Hello, I'm RICHARD CHARLES

Propulsion engineer at GE Aerospace, workscoping CF34-8 and CFM56-7 engines for more than a dozen high-end customers. I own the mechanical integration and readiness of propulsion modules from induction through post-build test review, and I spend as much time on the shop floor as I do in meetings — the fastest way to solve a hardware problem is to stand next to it. Before GE I designed engine tooling at Essig Research for the T901, PEx and F414. Colleagues describe me as a driven, problem-solving leader who works well in a team or alone, and who does not give up until a solution is found.

Biography

Projects

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Senior Capstone: Sustainable Inflatable Lunar Outpost

Senior capstone detail-design study for a sustainable inflatable lunar outpost, submitted for AE 445 Spacecraft Detail Design at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in April 2020. The brief was NASA's: support a crew of four on the Moon for 45 days, from a base four astronauts can assemble in 72 hours and later expand for larger crews and longer stays. Siting had to balance scientific yield, crew survivability and enough sunlight to run the base primarily on solar power. The 63-page report works through mission overview, system configuration, deployment timeline, surface facilities, budget, software, external and internal interface control documents, and full system analysis. Team project with Rachel Bauer, Samuel Gemechu, Troy Lov and Denise Smith.

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Compressible Aerodynamics: Blunt-Body Reentry CFD

Computational fluid dynamics study of a blunt-body reentry vehicle modelled on the SpaceX Dragon V2 crew capsule, for AE 308 Compressible Aerodynamics at Embry-Riddle, August 2018. The blunt shape is the point: it throws a detached bow shock ahead of the vehicle and pushes reentry heating away from the structure rather than into it. The report builds the geometry in CATIA, meshes it, demonstrates convergence against drag coefficient and residuals, then examines pressure, density, velocity and temperature contours and the streamlines around the body. 24 pages, with Angelina Cha and Nikita Amberkar, under Prof. Sathya Gangadharan.

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Incompressible Aerodynamics: Blunt-Body Reentry CFD

The companion study to the compressible report: the same Dragon V2-derived blunt-body reentry vehicle, analysed under incompressible assumptions for AE 307 Incompressible Aerodynamics at Embry-Riddle, August 2018. Covers the CATIA model, mesh and convergence, then static pressure and temperature distributions across the body and the particle streamlines through the flow field — including where the laminar inviscid flow moves cleanly around the blunt face and where turbulence appears behind it, and how heating concentrates as the vehicle approaches hypersonic speed. 22 pages, with Angelina Cha, Nikita Amberkar and Gabe Korgood.

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Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics: Final Project

Final project for AE 426, Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Four pages of worked analysis and plots.

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