Northrop Grumman Defense Systems, with an office located in Elkton, Maryland is currently seeking an experienced Propulsion Engineer – Structural and Dynamics Analyst to support our Solid Rocket Motor development efforts.
This Northrop Grumman facility in Elkton, Maryland began solid-propellant rocket operations in 1948. Today, the Elkton facility designs, develops, and produces solid-propellant propulsion, air-breathing propulsion and ordnance systems in programs professionally managed for a wide variety of Government and commercial customers. The facility also serves as the hub for offsite engineering and test facilities in Ronkonkoma, NY, Palm Beach Gardens, FL and San Jose, CA.
Responsibilities:
Provide/lead the development of acoustic, shock and vibration environments and loads to support systems and component design, validation testing and structural margin verification, by applying combinations of dynamic test data and analysis
Provide/lead structural dynamic analysis simulation and modeling efforts to support design activities across all Northrop Grumman, Propulsion System and Controls product lines. These simulations include development of structural/dynamic models, gridding, selection of boundary conditions and constraints, selection of applicable material properties, selection of appropriate simulation code and methodology, and performing model validation
Key responsibilities for this position include taking a lead role in developing analysis methodologies, interpretation of test and analytical results, and recommendation for design improvement
Preparation of technical reports and presentations of work product to both internal and external customers
Provide system level test support including making technical assessments of test hardware and test data
Lead analytical services in support of failure investigations: developing fault trees, developing approaches, and providing analytical efforts to assess fault causes
Assist project team in design of experiments testing to provide necessary data to validate detailed analyses
Form close working relationships with internal and external customer technical community and specific customer technical points of contact
Develop analytical approaches to assist in the resolution of unique structural issues. Assist in design of test articles to provide necessary data for full scale applications
Basic Qualifications:
Ability to obtain a Secret Clearance which requires US Citizenship as a pre-requisite
Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering plus eight years of related experience or Master’s Degree in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering plus six years of related experience or PhD in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering plus four years of related experience.
Significant experience in modeling with FEA software (ABAQUS, NASTRAN, ANSYS, FEMAP, Wave6 or equivalent)
Programming skills in Matlab, Simulink or Python
Experience with shock and vibration testing and analysis
Demonstrated ability to prepare and present analytical results in both oral and written formats
Excellent interpersonal, communication, writing, presentation, and critical thinking skills
Comfortable in team and lead roles
Working knowledge of Microsoft Office suite (Excel, Word, Power Point)
Preferred Qualifications:
Current Active Security Clearance
Prior experience in solid rocket motor design and analysis
Experience using NX solid modeling software
Strong experience developing Matlab scripts to process dynamic data
Experience performing structural dynamics analysis on flight vehicles
Applicable experience in performing analysis incorporating isotropic, orthotropic, hyperelastic materials, and measured damping properties in linear and non-linear dynamic analyses
Modal test and model correlation experience
Vibroacoustic analysis experience
Experience with component loads development following aerospace practices
Familiar with SMC-S-016 and/or NASA 7000 series standards
Experience calculating fatigue damage accumulation in response to dynamic environments
Personal poise, demonstrated ability to prepare and present analytical results in both oral and written formats
Critical thinking skills, logical approaches, attention to detail