Project Scientist / Post-Doctoral Researcher, High-Speed Turbomachinery Design

IIT Madras (Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Prof. Satyanarayanan Seshadri) is hiring turbomachinery researchers to design, build and test oil-free high-speed centrifugal compressors and radial turbines for steam recompression, industrial heat pumps and waste-heat power: 20 to 75 kW, 35,000 to 90,000 rpm, direct drive, manufactured in India and tested on campus. We want people who have designed, built or tested turbomachines of any type and who want to own a machine from the duty point to the measured map.Openings: turbomachinery design lead (PhD or equivalent experience), rotor and mechanical design, high-speed motor and drive, test and instrumentation. Indian researchers abroad who are considering a return are encouraged to write.

Contact: [satya@energy.iitm.ac.in, cc to: santoshid@sie.iitm.ac.in].Project Scientist / Post-Doctoral Researcher, High-Speed Turbomachinery DesignDepartment of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, ChennaiPrincipal Investigator: Prof. Satyanarayanan Seshadri (www.energlab.org/v3/)

We are building oil-free, high-speed turbomachines for industrial decarbonisation: centrifugal compressors for steam (mechanical vapour recompression) and for high-temperature heat pumps, and radial inflow turbines for waste-heat power. The machines are in the 20 to 75 kW class and run at 35,000 to 90,000 rpm, direct-driven by a permanent-magnet motor designed in-house. The first prototypes will be designed, manufactured in India and tested at IIT Madras. The work builds on the group’s mean-line and optimisation research on radial inflow turbines for supercritical CO2 cycles.The design chain is open: REFPROP or CoolProp for real-gas properties, in-house Python mean-line codes, open-source tools for blade geometry, CFD, finite-element analysis and rotordynamics. Validated public geometries such as the NASA CC3 and HECC compressors are used as reference cases.

Role:You will own the design of one complete machine, from duty point to tested hardware, and will be the technical lead for a small team of project engineers and research students. The role suits someone who wants to see their design spin, not only simulate it. Candidates from any branch of turbomachinery are welcome: axial or radial, compressors, turbines, pumps or turbochargers. Depth in one of the areas below matters more than the machine type you have worked on.

Responsibilities:•   Mean-line and through-flow design of centrifugal compressor and radial turbine stages with real-gas properties, including off-design maps.•   Three-dimensional blade, diffuser and volute design, and CFD with real-gas models; validation against public test cases.•   Rotor layout with the motor designer: rotordynamics, critical-speed margins, bearing selection and mounting (hybrid ceramic ball bearings first, gas foil bearings later), thrust balance, seals.•   Structural and thermal checks of wheels, shaft, retaining sleeve and casings; overspeed and burst margins.•   Manufacturing drawings and vendor liaison for 5-axis milled wheels, printed or machined casings, balancing and overspeed spin testing.•   Design, commissioning and operation of the steam and refrigerant test loops; instrumentation, uncertainty analysis and performance mapping.•   Publications, design reports and support for funding proposals; mentoring of MS and PhD students.

Essential qualifications:•   PhD in mechanical or aerospace engineering with a thesis in turbomachinery, rotordynamics or a closely related field. Candidates who have submitted their thesis may apply. Exceptional MS or MTech graduates with at least three years of turbomachinery design experience in industry or a national laboratory will be considered at Senior Project Engineer level.•   Demonstrated depth in at least one of: turbomachinery aerodynamic design and CFD; rotordynamics and bearings for high-speed rotors; experimental turbomachinery and rig design.•   Working fluency in Python or an equivalent language, and in at least one CFD or finite-element package.•   Evidence of finishing things: a rig built, a machine tested, a code others use, or papers with experimental results.

Desirable•   Experience with real-gas or non-ideal working fluids: steam, refrigerants, organic fluids, supercritical CO2.•   Experience with small high-speed machines: turbochargers, micro gas turbines, turboexpanders, high-speed blowers, fuel-cell compressors.•   Hands-on experience with balancing, vibration measurement, high-speed data acquisition or spin testing.•   Familiarity with open-source tools such as OpenFOAM, SU2, CalculiX, ROSS, Multall or T-Blade3.•   Exposure to manufacturing: 5-axis machining of impellers, metal additive manufacturing, geometric tolerancing.

Offer:•   Ownership of a complete machine from concept to test, with hardware budget in place.•   Eligible candidates will be supported in applications for national fellowships and faculty-track schemes.•   Close links with the group’s industry partners and start-ups in decarbonisation and energy efficiency, with scope to take the technology to product.•   1.3 LPM consolidated salary with additional incentives based on project funding and deliverables•   Initial appointment for [12] months, extendable based on performance. Location: IIT Madras campus, Chennai.