnel to address these four key points while taking into consideration the specifics of the tunnel such as operating regime and primary test types. 2. Leads efforts to understand and document the flow quality throughout the wind tunnel loop. This information is critical for identifying areas of improvement to the test section flow quality and/or tunnel operating efficiency. 3. Provides insight to the test customers on the test section flow quality and potential constraints and interactions between the customer test hardware and the facility flow field. This will require gaining an in-depth understanding of the facility operation, flow field, measurement system operation and calibration, the supporting input measurements and the interacti