Gas Turbine Laboratory
Accordions
DESIGN ENGINEERS
The GTL is looking for an exceptional candidate to join their team of researchers to collaboratively design and conduct experiments on rotating systems.
Internal OSU applicants can apply at the internal applicant website and go to the careers application and navigate to search faculty and staff jobs button. From there they can put in this Job Req ID R99883 in the search bar and apply.
External applicants can use the following link to apply: External applicant website
Note that due to the sponsor this position does require being able to work in an export controlled environment.
STUDENTS
The GTL is always looking for exceptional undergraduate and graduate students to work on a variety of projects focused on gas turbine research. Note that based upon the sponsor some positions require being able to work in an export controlled environment. Projects range from hands-on experimental work to computational work (Matlab, FEM) in structural dynamics and aeromechanics.
Undergraduate students please reach out if interested in a position and include a current resume (typical review of applicants begins in early February to join the team for summer research).
Graduate students please reach out to Professor D'Souza and/or Professor Mathison at our university e-mail address based on your research interest. Please include a current resume/CV as well as a cover letter addressing your interests and goals.
Gas turbine engines are of central importance to the global transportation and energy generation network. With applications for aircraft propulsion (jet engines), power generation, and many other purposes, improvements in the efficiency, reliability, or emissions of these engines can have far-reaching impacts. The Ohio State University GTL seeks to combine the best aspects of academic and industrial research to advance the state-of-the-art in gas turbine design.
Current GTL research focuses include:
- Heat transfer and aerodynamic programs taking measurements and making predictions for cooled full-scale turbines operating at scaled conditions and for flow inside the blade internal cooling passages;
- Aeromechanics research programs investigating the effect of engine-speed blade tip rub events as well as a variety of damping and mistuning studies; and
- Structural dynamics research modeling a UAV ingestion into an engine, creating new reduced order modeling methods for turbomachinery, and new nonlinear dynamic analysis for friction and cracks.
All research projects are performed in close collaboration with industrial partners to ensure that the results are representative of engine conditions and relevant to current design questions.
Research: Conducting research that addresses scientific and technological challenges related to turbomachinery that affects the State of Ohio, the Nation and the World through collaborations within the College and with Industry and Government agencies.
Education: Provide a world class undergraduate and graduate education to the students in the classroom and in the research lab.
- Produce well qualified graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with significant academic (conference and journal publications) and industrial (sponsored programs, real world context) experiences who will be future leaders in industry and academia.
- Offer undergraduate research opportunities (research projects, paid internships, undergraduate theses) to students that provide research and industrial experience they cannot attain in the classroom alone.
Personnel: Develop a diverse and inclusive research group that includes specially trained staff that are experts in rotating machinery and students (ranging from undergraduate to graduate) with appropriate redundancies in key areas to ensure ability to meet project deadlines.
Facilities: Continue to transform our facilities to drive learning and innovation.
After 35 years in industry, Mike Dunn joined with one of his co-workers, Reza Abhari, and moved to Columbus in late 1995, bringing the Gas Turbine Laboratory that the group had been developing at Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (which later became Calspan) since 1976. They were joined by three non-faculty researchers who were an essential part of the team in Buffalo and whom were supported at OSU using contract funds that were brought from industry. Reza left OSU in the spring of 1999 to lead the gas turbine effort at ETH Zurich (where he remains today), but Jeff Barton (the last remaining of the three non-faculty who came) is still here. Matt Weaver, who was another of the 3 non-faculty, is currently on the Chief Engineers Staff at General Electric Aviation, and Charlie Haldeman is a Fellow at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft. From its inception the GTL has had a strong tie to a variety of industry sponsors and works closely with the sponsors in designing and running the experiments.
In 2013, Randy Mathison a member of the GTL staff and former student, became an Assistant Professor. Randy’s strengths were in design and experiments with a focus on the heat transfer and aerodynamics of gas turbines. In 2014, Kiran D’Souza was hired as an Assistant Professor to complement the lab's strengths with a background in computational modelling and structural dynamics. The two Assistant Professors took over the day-to-day operations of the GTL in 2017, when Mike Dunn became a Professor Emeritus. All three faculty work closely on several ongoing projects at the GTL and work together to bring in new programs.
Give to the GTL
Would you like to help the Gas Turbine Laboratory? There are a variety of methods for making a gift to the GTL. To ensure that your donation is directed to the GTL, please reference the appropriate fund number:
316570 - General GTL Research Fund
315579 - Kiran D'Souza: Aeromechanics & Structural Dynamics work
316214 - Randall Mathison: Aerodynamics & Heat Transfer work
By Phone
Call (614) 292-2141. Donation via debit card, credit card and electronic funds transfer available by phone.
By Mail
To send a gift by mail, download a giving form and mail it to:
The Ohio State University Foundation
1480 West Lane Avenue
Columbus, OH 43221
If sending a check, please make payable to: The Ohio State University Foundation.
Tax Information
The Ohio State University Foundation has 501(c)(3) non-profit tax exempt status, with a federal tax ID number of 31-1145986.
The GTL is always happy to host tours of the lab and can be found presenting research and chairing sessions at the following conferences:
- ASME Turbo Expo (Heat Transfer and Structural & Dynamics)
- ASME IDETC (Vibrations and Multibody Systems & Nonlinear Dynamics)
- AIAA SciTech (Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference)
- GPPS events