Harry van Leeuwen

Harry van Leeuwen (Vlaardingen, 1950) is an assistant professor in tribology in the Power & Flow Group, under the supervision of Professor Niels Deen, in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. He obtained B.Sc. (1972) and M.Sc. degrees (1974, cum laude) at Twente University, Enschede, both in tribology, and a teaching certificate.

Upon finishing his studies he spent two years in Twente, and half a year at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) and at the University of Louisville (Louisville, KY), to do research in dynamically loaded bearings and seals. In 1977 he joined the Applied Research Department of DAF Trucks in Eindhoven, where he worked on several projects on truck fuel economy (drag resistance optimisation, gear shift advisory system, engine bearing calculations).

In 1979, he moved to Eindhoven University of Technology, where he investigated the lubrication of dynamically loaded lubricated hard contacts (cam mechanisms) and taught tribology in various lectures to third and upper year students. In the late 1980s, he also investigated lubricated soft contacts, in particular the lubrication and sealing effect of radial lip seals.

His research interests have always been in fluid film lubrication. During the late 90's until 2005 he was mainly active in teaching, both in courses related to general mechanical engineering and tribology, as in topics related to the engineering profession, ethics and the society.

From 2005 to 2009 he was a Marie Curie Research Fellow at Shell Global Solutions in Hamburg, Germany, at the Shell Technical Center STCHA (formerly Shell PAE Labor). From 2009-2018, he taught Engineering Design (BC) and Fuels and Lubricants (MC) courses and supervised many students as their coach. From 2018, he is a teacher coach in the Bachelor College (BC) and performs research on elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) and the history of tribology.

His current research interest is in the tribology of lubricating grease and base oils.

Harry van Leeuwen is a member of SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), GfT (Gesellschaft für Tribologie) and Association for Materials Science - Tribology Section, of which he is the secretary since 2015.