Conceptual Blade Design Engineer

ENVISION ENERGY USA LTD; Boulder (CO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Envision Energy USA LTD in Boulder, Colorado, seeks a Conceptual Blade Design Engineer to advance blade technology and CFD tools for wind turbines. You will lead design studies, explore design spaces, and develop new methods in a highly collaborative team.

Requirements include MSc/PhD and 5+ years in wind/aerospace, strong programming (MATLAB/Python/C/C++), and experience with CFD and HPC on Linux. Travel up to 15% is expected.

Qualifications

• MSc or PhD in engineering (Aerospace, Mechanical, Civil etc.), applied mathematics, or physics.
• 5+ years of professional experience in wind/aerospace or related industry, or recent MSc/PhD with relevant research.
• Strong knowledge of multi-disciplinary design optimization (MDO) and numerical optimization techniques.
• Solid understanding of fundamental aerodynamics for wind turbine context.
• Experience with Blade-Element Momentum Theory, lifting-line, CFD methods.
• Programming and modeling in MATLAB, Python, C/C++, or similar; version control with Git/Mercurial is a plus.
• Understanding of structural mechanics and composite structures.
• Familiar with aero-elasticity and turbine operation concepts.
• Familiar with NURBS in design geometry.
• Familiarity with HPC and Linux environments.
• Ability to make sound engineering decisions under uncertainty and balance trade-offs.

Responsibilities

• Lead blade design trade studies and define problem formulations.
• Develop design space explorations to identify trends and guide decisions under uncertainty.
• Innovate and implement novel blade concepts and technologies.
• Contribute to new software tool development for design tasks.
• Lead blade design and technology campaigns.
• Perform 2D/3D blade and airfoil CFD using panel methods or CFD solvers.
• Perform 2D airfoil design, analysis and optimization.
• Manage and interpret engineering data for model development and decision making.
• Plan and perform validation studies comparing models to field performance.

Skills

MDO concepts

Aerodynamics

2D/3D CFD

MATLAB

Python

C/C++

Git/Mercurial

Structural mechanics

Aero-elasticity

NURBS

Linux HPC

uncertainty-based decision making

Education

MSc or PhD in Engineering

Tools

Git

CFD tools

Linux HPC

Job description

Envision Energy’s Global Blade Innovation Center (GBIC) was established in 2015 to develop an in-house blade design group. Blade design engineers from industry-leading OEMs, national labs, and top graduates have collaborated for the past 11 years, leveraging the best of their collective knowledge and experience to create a state-of-the-art design capability. Envision’s in-house blade designs and technology have disrupted the Chinese blade market (100+ GW/year) and resulted in significant cost of energy reductions (LCOE) and an expanded Envision market share. Envision is currently seeking talented and highly motivated engineers to expand our team and further develop exciting new blade design capabilities and technologies.

As a key member of the GBIC’s conceptual design team, you will be responsible for the design and analysis of wind turbine blades. This includes the development of new blade technologies and associated computational tools and methodologies.

The successful candidate will have most of the following qualifications:

• MSc or PhD in engineering (Aerospace, Mechanical, Civil etc.), applied mathematics, or physics,
• 5+ years of professional experience; ideally wind and/or aerospace or closely related industry. That said, recent MSc or PhD graduates with relevant research experience are still strongly encouraged to apply.
• Understanding of multi-disciplinary design optimization (MDO) concepts and numerical optimization and associated techniques such as gradient-based search, genetic algorithms, and machine learning.
• Understanding of fundamental aerodynamics as it relates to low Mach, steady and unsteady, turbulent and laminar, incompressible and external flow.
• Understanding of applied aerodynamics as it relates to 2D airfoils, lifting wings, rotors, and horizontal axis wind turbines and associated analysis methods such as Blade-Element Momentum Theory, lifting-line and CFD
• Proficiency in programming and mathematical modeling in MATLAB, Python, C/C++, or similar is critical. Experience with revision control software like Git or Mercurial is also an asset.
• Understanding of structural mechanics and beam theory. Experience with composite structures is also an asset.
• Understanding of aero-elasticity, basic turbine operation and control.
• Understanding of numerical computational geometry such as NURBS
• Familiar with AI tools to automate routine tasks and improve workflow efficiency.
• Familiar with HPC systems and Linux
• Demonstrated ability to make sound engineering decisions under conditions of uncertainty, incomplete information, and competing technical objectives, while balancing performance, manufacturability, cost, and risk. Proven ability to prioritize effectively and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams across diverse backgrounds.

It is not expected that the ideal candidate has all the qualifications above. What is compulsory however, is a strong desire to quickly learn and adapt combined with a sense of technical curiosity and a self-motivating/self-starting open mindset that will enable easy knowledge transfer.

Tasks and responsibilities of the conceptual design engineer may include:

• Leading blade design trade studies by defining appropriate problem formulations, selecting suitable methodologies, critically interpreting results, and exercising engineering judgment to recommend design directions
• Generating and interpreting design space explorations to identify meaningful trends, understand complex engineering trade-offs, and guide strategic design decisions under uncertainty.
• Innovating and implementing novel design concepts and technologies that suit the current and future needs of the organization.
• Contributing to and/or leading new software tool development efforts to support the design tasks mentioned above.
• Contributing to and/or leading new blade design and technology campaigns.
• Perform 2D/3D blade and airfoil CFD using panel-methods and/or commercial CFD solvers
• Performing 2D airfoil design, analysis and optimization.
• Managing, validating, and interpreting engineering datasets to ensure traceability, quality, and suitability for model development, design decisions, and technology maturation.
• Planning and performing validation studies to continually improve the accuracy of computational models vs. field performance measurements.

The Conceptual Blade Design Engineer should have strong interpersonal, collaboration and communication skills and be able to clearly articulate the conclusions from complicated engineering analyses to both expert and non-expert groups alike. They are expected to use data-driven approaches along with their professional judgment and experience to solve open-ended and novel challenges. A minds-on / hands-on approach is expected within Envision’s highly entrepreneurial corporate culture as you tackle new challenges. Desire and ability to work across different cultures and international time zones is also critical.

Candidates should expect up to 15% international travel.

Envision is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.