“Innovations in hydraulic turbomachinery are often found at the interfaces where disciplines meet, e.g. between fluid mechanics, dynamics, biology, and optimized control”

Bart van Esch is Associate Professor in the section Power&Flow at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His area of expertise is largely in thermal and fluid engineering, and energy conversion. Specific topics of interest include hydraulic turbomachinery and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

Bart is also senior hydraulic engineer at Bosman Watermanagement, where he is responsible for the design and analysis of pumping stations. His ‘hand-on experience’ in industrial applications is being used in education as well as in research projects. Examples include projects on minimization of energy usage in pumping stations and the development of new pump designs to minimize damage to fish.

A close research co-operation exists with several universities in China, notably Jiangsu University In Zhenjiang where Bart was appointed part-time professor.

Bart van Esch received his MSc in Astronomy in 1990 from Leiden University and his Master of Technological Design in Computational Mechanics in 1992 from Twente University, where he also obtained his PhD in 1997. He was appointed assistant professor at TU/e in 1997, and part-time professor at Jiangsu University, China, in 2017.

Bart is affiliated to several scientific journals and conferences. He is an Advisory Board Member of Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, an Editorial Board Member of Journal of Drainage and Irrigation Machinery Engineering, and Associate Editor of ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering (2012-2018). He was a member of the Organizing Committee of the 8th International Symposium on Pumping Machinery at AJK Joint Fluids Engineering Conference, member of the Scientific and Organizing Committee of the 16th and 17th Symposium on Transport Phenomena and Dynamics of Rotating Machinery, member of the Scientific Committee of the IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems (since 2010), and member of the International Scientific and Program Committee of the Conference on Modelling Fluid Flow (since 2004).

Awarded Best Teacher of the Year 2017
(Bachelor Mechanical Engineering, TU/e)

• Bosman Watermanagement B.V.; senior engineer (since 2000)
• ASME Open Journal of Engineering; editor (since 2022)
• European Committee for Standardization; member CEN/TC 230/WG 24 - Fish monitoring
• NEN; editorial board member NEN8775 (since 2017)
• Holland Science Network in China; member (since 2018) 
• Research Center for Fluid Machinery Engineering and Technology , Jiangsu University, China; part-time professor (since 2017)
• Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science; editorial board member (since 2019)
• Journal of Fluids Engineering – Trans. ASME; editor (2012-2018)
• Journal of Drainage and Irrigation Machinery Engineering; editorial board member (since 2011)
• International Symposium on Pumping Machinery, ASME FEDSM; member scientific committee (2005, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019)
• International Scientific and Program Committee of the Conference on Modelling Fluid Flow, Budapest, Hungary; member scientific committee (since 2004)

Partners in (semi-)industry

• Tata Steel, Signify (Philips), Flowserve, Wärtsilä, DAMEN Schelde Naval Shipbuilding, Bosman Watermanagement, Deltares, STOWA, Rijkswaterstaat