Kenneth Clark
[email protected]
455 Orlando Ave,
State College, PA, 16803
801.819.3545
Research engineer with an intimate knowledge of turbine hardware, performing experiments and
numerical simulations to gain a physical understanding of gas turbine aerodynamics, secondary
flows, and ingestion.
 Has performed experiments on a high pressure turbine operating at engine-relevant
conditions to develop reduced-order models for engine hardware design
 Set up and performed dozens of high-fidelity, time-accurate CFD simulations on
compressor blade rows on a supercomputing system with grids up to 160 million nodes
on 350-1000 processors
 Capable of taking a complex engineering problem and breaking it into smaller, more
manageable parts to find an effective solution
 Capable of coordinating and managing the generation of test plans, instrumentation plans,
data presentations, and reports
 Knowledge and experience to specify measurements, sensor locations, and
instrumentation for ingestion and secondary flow experiments
TECHNICAL PROFICIENCIES
Turbomachinery:
High pressure turbine performance, with emphasis on secondary purge
and leakage flows
Data analysis:
Complex engineering data analysis for experimental data and CFD
Knowledge of
turbine hardware:
Intimate knowledge of turbine hardware with a sound understanding of
how it affects the flow field and performance
CFD:
PTURBO, UNIX, Bash scripting; interpreting CFD results
Instrumentation:
Pressure, temperature, flow, gas concentration, and gas sampling system;
Scanivalve pressure scanner and calibrator, AeroProbe five hole probes,
Kulite pressure transducers
Data Acquisition:
LabView DAQ of analog and digital input/output, thermocouples;
National Instruments PXI express architecture
Programming:
Matlab, TecPlot, limited C++ and Fortran
Design:
SolidWorks solid modeling, SolidWorks simulation, limited Unigraphics
NX, Catia , and ProEngineer
EDUCATION
Ph.D.
M. S.
B. S.
Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University
Dissertation topic: Effects of Purge and Leakage Flows on
Performance in a High Pressure Turbine at Engine-Relevant
Conditions
Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University
Thesis: Numerical Analysis on the Effects of Blade Loading on
Vortex Shedding and Boundary Layer Behavior in a Transonic
Axial Compressor
Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University
Exp. December, 2015
GPA: 3.93/4.0
May, 2011
GPA: 3.96/4.0
May, 2009
GPA: 3.84/4.0
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Penn State START Lab, State College, PA
Graduate Research Assistant
Aug 2011 – Present
Assembled, instrumented and tested a high pressure turbine at engine-relevant conditions
 Gained a knowledge of previous ingestion research to dissect the complex problem of
ingestion and write a suitable test plan for the START rig, working closely with industry
 Used knowledge of previous work to specify sensor locations to achieve test goals
 Selected and set up instrumentation to be used in testing, including a pressure scanner,
pressure calibrator, gas analyzer, thermocouples, five hole probes, radial-circumferential
traverses, and flow meters
 Communicated sensor locations and instrumentation egress to the industry turbine design
team through frequent meetings, presentations and reports
 Designed, manufactured, assembled and tested custom instruments including kiel
temperature probes, gas sampling system, Kulite pressure transducer fixtures
 Established calibration procedures, set up automated calibration of pressure scanner, and
performed instrumentation calibrations
 Performed experiments in accordance with my test plan, while also planning and
performing debugging experiments as issues arose
 Performed benchtop flow calibration experiments that helped diagnose issues in rig
 Performed real-time preliminary data analysis during testing to assist in making informed
real-time test decisions and determine suitable debugging tests
 Held weekly reviews of experimental results with the industry team as well as several
informal data discussions with smaller groups of engineers
 Assembled and disassembled test article for multiple configurations, including several
instrumentation configurations
BYU Fluid Dynamics Lab, Provo, UT
Graduate Research Assistant
May 2009 – Aug 2011
Set up and performed high-fidelity, unsteady RANS numerical simulations of transonic
compressor blade rows on BYU’s supercomputing cluster
 Set up turbomachinery CFD code, PTURBO
 Set up several computational tools including grid design, grid partitioning, flow
field initialization, data extraction, and several custom TecPlot analysis codes
 Performed dozens of high-fidelity, time-accurate numerical simulations with grids of
140-160 million nodes using 350-520 processors
 Set up 1000 processor jobs to be run on Air Force supercomputers
 Wrote several data analysis codes in TecPlot to generate sophisticated plots and
animations of the unsteady data
 Wrote detailed documentation of codes, computing job setup, and data analysis tools
BYU Fluid Dynamics Lab, Provo, UT
Undergraduate Research Assistant
April 2008 – Aug 2008
Flapping flight research project
 Designed and built custom instrumentation to measure force response of a flapping wing
 Designed and machined specialized components needed for flapping wing setup
LEADERSHIP
Swim Team Captain, Brigham Young University (2008-2009)
Volunteer Missionary Service (May 2004-May2006)
 Provided leadership over 5 other volunteers with personal training for 10 months
 Trained 15 other missionaries and organized volunteer efforts for 4 months
HONORS AND AWARDS
Penn State College of Engineering Distinguished Teaching Fellowship (2015-2016)
Allan J. Brockett Pratt & Whitney – Penn State Student Award (2015)
Best poster, NASA TFAWS student poster competition (2015)
College of Engineering Fellowship, Penn State University (2011-2012)
National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship (2011-2014)
ME Department Research Assistantship, Brigham Young University (2009-2011)
Graduated with Cum Laude Honors, Brigham Young University (2009)
Heritage Scholarship, Brigham Young University (2003-2009)
Eagle Scout Award, Boy Scouts of America (2001)
PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL PUBLICATION
Clark, K. P., and Gorrell, S. E., 2015, “Analysis and Prediction of Shock-Induced Vortex
Circulation in Transonic Compressors,” to be published in ASME Journal of
Turbomachinery.
PEER REVIEWED CONFERENCE PUBLICATIONS
Barringer, M., Coward, A., Clark, K., Thole, K., Schmitz, J., Wagner, J., Alvin, M. A.,
Burke, P., and Dennis, R., 2014, “Development of a Steady Thermal Aero Research
Turbine (START) for Studying Secondary Flow Leakages and Airfoil Heat Transfer,”
ASME Paper No. GT2014-25570.
Clark, K. P., and Gorrell, S. E., 2011, “The Effects of Blade Loading on Trailing Edge Vortex
Formation on a Highly Loaded Stator Upstream of a Transonic Rotor,” ASME Paper No.
GT2011-45891.
Clark, K. P., and Gorrell, S. E., 2011, “Time-Accurate CFD Analysis on the Effects of
Upstream Stator Loading and Blade Row Interactions on Stator Suction Side Boundary
Layer Behavior,” AIAA Paper No. 2011-303.
ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Clark, K., Barringer, M., Coward, A., Thole, K., Hiester, P., Dennis, R., Alvin, M. A., and
Burke, P., 2015, “First Vane Gap Leakages for a High Pressure Turbine at EngineRelevant Conditions,” presented at IGTI Turbo Expo 2015.
Clark, K., Barringer, M., Coward, A., Thole, K., 2015, “Using a Tracer Gas to Measure
Turbine Rim Seal Performance,” presented at NASA TFAWS 2015, awarded best poster.