Resume

Berkay Kuşkıra

Lead Structural Analysis Engineer · Metallic & Composite Aircraft Structures

berkaykuskira@gmail.com · +90 538 983 78 44 · LinkedIn · Ankara, Turkey
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Berkay Kuşkıra, aerospace structural analysis engineer

Profile

Lead Structural Analysis Engineer at Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), working on metallic and composite aircraft primary structure since 2017 (9+ years). The work covers the whole stress discipline: static strength and stability, fatigue and damage tolerance, composite and lightweight design, GFEM-based sizing and structural optimisation. Currently leads the durability and damage tolerance (DaDT) work package on a fighter-jet programme and, since late 2025, analysis method and tool development in the stress group. Earlier work covers EASA CS-23 certification stress analysis on the Hürkuş trainer (forward fuselage, and the rudder weight-reduction study), GFEM-based sizing of fighter primary structure, and preliminary landing-gear and eVTOL structural studies. Day to day that means stress reports taken through release, sizing and weight trade studies, crack-growth and fail-safe assessments, and non-conformance dispositions agreed with the loads, design and test teams.

Experience

Method & Tool Development Engineer

Oct 2025 — Present · concurrent

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) · Ankara, Turkey

  • Develop internal tools that automate repetitive stress-analysis work for the stress group.
  • Build surrogate models of expensive FE evaluations for rapid sizing trades and design-space exploration.
  • Write automated FE post-processing pipelines (pyNastran, Abaqus and Femap scripting) that turn raw results into margin-of-safety tables and report figures.
  • Standardise hand-calc workbooks and stress-report templates for reuse across programmes, with version control and input/output checks.
  • Work with analysts and IT to turn recurring analysis problems into tools that are actually deployed and maintained.

Fatigue & Damage Tolerance Engineer

Aug 2021 — Present

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) · Ankara, Turkey

  • Lead the Durability & Damage Tolerance (DaDT) work package on primary metallic and composite airframe structure of a next-generation fighter platform.
  • Own the DaDT analysis chain: GFEM internal-load extraction, detailed sub-models, fatigue spectrum application, crack-growth assessment and inspection-interval setting.
  • Write and release DaDT stress reports for fracture-critical and durability-critical parts under formal revision control and design-office sign-off.
  • Substantiate joints, cut-outs, fillets, fastener load transfer and other stress concentrations with detailed FE models and classical hand calculations.
  • Derive DaDT allowables for multiple material and configuration cases and feed them into the GFEM-based global sizing loop.
  • Run primary-structure trade studies on stock size, alloy selection and section topology against weight and DaDT targets.
  • Drive design changes that retire fatigue hot-spots without breaking the mass budget.
  • Disposition structural non-conformances on produced parts: repair schemes, life-impact assessments and concessions.
  • Mentor junior stress engineers on hand-calc and FE workflow, fatigue methodology and report standards.

Structural Analysis Engineer

Sep 2017 — Aug 2021

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) · Istanbul, Turkey

  • Hürkuş trainer: substantiated metallic and composite primary structure on the Hürkuş-B forward fuselage and Hürkuş-C rudder against EASA CS-23 requirements.
  • Hürkuş-B: wrote the forward-fuselage certification stress report and closed authority and internal review comments through release.
  • Hürkuş-C: led the rudder weight-reduction study (composite lay-up resizing and hinge re-design) while keeping reserve-factor compliance.
  • eVTOL cargo concept: conceptual structural sizing (load-path layout, primary-mass estimation, material down-selection) for a military cargo platform.
  • Re-engineered structural attachments and routing supports for hydraulic and fuel-system upgrades without invalidating the original type-design substantiation.
  • Landing gear: built the first analysis-grade landing-gear FE model and sized strut and trunnion fittings against drop and braking load cases.
  • Correlated FE results with coupon and element-level test data and resolved analysis-vs-test discrepancies inside the certification report chain.

Project Student & Intern

Jul 2016 — Jun 2017

TEI — TUSAŞ Engine Industries · Eskişehir, Turkey

  • B.Sc. thesis research on a gas-turbine curvic coupling: parametric FE study of tooth-flank stress and contact pressure under various load cases.
  • Summer internship (2016) with the engine stress and design teams.

Skills

Analysis & Substantiation

  • Static, Stability & Buckling Analysis
  • Composite Strength & Stability
  • GFEM Load Extraction & Sub-modelling
  • Durability & Damage Tolerance (DaDT)
  • Slow Crack Growth & Fail-Safe Analysis
  • Fatigue Spectrum Application
  • Bolted-Joint & Lug Analysis (Hand Calcs)
  • Non-conformance Disposition & Repair Schemes

FEA Solvers & Pre/Post

  • MSC Nastran
  • Abaqus
  • ANSYS Mechanical
  • MSC Patran
  • Altair HyperMesh
  • CATIA V5

Standards & Compliance

  • EASA CS-23 / FAR Part 23 awareness
  • CS-25 / FAR 25.571 awareness
  • Test–analysis correlation

Programming & Automation

  • Python scientific stack (NumPy, SciPy, pandas, Matplotlib)
  • pyNastran (Nastran deck and result parsing)
  • Abaqus Python scripting
  • Femap API / PCL (Patran Command Language)
  • HyperMesh Tcl/Tk scripting
  • Nastran DMAP & bulk-data automation
  • Git version control
  • MATLAB · Excel / VBA hand-calc workbooks

Lightweight Design & Optimisation

  • Composite lay-up and ply-count optimisation
  • Topology optimisation with manufacturing constraints
  • Weight-reduction trade studies (stock, alloy, section topology)
  • Conceptual sizing and primary-mass estimation
  • Multi-objective optimisation (MOGA-II, NSGA-II, pymoo)
  • Surrogate models for FE acceleration
  • Design of Experiments (DoE) & response surfaces
  • scikit-learn (regression and life-prediction models)

Engineering Leadership

  • DaDT work package lead (planning and review)
  • Mentoring of junior stress engineers
  • Stress-report authoring & release control
  • Design-review representation (PDR / CDR)
  • Cross-team coordination with Loads, Design, Test and Manufacturing

Education

  1. M.Sc. in Solid Mechanics

    Feb 2018 — Jul 2022

    Istanbul Technical University · Istanbul, Turkey · GPA 3.69 / 4.00

    Thesis

    Optimization of CFRP Prepreg Composite Rim by Using MOGA-II Genetic Algorithm

    View on ITU repository ↗ Download PDF (21 MB)

    Lectures

    • Finite Element Analysis in Engineering
    • Theory of Elasticity
    • Foundations of Solid Mechanics
    • Failure Analysis
    • Fatigue of Materials and Structures
    • Engineering Mathematics
    • Advanced Topics in Materials Handling
    • Introduction to Computer Aided Engineering

  2. B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering — Specialty: Structure

    2012 — 2017

    Yıldız Technical University · Istanbul, Turkey · GPA 3.55 / 4.00

    Thesis

    Behavior of a Gas Turbine Engine Curvic Coupling Parameters Under Various Loads · TEI undergraduate research

  3. Erasmus+ Exchange — Mechanical Engineering

    2015 — 2016

    Brno University of Technology · Brno, Czech Republic

Selected reading

References that shaped how I work.

Stress & Structures

  • Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures

    E. F. Bruhn

  • Airframe Stress Analysis and Sizing

    Michael Chun-Yung Niu

  • Airframe Structural Design

    Michael Chun-Yung Niu

  • Aircraft Structures for Engineering Students

    T. H. G. Megson

Fatigue & Fracture

  • Fatigue of Structures and Materials

    Jaap Schijve

  • Fatigue of Materials

    Subra Suresh

  • Fracture Mechanics — Fundamentals and Applications

    T. L. Anderson

Composites

  • Composite Airframe Structures

    Michael Chun-Yung Niu

  • Stress Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials

    Michael W. Hyer

  • CMH-17 — Composite Materials Handbook

Finite Element Method

  • Finite Element Procedures

    Klaus-Jürgen Bathe

  • An Introduction to the Finite Element Method

    J. N. Reddy

Allowables & Data

  • MMPDS — Metallic Materials Properties Development and Standardization

  • ESDU Data Sheets

Languages

  • Turkish Native
  • English Professional working proficiency (C1)

Interests

  • Music
  • Theatre acting
  • Board games