Low-Carbon Combustion Simulation Engineer
Job Description
Your Work Shapes the World
Whether it be groundbreaking products, best-in-class solutions, or creating a lifelong career, you can do the work that matters at Caterpillar. With a 95-year legacy of quality and innovation and 150 locations in countries around the world, your impact spans the globe. Caterpillar is the world’s largest manufacturer of construction & mining equipment, diesel engines and industrial gas turbines. With over 10,000 engineers worldwide, Caterpillar has been developing class-leading machines and engines for almost 100 years. When you join Caterpillar, you are joining a team of makers, innovators, and doers. We are the people who roll up our sleeves and do the work to build a better world. We don’t just talk about progress and innovation. We make it happen. And we are proud of that because it helps our customers build and power the world we live in – the roads, hospitals, homes, and infrastructure. Without a dedicated workforce, Caterpillar could not effectively meet our customer’s needs. Join us.
Why you want the job and why it’s awesome!
The Energy & Transportation Technology (E&TT) team is part of Caterpillar’s Integrated Components & Solutions Division (ICS), which has global responsibility for advancing technologies to support future product needs. Many exciting hardware and software technologies are being identified, researched, and developed for future powertrains for off-road machines, including approaches for increased power density, high-efficiency hybrid powertrains, sustainable low-Carbon-intensity fuels, waste heat recovery, energy management, electronics and controls, advanced power sources, dual fuel engines, and ultra-low exhaust emission technologies.
The successful candidate will have the technical skills, experience, initiative, and communication skills necessary to execute and deliver on technology development projects in the energy and power systems space. This role is primarily about individual contribution but is expected to grow into project leadership in the future. Example projects include: research and development of internal combustion engines (ICE) for efficiency, power density, and emissions improvement; development and integration of novel ICE technologies into demonstration platforms; development of technologies Low Carbon Intensity fuels (e.g. Hydrogen, Methanol, DME, Ammonia); research and development of ICE simulation tools for improved predictive accuracy; and interaction with and direction of the university and national lab research collaborations in advanced power systems.
Specific tasks include gathering and understanding combustion CFD tool requirements; obtaining and analyzing technical data from internal sources and external collaborators to develop technology concepts for improving engine performance and emissions; executing plans to improve simulation capabilities; simulation and analysis of sustainable fuels combustion; summarizing research project results and presenting to key stakeholders across the enterprise.
What you will do:
- Create 3D CFD models to simulate both liquid and gaseous fuel injection, mixing, and combustion in internal combustion engines.
- Perform both Compression Ignition (CI) and Spark Ignition (SI) combustion simulation for engines ranging from 100mm to 430 mm bore size.
- Compare/validate combustion simulation results to both physical engine test data as well as fundamental combustion experimental data.
- Identify gaps in predictive accuracy, perform literature study, and propose tool improvement projects to close these gaps.
- Interface with universities and national labs to support current and future CRADAs and US government-funded projects focused on the development and improvement of low-Carbon fuel combustion simulation capabilities. The direction of specific Caterpillar-funded university research projects to improve the physical understanding of combustion processes.
What you have:
- Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from an accredited institution.
- Specialization in 3D Reactive CFD or 3D Combustion Simulation.
- Experience developing, implementing, and validating combustion submodels
- Experience applying combustion simulation to design combustion systems and optimize performance and emissions
Top Candidates will also have:
- Experience with alternative fuels (e.g. Ammonia, Methanol, DME, H2) combustion.
- SI combustion model development and validation.
- Hands-on experience with engine performance and emissions testing, or single-cylinder combustion experiments, will be highly beneficial, but not required.
- C++ programming skills.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Additional Information:
The location for this position is Mossville, IL, or Tucson, AZ.
Domestic relocation assistance is available for this position.
This position will require less than 10% travel.
Visa sponsorship is available for this position.
Closing date: 6/4/2023.
Employee benefit details
Our goal at Caterpillar is for you to have a rewarding career. Our teams are critical to the success of our customers who build a better world. Here you earn more than just a salary because we value your performance. We offer a total rewards package that provides benefits on day one (medical, dental, vision, RX, and 401K) along with the potential of an annual bonus.
Additional benefits include paid vacation days and paid holidays (prorated based upon hire date).
Final details
Please frequently check the email associated with your application, including the junk/spam folder, as this is the primary correspondence method. If you wish to know the status of your application – please use the candidate log-in on our career website as it will reflect any updates to your status.
This employer is not currently hiring foreign national applicants that require or will require sponsorship tied to a specific employer, such as H, L, TN, F, J, E, O. As a global company, Caterpillar offers many job opportunities outside of the U.S. which can be found through our employment website at www.Caterpillar.com/Careers.
For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media