Sebastian Głowacki
Propulsion Systems Engineer · Propulsion Engineering
Warsaw, Poland
Propulsion Systems Engineer bridging the gap between the engine and the aircraft. Responsible for engine installation requirements, inlet distortion assessment, and thrust reverser design. Works at the interface of aerodynamics, structures, and propulsion to ensure the engine installation meets performance and operability requirements from concept through certification.
Expertise
- engine-nacelle integration
- inlet distortion analysis
- thrust reverser design and kinematics
- propulsion system requirements
- engine installation aerodynamics
Technologies
Work History
2025-01
Defined propulsion system requirements document for a new aircraft program — captured engine interface requirements (mechanical, aerodynamic, electrical, control) and traced them to aircraft-level performance requirements.
Challenge: Requirements traceability between engine interface requirements and aircraft-level performance targets was missing for 40% of requirements. Built a Python script to extract requirement IDs and trace linkages from DOORS, generating a gap report automatically.
Learned: Requirements traceability gaps in propulsion system requirements are a certification risk. Automated traceability reporting from DOORS catches gaps early and prevents them from reaching CDR unresolved.
2024-04
Engine installation drag analysis — quantified pylon and nacelle installation drag increment on wing lift and drag using RANS CFD. Compared three pylon height variants.
Challenge: The wing-pylon-nacelle junction required extremely fine mesh resolution to capture the horseshoe vortex accurately. Total mesh count exceeded 150 million cells — required partitioning across 128 HPC cores with careful domain decomposition.
Learned: Wing-nacelle-pylon installation drag requires high mesh resolution at all junctions simultaneously. Pre-computing the junction regions with dedicated refinement boxes, rather than uniform global refinement, reduced cell count by 40% for the same accuracy.
2023-08
Thrust reverser kinematic analysis — simulated deployment sequence and blocker door movement to verify no interference with engine core cowl. Implemented a Python-based kinematics solver interfaced with CATIA geometry.
Challenge: Interference between the cascade reverser and the pylon strut was identified at 65% deployment — a late-stage discovery that required pylon geometry modification. Earlier integration of kinematic simulation into the design review cycle would have caught this sooner.
Learned: Kinematic interference analysis must be done at the architecture phase, not after geometry is frozen. A lightweight Python kinematic solver connected to parametric CAD enables early detection of packaging conflicts before design changes become expensive.
2023-02
Inlet distortion AIP (Aerodynamic Interface Plane) analysis for a new engine installation — assessed total pressure distortion patterns at various cross-wind and high-angle-of-attack conditions. Computed DC60 and SAE distortion descriptors.
Challenge: Generating the AIP total pressure pattern at high angle of attack required stable CFD at very challenging flow conditions with large separation at the inlet lip. Used transient DDES simulation for conditions beyond 15 degrees AoA where RANS failed to converge.
Learned: Inlet distortion prediction at high incidence requires scale-resolving CFD. RANS approaches give misleading results near inlet separation onset — the steady-state nature of RANS cannot capture the unsteady buffeting that determines distortion severity.