George J. Tzoumakis

Personal Information

1. Name: George J. Tzoumakis
2. Position/Title: Aerospace Engineer, Researcher & Ph.D. Candidate
3. Department: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Laboratory of Technology and Strength of Materials
4. Field: Design, Thermal & Structural Analysis, Cryogenics

Professional Background

4. Briefly describe your professional background and area of expertise:

   My career began as a part-time assistant student in the Laboratory of Technology and Strength of Materials, while also working on my diploma thesis on airships. After my graduation I became a full-time researcher and Ph.D. candidate in the same laboratory, where I currently work. My main field of expertise is design and thermo-mechanical analysis of aerospace structures, but I also have experience in experimental materials testing, cryogenics and teaching.

5. What inspired you to pursue a career in this related field, e.g., aviation, carbon-free emissions etc?

   I was always fascinated by spaceflight and aviation, and I wanted to study aerospace engineering from a very young age. Hydrogen is a common rocket propellant, but I always believed it can find its way in several other applications as well, especially aviation. This project is a great opportunity for me to better understand liquid hydrogen and its challenges, as well as contribute to its adoption in aviation, leading to a future where transportation is no longer harming our beautiful planet.

Role in H2ELIOS

6. What is your role in the H2ELIOS project?

   I am coordinating the activities regarding the development of the structural digital twin of the tank.

7. Can you describe your main responsibilities and tasks?

   My main activities are centered around WP2 and WP5. I am mainly responsible for the development and validation of the structural model of the H2ELIOS tank, creating a virtual version of the tank based on the blueprints provided by the design team and ensuring that the simulation results are accurate. I also assist the design team by developing local high-detail models of specific parts.

8. How does your work contribute to the overall goals of the H2ELIOS project?

   By developing and validating the structural digital twin, our team provides a powerful simulation tool that can help us understand the structural behavior of the H2ELIOS tank under various conditions, ensuring safe operation. I am also attending conferences where I am presenting some of our H2ELIOS related activities, thus promoting the project and keeping up with the current state of the art of aerospace technologies.

Project Insights

9. What do you find most exciting about working on the H2ELIOS project?

   As H2ELIOS is an international project, I am working with people from different countries, and I also get the opportunity to travel to different places. Thanks to H2ELIOS, I am getting a lot of aviation related insights from experts in the field that are part of the team, as well as learning a lot of aspects regarding liquid hydrogen and its related technologies.

10. What has been the most challenging aspect of your work on this project?

    H2ELIOS is a dynamic project, as many design options change throughout the development process of the tank. As my main task is to develop simulations and perform analysis, it is sometimes hard to keep up with all the changes and incorporate them into my models. Adapting the models to easily accept design changes is a challenge, yet we must overcome this, as our goal is to develop a parametric simulation tool that can also be used to assist the design process.

11. Can you share a significant milestone or achievement your team has reached so far?

    During the critical design review, we developed an extremely detailed structural simulation model of the whole tank that required over 8000 lines of code. We simulated various operational and accidental load cases, including a buckling and a vibration analysis, and we obtained results that helped us shape a significantly better understanding of how the tank behaves. The model was created in a parametric manner that allows design revisions and can be also expanded with the addition of different analysis modules.

Personal Experience

12. What have you learned during your time working on H2ELIOS?

    The H2ELIOS project goes beyond the design, manufacturing and modelling of an LH2 tank. During my time in the project, I have learned a lot about the impact that many seemingly simple design alterations have on the cost and manufacturability, as well as on the environment. The most valuable knowledge I gained was regarding the certification requirements of such a tank, as so many operational and accidental conditions should be accounted for, some of which I would not think of before my involvement in H2ELIOS. The project has helped me shape a much better understanding of the challenge of designing, manufacturing, testing and certifying LH2 powered aircraft.

13. How has this project influenced your professional development?:

    As I am new in this field, H2ELIOS has given me valuable professional experience and has helped me initiate my career. Having the opportunity to meet experts and get their insights early into my career is great from a development aspect. H2ELIOS is a crucial part of my Ph.D. studies as aside from funding my research, it is also allowing me to apply my methodologies to an actual structure that will be tested, helping me validate and improve my models.

Fun Facts

14. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

    There are a lot of activities I enjoy and unfortunately my free time is not enough for all of them, but I am doing my best to find some time. I exercise regularly; I go to the gym after work on most days. I like sports and I watch soccer, basketball and Formula 1 on TV, and when I find some time, I love going to the field and watching soccer matches of local teams live. I love building scale models of aircraft, ships and other vehicles, mainly military; I started at a young age, and I have many shelves full of them. I also spend some time playing video games, mostly military themed and simulators. As space has been one of my biggest passions, I spend a lot of time reading about past, current and future missions, following the news and studying any technical aspects of spacecraft I can find. I love learning things about the universe and in particular our solar system; many facts about our planetary neighbors are fascinating and I keep learning new things as data from current missions are coming back. I like watching historical, action and sci-fi movies, as well as documentaries. And last but not least, I love hanging out with my friends, going out to eat and drink and having a good time together.

15. Share a fun fact about yourself that your colleagues might not know:

    I love learning about computer hardware and software, especially from the past century. I have fully upgraded my old computer that I have since the mid-2000s, when I was in elementary school, and I am installing various software, from the 80s up to current. I love experimenting with various settings and trying to make everything run properly on this machine, even when the software was developed decades before or after my computer.

Closing Thoughts

14. Is there anything else you would like to share about your experience with the H2ELIOS project?:

    H2ELIOS is a dynamic project. As we are trying to develop an aviation oriented LH2 tank, something that very few have successfully done before, we are constantly revising our design and finding new solutions to problems we had not thought of. No matter the outcome, the real prize is the experience we get along the way.