ABOUT US

Quartek provides mechanical and structural engineering services for the aerospace, maritime, land vehicle, rail and energy sectors.  We also specialise in supporting metallic and composite manufacturing processes.

At Quartek we provide process driven and delivery focused engineering services, specialising in technical analysis, process improvement, automation and consulting.

Quartek was founded on four core principles: Trust, Quality, Integrity and Value.  These are present in everything we do, but most importantly, are at the heart of the way we engage with our clients and our team.

Our people are our strength – we recognise and are committed to this philosophy.  Our team environment fosters passion and engagement, is unique, and highly appealing to engineers - a culture that attracts top graduates and the finest, most experienced practitioners to our team.

Having the best people in the business means we can deliver the highest standards of quality and service.  We provide superior technical analysis, process improvement, automation and consulting services, with the capability to deliver complete engineering solutions to our clients.  We focus on remaining agile and dynamic, allowing us to adapt to meet our client’s needs.

We are a wholly Australian owned and operated company. Our highly skilled team performs all work locally to ensure we maintain the highest standards of quality and service to our clients.

We are experienced in partnering with global industry leaders, manufacturers, suppliers, small business, R&D and defence.  If you would like to learn more about Quartek’s capabilities and services and how we can support you, please feel free to contact us.

More About Our Team

More About Our Projects

FOUNDERS

Matthew Goldstraw

Matthew Goldstraw

Director

Matthew is an Aerospace Structures Engineer with over 17 years in program / project management, client facing, team lead and technical roles working with global industry leaders, tier one suppliers, government organisations and SME’s.

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He is experienced with managing international clients, stakeholders and projects, maintaining budgets, controlling deliverables and leading technical teams.

Matthew is highly regarded within the industry both in Australia, the US and Europe as an experienced leader, project manager and technical specialist. His career spans the aerospace, defence and automotive sectors, including four years working at Airbus in Germany and Fokker in the Netherlands.

Matthew strongly believes that Australian engineers are world class and is a passionate advocate of this. He helped found Quartek to establish a new way of promoting their skills, recognising their abilities and fostering their talents in an environment built on trust.

Matthew has both a Masters and Bachelors (Hons) degree in Aerospace Engineering, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Applied Finance. He enjoys spending time with his young family, follows the Hawks and is a keen surfer.

Frank Corica

Frank Corica

Director

Frank is a professional Aerospace Engineer and Project Manager.  He has in excess of 11 years experience, specialising in both metallic and composite primary aircraft structure, across a variety of military and civil aircraft.

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His technical experience also includes fatigue and damage tolerance (F&DT), manufacture support, validation of structural repair manuals and aircraft usage monitoring.

As a project manager, Frank has a successful track record delivering on numerous international projects to meet project KPIs and delivering customer satisfaction.  He is passionate about developing strong business relationships, built on trust and integrity, and creating value through continuous engineering development and engineering automation.

During his career, Frank has worked on projects both within the private and government sectors.  This includes Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, GKN, Gulfstream and Honeywell, as well as Australian Department of Defence agencies RAAF ASI (Aircraft Structural Integrity) and DSTO (Defence Science and Technology Organisation).

Frank has a Bachelors (Hons) degree in Aerospace Engineering, as well as a Bachelor of Applied Science (Aviation Operations) degree, during which time he obtained his Private Pilot’s Licence. He enjoys spending time at the beach with his family and restoring his dad’s 1968 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super.

Steven Karakostas

Steven Karakostas

Director

Steven is an Aerospace Structures Engineer with over 10 years experience working with leading aerospace organisations including Airbus, Lockheed Martin, GippsAero, Spirit AeroSystems, Gulfstream, GKN, as well as Australian Department of Defence.

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He is experienced in managing static and F&DT projects and teams, running both technical and Project Management components. His skills include classical static stress analysis, as well as linear static, non-linear static and random vibration finite element analysis.  Steven also has experience in fatigue and damage tolerance analysis, focusing on life estimation for design, certification, and in-service support.

Steven has proven history in leading and managing the successful delivery of both military and civil projects.  He is passionate about engaging with project stakeholders to enable successful execution of projects from inception to delivery. 

Steven has a Bachelors (Hons) degree in Aerospace Engineering, an Advanced Diploma of Engineering (Aerospace Mechanical), as well as an Associate Diploma of Engineering (Aerospace Systems).  He enjoys travelling with his growing family and is a keen AFL fan and enjoys watching his beloved blues.

Elliott Hawthorne

Elliott Hawthorne

Director

Elliott is an Aerospace Engineer with over 8 years of experience working on aerospace structures, specialising in composites.  This experience includes working onsite in Malaysia, China, USA and UK with customers and suppliers.

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Throughout this time, he has worked on the JSF program, COMAC C919, single aisle Airbus family jets, A400M military transport and A380 Superjumbo jet on a range of composite and metallic primary and secondary structures.

Elliott has been a technical specialist and team lead on projects involving in excess of twenty engineers, managing customer communication and team members and the delivery of engineering solutions and documentation.

He also has extensive experience at engineering automation and process optimization, helping to boost project efficiencies and time management of team members.  Elliott strongly believes in the philosophy of working smarter not harder, by taking advantage of computer aided processing to streamline repetitive processes and to best make use of individual time and expertise.

Elliott has a Bachelors (F.C. Hons) degree in Aerospace Engineering.  He is a long time Melbourne Victory member and a passionate motorsport fan.

SERVICES

At Quartek we provide process driven and delivery focused engineering services, specialising in technical analysis, process improvement, automation and consulting.

Quartek offers a range of engagement modes to suit your requirements. Whether you need complete work packages carried out independently, application development, temporary staff on-site, or an on call help-desk arrangement, Quartek can adapt to your needs to ensure a successful delivery.

Working with Quartek you can expect the highest standards of customer service. Our team have in the past received ‘Worlds Best Practice’ client feedback from a global aerospace prime. Our client relationships are founded on trust and integrity to ensure your experience will be just as positive.

At Quartek we operate within our ISO 9001 certified quality management system ensuring robust and repeatable results, with the capability to incorporate feedback and make changes to improve.

All work conducted is overseen by the four experienced and highly respected founders.

  ANALYSIS

Doing the technical heavy lifting for you

Finite Element Analysis

A full suite of analysis types ranging from linear static, thermal, buckling and dynamic to non-linear, forced vibration and acoustic fatigue for various design solutions and applications, using Nastran.

Composites and Metallics

Design and analysis of metallic, composite and hybrid structures, from concept through to manufacture, as well as manufacturing support, concession solutions, in-service repairs and structural repair manuals.

Fatigue and Damage Tolerance

Analysis of metallic structures at all stages of the life cycle. Fatigue capabilities include load spectra development, fatigue stress determination, stress concentration factor (kt) calculation, and fatigue life prediction (S-N curves). Damage Tolerance capabilities include crack growth based life prediction, crack propagation failure analysis, and product life extension.

  PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

Helping you do things better

Identification of Efficiencies

Provide an independent assessment of the combinations of methods and tools you’re using to solve a given problem. That allows us to identify opportunities for efficiency gains through automation, process and quality control.

Alignment of Technical & Business

Engineering processes cost money, but also make money. Process improvement is carried out through alignment of technical and business objectives to ensure any proposed improvements make financial sense.

Doing Things Right

Successful engineering process improvement is itself a process. Using well-known methodologies in a structured approach ensures following something as fundamental as ‘plan, do, check, act’ yields positive results.

  AUTOMATION

The key to unlocking efficiency

In-house & External

Automation methods and tools are used extensively in-house to improve productivity, maintain processes and ensure quality. Quartek offers these same benefits through automation to you.

Off the Shelf or Custom Made

A range of tools have been developed for a wide variety of applications including reporting, data extraction and input file creation. Whilst many of these tools are available off-the-shelf for client use, if you require a custom solution, we’ll create it.

Single-Step through to Complete Solutions

From the simplest single step process, coded to achieve robust and consistent results, through to complete, fully developed and integrated solutions, regardless of how simple or complex, we can create it to meet your requirements. Applications are typically developed in VBA, maintaining compatibility with Excel.

  CONSULTING

Take advantage of our experience

Strategic Analysis Advice

Provide advice for your business, department or project, aligning your longer-term strategic engineering goals with the most suitable analyses, solution methodologies and processes required to achieve those goals.

Design to Manufacture

Ensuring the success of your manufacturing program by advising on the most suitable analyses, tools and processes required prior to cutting, as well as helping you plan to manage and minimise issues once production is underway.

Operation & Maintenance

Advice on analysis methods, repair strategies, usage monitoring processes and structural testing programs to assist with your ongoing product support, operation and maintenance.

CASE STUDIES

The team at Quartek  has experience delivering successful outcomes on complex projects for both local and international clients.  To see a sample of projects the members of Quartek have been involved with, click on the case studies below.

JSF – F35 Lightning II : Composite Bellmouth

Study 1

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Requirements:

  • Design and Analyse the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F35 Lightening II Bellmouth composite structure on the STOVL variant.
  • The Bellmouth is a carbon fibre composite structure, located below the lift fan door and surrounds the lift fan. 
  • Stringent operational performance targets for strength and deflection.
  • Final deliverables consisting of the design and structural justification of the composite Bellmouth, with supporting Finite Element Modelling, analysis calculations and structural analysis justification reports.

Execution and Services:

  • Analysis: Full technical solution development, taking into account design, stress and manufacturing considerations.
  • Liaising closely with Northrop Grumman senior technical team and chief engineer, implementing “24 hour” engineering execution.
  • Automation: Development and implementation of engineering automation tools to improve processes and reduce task time inefficiencies.

Outcomes:

  • Delivery of Finite Element Model, with detailed supporting analysis files, and comprehensive Structural Analysis Summary report.
  • Composite Bellmouth successfully manufactured by Northrop Grumman.

Specialised Tools:

  • MSC NASTRAN and PATRAN
  • CATIA

Airbus A320/A321 Sharklet : Checkstress SRM

Study-2

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Requirements:

  • Assess the Checkstress A320/A321 Sharklet Top and Bottom Wing Covers with Structural Repair Manual (SRM) damage.
  • Where application of SRM damage results in failure of structure, provide analysis mitigations to validate capacity of structure to function with SRM damage.
  • Provide verification of the acceptable in-service generic and non-generic SRM damage limits, with supporting analysis and certification dossiers.

Execution and Services:

  • Analysis: Using the A320/A321 Sharklet SRM Cover Analysis Suite (CAS), detailed analysis and mitigations were conducted.
  • Analysis: Any required modifications to the approved damage limits in the existing A320/A321 SRM were specified and supplied to Airbus for incorporation into a revised A320/A321 Sharklet SRM.
  • Automation: Development and implementation of engineering automation tools to improve processes and reduce task time inefficiencies.

Outcomes:

  • Certification dossiers and detailed supporting analysis files delivered to client as per project schedule and budget.
  • Received “World’s Best Practice“ for Technical Ability and Overall Rating on client feedback.

Specialised Tools:

  • Covers Analysis Suite (CAS)
  • Superdome / Airbus Collection Programs
  • MathCAD

Honeywell HTF7500E Composite Fan Housing

Honeybadger-Engine

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Requirements:

  • Create and develop a validated local detailed FEM (DFEM) for the purposes of supporting certification of the HTF7500E Composite Fan Containment Housing (CFCH).
  • The composite variant of the HTF7500E is planned to replace the titanium variant, reducing weight of the fan containment housing by 10lbs.
  • Provide and conduct analysis on four variants of the FEM :
  • Intact Model, used for Hail Impact analysis.
  • Ballistic Test Model, used for calibration analysis.
  • Fire Damaged Model, used for fire damage analysis.
  • Post Blade Out Model, used for analysis of the CFCH following a full engine blade out condition.
  • Perform a calibration comparison between the manufactured test article strain gauge results to the FEM strain results.
  • Final deliverables of a validated FEM, along with supporting analysis and supporting FEM dossier, and documented strain comparison results.

Execution and Services:

  • Analysis: Using Nastran and Patran developed a detailed local FEM of the HTF7500E Composite Fan Containment Housing (CFCH).
  • Analysis: Conducted a fully detailed comparison of strains between the test article axial and tri-axial strain gauges to that of the FEM. Ten locations were investigated with each one assessed for correlation accuracy.

Outcomes:

  • Presented comparison of test article strains and FEM strains to the design review board. 
  • FEM validation dossier and detailed supporting analysis delivered to client as per project schedule and budget.
  • Assisted Honeywell in progressing their certification program of the HTF7500E Composite Fan Containment Housing (CFCH) as a replacement for the titanium variant.

Specialised Tools:

  • MSC NASTRAN and PATRAN

Thales Hawkei : Bonnet Weight Optimisation

thales-hawkei

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Requirements:

  • Reduce weight of the Hawkei by investigating the replacement of the existing chopped strand mat manufactured bonnet with an alternative design.
  • Alternative design to match current operational performance targets for strength and deflection.
  • The final deliverables were verification of the new design, including analysis justification, design concept and manufacturing plans.

Execution and Services:

  • Analysis: New foam reinforced fibre glass placed fibre bonnet design concept was formulated.
  • Analysis: CATIA used to create the alternative design of the bonnet.
  • Analysis: Structural justification of the alternative design was conducted and verified.
  • Consulting: Development of manufacturing plans to produce the foam reinforced fibre glass placed fibre bonnet.

Outcomes:

  • Achieve a 25% weight reduction while maintaining operating performance.
  • Successful delivery of detailed design model and drawings, structural justification and manufacturing plans of the alternative foam reinforced fibre glass placed fibre bonnet design.

Specialised Tools:

  • CATIA
  • MSC NASTRAN and PATRAN

The Team at Quartek Has Experience Working With:

JOIN THE TEAM

At Quartek we understand our people are our strength. Everything we do is founded on this philosophy. The result is an approach to engaging with our team, that is truly unique amongst engineering firms.

We operate a vibrant workspace that encourages discussion, collaboration and socialisation. You’ll be challenged to view things differently, work alongside and learn from some of the most experienced people in the business, and have full access to the four directors who are passionate about sharing their skills.

At Quartek we offer the flexibility, on suitable projects, to work when and where you are most effective. You will have the option of working part time or full time – whatever works best for you.

We develop your career through increased responsibility, mentoring and training, and will reward your success with a highly competitive salary.

If you are interested in joining the team at Quartek then contact us.  We are always keen to hear from passionate and talented engineers.

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