Postdoctoral Appointee – CFD Modeling of Ammonia Gas Turbine Engines

Argonne National Laboratory

Lemont, USA

Job posting number: #7220357 (Ref:417515)

Posted: February 23, 2024

Job Description

The Multiphysics Computation Section within the Transportation and Power Systems Division at Argonne National Laboratory is seeking to hire a postdoctoral appointee. The successful candidate’s research will involve synergistic collaborations with a multidisciplinary team involving engine modelers, CFD and AI/ML experts, and computational scientists to enhance the predictive capability and scalability of multi-scale and multi-physics simulation codes.

  • Develop turbulent combustion modeling approaches for predictive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of combustion dynamics and emissions (such as, N2O, NOx) in gas turbine engines operating on ammonia and its blends with hydrogen and natural gas.

  • Develop accurate reduced chemical kinetic models for combustion of ammonia and ammonia/hydrogen/methane blends.

  • Develop computational combustion diagnostic approaches to capture rare event precursors.

  • Augment chemical kinetic and turbulent combustion models with machine learning (ML) approaches.

  • Demonstrate the capability of computational modeling frameworks to accelerate full-scale simulations of advanced stationary power generation gas turbine engines.

  • Import and accelerate CFD simulation workflows on leadership class supercomputing platforms.

Position Requirements

  • Ph.D. in mechanical/aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, or a related discipline.

  • Understanding of chemical kinetics, turbulent reacting flows, and turbulent combustion modeling.

  • Background and expertise in CFD modeling of turbulent reacting flows within energy conversion systems (e.g., internal combustion engines, gas turbine combustors, detonation engines, etc.) using CFD solvers (e.g., CONVERGE, Nek5000/NekRS, OpenFOAM, Fluent, etc.) on large-scale HPC platforms.

  • Collaborative skills, including the ability to work well with other divisions, laboratories, and universities.

  • Skilled written and oral communication skills at levels of the organization.

  • A successful candidate must have the ability to model Argonne’s Core Values: Impact, Safety, Respect, Integrity, and Teamwork.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience in interdisciplinary collaborative research.

  • Understanding of combustion dynamics and emissions in gas turbines.

  • Development and application of machine learning tools in chemical kinetics and turbulent combustion.

  • Background and experience in the development of machine learning algorithms and software (in TensorFlow, PyTorch, Julia, etc.) for surrogate-assisted modeling, management and analysis of big data, and parallel scientific computing.

Job Family

Postdoctoral Family

Job Profile

Postdoctoral Appointee

Worker Type

Long-Term (Fixed Term)

Time Type

Full time

As an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer, and in accordance with our core values of impact, safety, respect, integrity and teamwork, Argonne National Laboratory is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace that fosters collaborative scientific discovery and innovation. In support of this commitment, Argonne encourages minorities, women, veterans and individuals with disabilities to apply for employment. Argonne considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship status, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Argonne employees, and certain guest researchers and contractors, are subject to particular restrictions related to participation in Foreign Government Sponsored or Affiliated Activities, as defined and detailed in United States Department of Energy Order 486.1A. You will be asked to disclose any such participation in the application phase for review by Argonne's Legal Department.  

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Argonne is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity in our workforce. As an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer, Argonne National Laboratory is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace that fosters collaborative scientific discovery and innovation. In support of this commitment, Argonne prohibits discrimination or harassment based on an individual's age, ancestry, citizenship status, color, disability, gender, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.


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