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Airbus Defence and Space is looking for a
PhD student (m/f/d) in the field of Hydrogen Fire Safety Engineering for Aerospace Application
Are you looking to to become an expert in Hydrogen Fire Safety Engineering and help deliver the worlds first commercial hydrogen powered aircraft?" Then apply now! We look forward to you supporting us as a Doktorand (d/f/m)!
Location: Bremen
Start: as soon as possible
Background
The pursuit of sustainable aviation technologies has led our company to the forefront of hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft development. With the promise of zero CO2 emissions, green hydrogen has the potential to revolutionise the aerospace industry. However, its adoption brings with it unique challenges, particularly in the realm of fire safety. The existing fire safety regulations for large aircraft are prescriptive, where many of the requirements are linked with hazards associated with the use of kerosene aviation fuel. The use of hydrogen in both liquid and gaseous state as the fuel for the aircraft propulsion system introduces new hazards such as explosive conditions from hydrogen leaks, hydrogen jet flames or invisible flames, which pose a risk for passenger and crew safety. The development of new regulations to address these hazards in the design and verification of compliance of new hydrogen-fueled aeroplanes requires a fundamental understanding of these hazards and the performance of aircraft/aviation materials and components subjected to these hazards, supported by engineering tools to quantify performance and design protection systems for hydrogen fires.
The Fire Safety Engineering and Testing Team (1ACMB2) consists of engineers and material scientists with extensive experience leading and supervising experimental and numerical fire research, fundamental and applied. The PhD student will receive extensive mentoring support and guidance throughout the research project.
In addition, 1ACMB2 manages and runs fire testing facilities where the candidate will be able to develop experimental hydrogen fire safety research with state-of-the-art equipment and the support of experienced laboratory users.
Your location
Bremen is a charming city full of history in the northwest of Germany. In addition to being one of the country’s greenest cities, it offers wonderful sights, a rich culture, urban flair and culinary delights. It’s also a great place for seaside lovers, being located just an hour’s drive from the North Sea coast.
Your benefits
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Attractive salary and work-life balance with an 35-hour week (flexitime).
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Mobile working after agreement with the department.
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Travelling overseas or within Germany (team events) is possible after consultation and agreement from the department.
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International environment with the opportunity to network globally.
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Work with modern/diversified technologies.
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At Airbus, we see you as a valuable team member and you are not hired to brew coffee, instead you are in close contact with the interfaces and are part of our weekly team meetings.
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Opportunity to participate in the Generation Airbus Community to expand your own network.
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Your Objectives:
To comprehensively understand the fire safety challenges posed by a civilian hydrogen powered aircraft transporting large numbers of passengers, to identify knowledge gaps impacting the development of new hydrogen-powered aircraft, and to develop fire safety engineering methodologies to support design guidance and the formulation of new regulations to ensure the safety of the aircraft and its occupants.
Your tasks and responsibilities
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Hazard Analysis & Literature Review: Existing regulations: Investigate current international standards and regulations, understanding their scope, limitations, and applicability to commercial hydrogen powered aircraft.
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Historical studies: Analyse previous experimental findings and modelling studies on hydrogen fire safety, emphasising relevance to the aerospace sector.
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Hazard identification: Catalogue potential threats posed by hydrogen use in an aircraft, encompassing storage, transfer, combustion, and emergency scenarios.
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Knowledge Gap Identification: Prioritisation: Rank identified gaps based on potential impact and likelihood, enabling targeted research efforts.
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Experimental & Modelling Work:
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Based on the critical knowledge gap identification, experimental and numerical work will be developed to further enable the development of specific recommendations regarding the establishment of design practices, standards and the regulation. In particular, it is expected that this work will include:
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Performing hydrogen fire tests at different scales with a focus on the characterisation of thermal and flow fields caused by hydrogen fires and explosions.
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Development and application of instrumentation to allow the characterisation of thermal and flow phenomena with advanced diagnostics methods to generate suitable data for model validation purposes.
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Determine performance of materials and components subjected to hydrogen fires.
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Development of modelling approaches for hydrogen fire phenomena to allow the quantification of such phenomena for design purposes and regulatory purposes.
Please upload the following documents: cover letter, CV, relevant transcripts.
This job requires an awareness of any potential compliance risks and a commitment to act with integrity, as the foundation for the Company’s success, reputation and sustainable growth.
By submitting your CV or application you are consenting to Airbus using and storing information about you for monitoring purposes relating to your application or future employment. This information will only be used by Airbus.
Airbus is committed to achieving workforce diversity and creating an inclusive working environment. We welcome all applications irrespective of social and cultural background, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation or religious belief.
