NASA Postdoctoral Program Opportunities

Material response modeling

Opportunity ID	19363
Opportunity URL	https://npp.usra.edu/opportunities/details/?ro=19363
Location	Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA 94035
Field of Science	Interdisciplinary/Other
Advisors	Arnaud P Borner (650) 604-5986 Arnaud.p.borner@nasa.gov Jeremie Bernard Erwin Meurisse, Primary Advisor (650) 237-9942 jeremie.b.meurisse@nasa.gov
Citizenship Requirement	U.S. Citizens Accepted Lawful Permanent Residents Accepted Foreign nationals who are in the U.S. at the time of application and on a valid J1 visa Accepted; Foreign nationals, asylees or refugees in the U.S. at the time of application with a valid EAD card and pending I-485 or I-589 forms Accepted. Applications with citizens from Designated Countries will not be accepted at this time, unless they are Legal Permanent Residents of the United States. A complete list of Designated Countries can be found at: https://www.nasa.gov/oiir/export-control.
Description	In order to design the thermal protection systems (TPS) used in NASA missions, accurate material response modeling is essential. Modeling TPS materials requires analysis at both the micro- and macroscale due to the highly porous nature of the materials. At NASA Ames Research Center there is an ongoing research effort to develop models and computational tools to predict material properties and thermomechanical response based on the material’s microstructure. The research effort is closely tied to predict material response of the next generations of NASA TPS materials. The candidate will contribute to the development of high-fidelity modeling techniques for the material response of NASA TPS at the macro-scale, with a particular focus on elemental conservation, species transport, and finite-rate reaction rates, as well as chemical and structural processes occurring in porous materials. The pyrolysis gas will be optimized using state-of-the-art models inspired from the biomass community. The impact of mass loss due to high shear environments and spallation will be studied. Education/Skills: PhD degree or Foreign Equivalent in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering or related engineering is desired. The candidate should also have a strong background in computer science, C++ programming, Python programming and numerical methods. Experience in high performance computing is a benefit, but not required. References: Meurisse, Jeremie BE, et al. "Multidimensional material response simulations of a full-scale tiled ablative heatshield." Aerospace Science and Technology 76 (2018): 497-511. Lachaud, Jean, and Nagi N. Mansour. "Porous-material analysis toolbox based on OpenFOAM and applications." Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer 28.2 (2014): 191-202.

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